Jim Croce Album

Well I got my mail late last night
A letter from a girl who found the time to write
To her lonesome boy somewhere in the night
She sent me a railroad ticket too
To take me to her loving arms
And the big steel rail
Gonna carry me home to the one I love

Well I been out here many a long days
I haven't found a place that I could call my own
Not a two bit bed to lay my body on
I been stood up I been shook down
I bin dragged into the sand
And the big steel rail gonna carry me home to the one I love

Well I been up tight most every night
Walking along the streets of this old town
Not a friend to tell my troubles to
My good old car she done broke down
'Cause I drove it into the ground
And the big steel rail gonna carry me home to the one I love

Well look over yonder across the plain
The big drive wheels a-pounding along the ground
Gonna get on board and I'll be homeward bound
Now I ain't had a home cooked meal
And Lord I need one now
And the big steel rail gonna carry me home to the one I love

Now here I am with my head in the sand
Standing on the broad highway will you give a ride
To a lonesome boy who missed the train last night
I went in town for one last round
And I gambled my ticket away
And the big steel rail won't carry me home to the one I love

Travelin' down that coal town road,
Listen to my rubber tires whine;
Goodbye to buckeye and white sycamore
I'm leavin' you behind.
Oh I've been a coal man all my life
Layin' down tracks in the hole,
Got a back like an ironwood
bent by the wind
Blood veins blue as the coal.
Blood veins blue as the coal.

Somebody said "That's a strange tattoo
You have on the side of your head."
I said "That's a blue print, left by the coal
Just a little more and I'd be dead"
And I love the rumble and I love the dark
I love the cool of the slate.
But it's on down the new road lookin' for a job
It's the travelin' and lookin' I hate.

I've stood for the union, walkin' the line,
Fought against the company;
Stood for the U. M. W. of A.
Now who's gonna stand for me?
I got no house and I got no pay,
Just got a worried soul;
And this blue tattoo on the side of my head
Left by the number nine coal.

Someday when I'm dead and gone
To Heaven, the land of my dreams,
I won't have to worry on losin' my job
To bad times 'n big machines.
I ain't gonna pay my money away
For pensions and hospital plans.
I'm gonna pick coal where the blue heavens roll
And sing with the angel bands.

[No lyrics]

I know a fool who blows a horn,
He comes from ‘way down South,
Oh yeah; And you ain't seen such blowin' since you been born,
Like when a trombone's to his mouth.

He wails and moans, grunts and groans.
He can moan just like a cow;
And you ain't seen such blowin'
Since you been born, ‘Cause he won't show ‘em how.

Oh, Charley, won't you play that thing, I mean the slide trombone
Make it talk, Make it sing,
I mean the slide trombone.
If Gabriel knew how you could blow,
He'd let you lead his band, I know.
Oh, Charley, won't you play that thing,
I mean the slide trombone.
Oh, Charley, play that thing,
I mean the slide trombone.

Make it talk, Make it sing,
I mean the slide trombone.

Now you ain't seen such movin' hips,
Like when the trombone's to his lips.
Charley Green, play that thing,
I mean the slide trombone,

Oh, yeah, I mean the slide trombone.

You may talk of gin and beer
When you're stationed way out here
An' you're sent to penny fights an' Aldershot it
But when it comes to slaughter
You will do your work for water
An' you'll lick the bloomin' boots of 'im that's got it.

Now in Inja's sunny clime
Where I used to spend my time
Servin' her Majesty the Queen
Of all the black faced crew
The finest man I knew
Was regimental bhisti, Gunga Din

The uniform he wore
Was nothin' much before
An' rather less than half of that behind
But a piece of twisty rag
An' a goatskin water bag
Was all the field equipment he could find

When a sweatin' troop train lay
In a sidin' through the day
Where the heat would make you bloomin' eyebrows crawl
We shouted, "Harry by"
Till our throats were bricky-dry
Then wopped him 'cause he couldn't serve us all.

He would dot an' carry one
Till the longest day was done
An' never seemed to know the use of fear
If we charged a broke or cut
You could bet your bloomin' nut
He'd be waitin' fifty paces right flank rear.

With his mussick on his back
He would skip to our attack
An' watch us till the bugles made "Retire"
An' for all his dirty hide
He was white, clear white inside
When he went to tend the wounded under fire.

It was Din, Din, Din
With the bullets kickin' dust spots on the green
And when the cartridges ran out
You could hear the front files shout
Send ammunition mules, and Gunga Din!

I shan't forget the night
When I fell behind the fight
With a bullet where my belt plate should a' been
I was chokin' mad with thirst
An' the man that spied me first
Was our good old grinnin', gruntin' Gunga Din

He lifted up my head
An' he plugged me where I bled
An' he gave me half a pint of water green
It was crawlin' and it stunk
But of all the drinks I've drunk
I'm most grateful to the one from Gunga Din

He carried me away
To where a dooli lay
An' a bullet came and drilled the beggar clean
He carried me inside
An' just before he died
I hope you liked your drink said Gunga Din.

So I'll meet him later on
In the place where he as gone
Where it's always double drill and no canteen
He'll be squattin' on the coals
Givin' drinks to poor damned souls
I'll catch a swig in hell from Gunga Din

It was Din, Din, Din
You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din
Tho' I've belted you an' flayed you
By the livin' God that made you
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din

In old Savannah, I said Savannah,
The weather there is nice and warm!
The climates of a Southern brand,
But here's what I don't understand:
They got a gal there,
a pretty gal there, Who's colder than an Arctic storm,
Got a heart just like a stone,
Even ice men leave her alone!

They call her Hard Hearted Hannah,
The vamp of Savannah,
The meanest gal in town;
Leather is tough, but Hannah's heart is tougher,
She's a gal who loves to see men suffer!
To tease 'em, and thrill 'em, to torture and kill 'em,
Is her delight, they say,
I saw her at the seashore with a great big pan,
There was Hannah pouring water on a drownding man!
She's Hard Hearted Hannah, the vamp of Savannah, GA!

They call her Hard Hearted Hannah,
The vamp of Savannah,
The meanest gal in town;
Talk of your cold, refrigeratin' mamas,
Brother, she's a polar bear's pajamas!
To tease 'em, and thrill 'em, to torture and kill 'em,
Is her delight, they say,
An evening spent with Hannah sittin' on your knees,
Is like travelin' through Alaska in your BVDs.
She's Hard Hearted Hannah, the vamp of Savannah, GA!

Can you imagine a woman as cold as Hannah
She's got the right name, The vamp of Savannah
Any time a woman can take a great big pan
And start pouring water on a drownin' man
She's hard hearted Hannah The Vamp of Savannah GA
Ohh she's sweet as sour milk

Sun come up in the morning
Blues round my head
I've got a troubled mind and plenty of time to roam
As I walk this crooked highway
Never knowin' where to go
You know the only life I know is bein' on the road

I've got holes in my shoes that I fill with paper
When the sun's out they dry
And when it rains well they get wet but I don't cry

Because the sun don't know no difference
Between a rich man and a bum
And the only life I know is movin' round the sky

See him grin down at you people
I guess you don't know what his laughter's from
But if you spend enough time on the road
Maybe you'd find out
Because the sun goes round in an endless circle
Never knowin' the reason why
Still there's something in the path that it traces round the sky
It's like a circle with no ending
But it's a race we all must run
And it's the same bein' a rich man or a bum

[No lyrics]

[No lyrics]

You're not a dream
You're not an angel
You're a woman
I'm not a king,
I'm a man,
Take my hand
We'll make a space
In the lives that we planned
And here we'll stay
Until it's time for me to go

Yes, we're diff'rent worlds apart
We're not the same
We laughed and played
At the start like in a game
You could have stayed
Outside my heart
But in you came
And here we'll stay
Until it's time for me to go

Don't ask why,
Don't ask how
Don't ask forever,
Love me now

This love of mine
Had no beginning
It has no end
I was an oak,
Now I'm a willow
Now I can bend
And tho' I'll never
In my life see you again
I still stay
Until it's time for me to go

You big fat woman get your fat leg off of me
You big fat woman get your fat leg off of me
You feel so good
Scare the hell out of me
You got a great big leg
Got a whoppin' thigh
Great big leg
Got a whoppin' thigh
Now oooh
You got a great big leg
Got a whoppin' thigh
And every time you move make my temperature rise
That fine lookin' woman got a great big leg
Fine lookin' woman got a great big leg, Yeah
Big fat woman with a great big leg
Big fat woman got a great big leg
And every time she moves
Moves like a soft boiled egg

So big fat woman get your fat leg off of me
Now you obese woman get your fat leg off of me
You feel so good
Scare the hell out of me

She stood by the window
And let down her hair
Asked if I knew that I shouldn't be there
Her lips said goodbye
But her body said stay I knew I should go
But I stayed anyway

And they called her child of midnight
And they say she'd love whomever she'd find
But when morning came I loved her
And she stayed there in my mind

She stood by the window
And let down her hair
Asked if I thought that it was right
That she'd give her body and I'd give my mind
Looked for an answer all the night

And they called her child of midnight
And they say she'd love whomever she'd find
But when morning came I loved her
And she stayed there in my mind

She stood by the window
And tied up her hair
Acted as if I had never been there
Her lips said goodbye
And her body said stay
Knew I should go but I stayed anyway

And they called her child of midnight
And they say she'd love whomever she'd find
But when morning came I loved her
And she stayed there in my mind

[No lyrics]

The railroads, and the riverboats, that bred the mighty man
That we read about, and we dream about
The men who built this land
And the farmers and the lumbermen and the men who worked the mills
And the poor hard working miners
Who died inside the hills

While the rivers that flow
Are the blood of our land
And the trucks they keep rumbling
On the great concrete band
And the railroads keep pushing
To be all they once were
And nature is calling
No one's listening to her

And the immigrants, by the boat load, in a dozen different tones
Sang of freedom, in the new land
Climbed the ladder rung by rung
Some to Boston, some to Pittsburg, Philidelphia and St. Paul
And the old ways, led to new days
They were welcome one and all.

While the rivers that flow
Are the blood of our land
And the trucks they keep rumbling
On the great concrete band
And the railroads keep pushing
To be all they once were
And nature is calling
No one's listening to her

With the railroads, and the riverboats, and the bread lines far behind
And the days we sang together
Long gone but still in mind
And the men who, came before us, men who brought us to today
And the story, still unravels, from the dreams of yesterday

While the rivers that flow
Are the blood of our land
And the trucks they keep rumbling
On the great concrete band
And the railroads keep pushing
To be all they once were
And nature is calling
No one's listening to her
And nature is calling,
No one's listening to her

[No lyrics]

When I was a boy in the days of the train
I'd sit by the tracks on a long summer day
And I'd wave at the brakesman
And he'd wave back at me
While the thunderclouds rolled
Out of East Tennessee
But the dreams of a boy disappear when you're grown
And though I may dream, the railroads are gone
The ties they are rotten
And the tracks shot to hell
Along with my dreams and the old railroad bell
In my dreams I ride the rails to California
Workin' diners and farms along the way
Or I'd hop a ride to hide across the border
With a black eyed girl beside me all the way
Now the mountains are silent
And the railroads are gone
And the coal towns no longer hear the miners at dawn
But the train whistle shrills out her memories to me
While the thunderclouds roll out of East Tennessee
In my dreams I ride the rails to California
Workin' diners and farms along the way
Or I'd hop a ride to hide across the border
With a black eyed girl beside me all the way
Now the mountains are silent
And the railroads are gone
And the coal towns no longer hear the miners at dawn
But the train whistle shrills out her memories to me
While the thunderclouds roll out of East Tennessee

Smoke another cigarette, have another drink or two
Sit by the telephone 'til morning
She never tells me where she's goin'
But I think it's mighty plain
Maybe tomorrow
She'll be back home again
She wasn't like this when I met her
Whatever made her change?
Now she never even says I love you
She just comes a-rollin' in
Never wanting to explain
Maybe tomorrow she'll be back home again
Wish that I could meet him
Just to tell him who I am
I would like to find out what he has
That I don't have
She never says a thing about him but it's plain as day
She's going somewhere every evening
Can't take it too much longer
I think I'm goin' insane
Maybe tomorrow she'll be back home again
Wish that I could meet him
Just to tell him who I am
I would like to find out what he has
That I don't have
She never says a thing about him but it's plain as day
She's going somewhere every evening
Can't take it too much longer
I think I'm goin' insane
Maybe tomorrow she'll be back home again

[No lyrics]