Utah Phillips - Queen of the Rails

      
 
 Queen Of The Rails
 Utah Phillips
 Starlight On The Rails
 Banjo tuned E, Capo 3, Key of D
 
 QUEEN OF THE RAILS
 (Bruce Phillips)
    D                            
 I guess his name was Boomer Bill
            G               D 
 If that won't do another will
                       D   
 A hobo doesn't need a name
           E7       A  
 "Cause he gets no mail
     D                    G        
 And the only friend old Boomer had
                              D    
 To ride with him thru good and bad
 Was a shaggy little mongrel
             A7          D   
 He called Queen of the Rails
 
 Chorus:
 The black smoke choo choo's gone away
 Bumming, it's just not the same
 Dreams are few and far between
 But mem'ries seldom fail
 Waiting down there by the track
 For her master to come back
 You can count on seeing that old dog
 Called Queen of the Rails
 
 Boomer roamed the Rio Grande,
 The Santa Fe, and never planned
 On where he'd be from day to day,
 The jungle or the jail.
 But when the snow was falling down
 He'd catch a California bound
 With that little dog to keep him warm.
 Old "Queen of the Rails".
 
 Chorus:
 
 One day he went to get a bone
 And left his little pal alone,
 He crossed the coupling joints of a
 Train that blocked the yard
 They switched a reefer off the main
 And humped it into Boomer's train
 He fell and died beneath the iron wheels so cold and hard.
 
 The black smoke choo-choo'a gone away.
 Bummin' it's just not the same;
 Dreams are few and far between but
 memories seldom fail.
 If there's a place for some old friend
 Who waits until the journey's end,
 Then Boomer he'll be glad to see old
 "Queen of the Rails".