Songs about hobos?

Old & In The Way "The Hobo Song"

Harry Partch.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountain
You never change your socks
And little streams of alkyhol
Come trickling down the rocks
O the shacks all have to tip their hats
And the railway bulls are blind
There's a lake of stew
And ginger ale too
And you can paddle
All around it in a big canoe
In the Big Rock Candy Mountain

As i was out walkin' on the corner one day
I spied an old hobo in a doorway he lay
His face was all grounded in the cold sidewalk floor
An' i guess he been dead for the whole night or more.

Only a hobo but one more is gone
Leavin' nobody to sing his sad song
Leavin' nobody to carry him home
He was only a hobo but one more is gone.

A blanket of newspaper covered his head
As the step was his pillow, the street was his bed
One look at his face showed the hard road he come
A fistful of coins showed the money he bummed.

He was only a hobo but one more is gone
Leavin' nobody to sing his sad song
Leavin' nobody to carry him home
He was only a hobo but one more is gone.

Does it take much of a man to see his whole life go down
To look up in the world from a hole in the ground
To wait for your future like a horse that's gone lame
To lie in the gutter an' die with no name.

He was only a hobo but one more is gone
Leavin' nobody to sing his sad song
Leavin' nobody to carry him home
He was only a hobo but one more is gone.

http://members.aol.com/ProfQuater/hjunct.gif
(ps sorry even that camera angle does not make you look tough)

"I'm not a stabbing hobo, I'm a singing hobo!"

Nothing beats the hobo life,
Stabbing people with my hobo knife.

Glass Eye - "Dimsey Naish"

does Gavin Bryars' "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" count? it was sung by a hobo

Devin the Dude:

The almighty dollar
It ain't what it used to be
Hobos used to ask you for a dollar
Now the motherfuckers ask you for three

(not really about hobos, but you know...)

And then there's this, which isn't quite a song, but is certainly enough about hobos.

Phillipe Wynne, "Hobo Stew"

this is what my itunes tells me:

Dreams Of a Hobo - Whitlock, Bobby

The Hobo - Haggard, Merle

Hobo's Lullaby - Guthrie, Arlo

Hobo's Son - Phelps, Kelly Joe

Hobo Blues - Hooker, John Lee

Hobo Chang Ba - Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band

Hobo Worried Blues - Williams, Robert Pete

I Am A Lonesome Hobo - Dylan, Bob

Only A Hobo - Dylan, Bob

Where Have All The Hobos Gone - Haggard, Merle

New Christy Minstrels - "Green, Green"

many artists - "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime"

Mark Lindsay - "Arizona"

We got a new Features Editor and one of the other staff made an offhand joke about getting him from the Hobo Museum, and the joke stuck (more abstractly than in relation to the new ed). So we're lookin' for Hobo Songs (both about Hobos and implying a hobo singer).

Any YSIs are appreciated (I can say that, right? Or is nu-ILX still all verboten about that?)

I also have Be A Hobo by Moondog and Hobo Chang Ba by Beefhart, and Ralph Stanley's "Another Night," which was written by Hobo Jack Adkins.

So, yeah, thanks—keep 'em coming!

Small town boy

Harry Partch

Specifically, his song "U.S. Highball".

My itunes adds:

Box Car Hobo, Doug Sahm
Hobo Bill's Last Ride, Jimmie Rodgers
Hobo Blues, Yank Rachell
Hobo's Meditation, Jimmie Rodgers
A Yodeling Hobo, Gene Autry
Hobo Ho, Charles Mingus

The collected works of Boxcar Willie...

My iTunes has:

"Pauvre Hobo," Rufus Thibodeaux
"Rambling Hobo," Doc Watson

and the Iris Dement version of "Hobo Bill's Last Ride"

Ralph McTell - "Streets of London"

"These Old Shoes" by Deer Tick has some good boxcar hobo stuff in there, for a modern jam.

More Beefheart: "Hoboism"

Oh the path was deep and wide from footsteps leading to our cabin
Above the door there burned a scarlet lamp
And late at night a hand would knock and there would stand a stranger
Yes I'm the son of Hickory Holler's tramp

Well the weeds were high, the corn was dry when daddy took to drinking
Him and Sally Walker they up and they ran away
Then Mama shed a silent tear and then she promised fourteen children
I swear you'll never see a hungry day
When mama sacrificed her pride the neighbours started talking
But we was much too young to understand the things they said
All we really cared about was mama's chicken dumplings
And the goodnight kiss before we went to bed

Oh the path was deep and wide from footsteps leading to our cabin
Above the door there burned a scarlet lamp
And late at night a hand would knock and there would stand a stranger
Yes I'm the son of Hickory Holler's tramp

When daddy left then destitution came upon our family
Not one neighbour volunteered to lend us a helping hand
So just let them gossip all they want she loved us and she raised us
The proof is standing here a full grown man
Last summer mama passed away and left the ones who loved her
Each and every one is more than grateful for their birth
Each Sunday she receives a big bouquet of fourteen roses
And the card that reads the greatest mom on earth

Well the path was deep and wide from footsteps leading to our cabin
Above the door there burned a scarlet lamp
And late at night a hand would knock and there would stand a stranger
Yes I'm the son of Hickory Holler's tramp

Tramp!
What you call me?
Tramp.
You didn't!
You don't wear continental clothes, or Stetson hats.
Well I tell you one dog-gone thing. It makes me feel good to know one thing. I know I'm a lover.
Matter of opinion.
That's all right, Mama was. Papa too. And I'm the only child. Lovin' is all I know to do.
You know what, Otis?
What?
You're country.
That's all right.
You straight from the Georgia woods.
That's good.
You know what? You wear overalls, and big old brogan shoes, and you need a haircut, Tramp.
Haircut? Woman, you foolin'...ooh...I'm a lover. Mama was. Grandmama, Papa too. Boogaloo. All that stuff. And I'm the only son-of-a-gun this side of the Sun. Tramp!
You know what, Otis? I don't care what you say, you're still a tramp.
What?
That's right. You haven't even got a fat bankroll in your pocket. You probably haven't even got twenty-five cents.
I got six Cadillacs, five Lincolns, four Fords, six Mercuries, three T-Birds, Mustang, ooooooohhh...I'm a lover. Mama was. Papa too. I tell you one thing.
Well tell me.
I'm the only son-of-a-gun this side of the Sun.
You're a tramp, Otis.
No I'm not.
I don't care what you say, you're still a tramp.
What's wrong with that?
Look here. You ain't got no money.
I got everything.
You can't buy me all those minks and sables and all that stuff I want.
I can buy you minks, rats, frogs, squirrels, rabbits, ...anything you want, Woman.
Look, you can go out in the Georgia woods and find them, Baby.
Oh, you foolin'.
You're still a tramp.
That's all right.
You a tramp, Otis. You just a tramp.
That's all right.
You wear overalls. You need a haircut, Baby. Cut off some of that hair off your head. You think you a lover, huh?

UGGY'S SONG (Kevin Coyne, 1972)

Take any city
Take any town
You'll always find my sort around
On any doorstep
Under any tree
Snoozin' bleary old man like me

Why should you care?
Why should you share?
Why should you want
Why should you want a man
A man around who's looking like me

I'm lost and lonely
No money at all
Hoping someday I can recall
A better day
And a better way
Something special to hold on to

Why should you care?
Why should you share?
Why should you want
Why should you need a man around
Looking, looking like me?

So they told me to move on
Pack my scraps and go
Tell me, where can I go?
Where can I go?
And it's startin' to rain
And it's startin' to pour
Reckon I'll hide in some fat old rich man's door

Why should you care?
Why should you share?
Why should you want
A man like me
A man like me around?

Also by Kevin Coyne, "House on the Hill". Probably others too, 'cos he used to work with down-and-outs

Marie, by Townes Van Zandt.

The saddest song off the saddest album from the saddest man of all time.

mr. bojangles
mr. wendell

Tim Buckley "Morning Glory"

Hobo, you can't ride this train - L. Armstrong

King of the Road, Roger Miller (and Boney M., Dean Martin, Boxcar Willie, Randy Travis, the Statler Brothers, Rufus Wainwright, R.E.M., Giant Sand, The Proclaimers, ...)

http://www.the-littlest-hobo.com/hobo.jpg

I'll give you Merle's "My Love Affair With Trains" because you should have it anyway. I'll put it up in a bit.

Bobby Charles "Street People"

I TAKE A LOT OF PRIDE IN WHAT I AM
(Merle Haggard)
« © '68 Tree Publishing, BMI »

Things I learned in hobo jungle
Were things they never taught me in a class room
Like where to find a hand out
While bummin' through Chicago in the afternoon
Hey I'm not braggin' or complainin' I'm just talkin' to myself man to man
This ol' mental fat I'm chewin' didn't take a lotta doin'
But I take a lot of pride in what I am
I guess I grew up a loner
I don't remember ever havin' any folks around
But I keep thumbin' through the phonebooks
And looking for my daddy's name in every town
And I meet lots of friendly people but I'll always wind up leavin' on the lam
Hey where I've been or where I'm goin' didn't take a lotta knowin'
But I take a lot of pride in what I am
I never travel in a hurry
Because I got nobody waitin' for me anywhere
Home is anywhere I'm livin'
If it's sleepin' on some vacant bench in City Square
Or if I'm workin' on some road gang or just livin' off the fat of our great land
I never been nobody's idol but at least I got a title
And I take a lot of pride in what I am
I never been nobody's idol...
I take a lot of pride in what I am

Buck 65, "Ho-Boys"

My Love Affair With Trains. Enjoy it!

Paul Simon - Papa Hobo

The Beastie Boys - Johnny Royal

Al Jolson - Hallelujah I'm a Bum

Malcolm McLaren - "She's Looking Like A Hobo"

wait: that's not it...but what is the McLaren song with that chorus?

Several Henry Thomas songs, Arkansas, Railroadin' Some, etc etc

I am surprised no one has said Aqualung, but I suppose the word "hobo" is never actually used.
Still, it's definately about a perverted homeless man.

Man, Billy, I was just about to post that. I just re-read the liner notes to the Henry Thomas Herwin LP the other night.

The Ghost of Tom Joad, by Bruce Springsteen. In fact, most of the songs on that album are about "hobos."

todd rundgren - "bag lady", a beautiful song

musically, it always kind of reminded me of something off of hissing of summer lawns or hejira

Erykah Badu - "Bag Lady" another beautiful song.