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Bob Dylan · 1962

Freight Train Blues

An old country song recorded by Roy Acuff among others; on Dylan's first album it is a fast yodelling showcase with one famously long held note.

The words

A man born to the railroad says he cannot rest, because the sound of a passing freight train always calls him away.

The singer was raised around trains and the railroad is in his blood; whenever a freight goes by, he has to go with it. Each verse adds more of his restless life, always ending at the pull of the tracks. Dylan sings it at a gallop with harmonica and a held, stretched-out note that shows off his lungs, a comic, high-spirited take on the hobo song.

Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗

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The words

A man born to the railroad says he cannot rest, because the sound of a passing freight train always calls him away.

The singer was raised around trains and the railroad is in his blood; whenever a freight goes by, he has to go with it. Each verse adds more of his restless life, always ending at the pull of the tracks. Dylan sings it at a gallop with harmonica and a held, stretched-out note that shows off his lungs, a comic, high-spirited take on the hobo song.

Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗

The same year · 1962

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