I wrote this in 2012 as sort of a joke for my father, who was a rail fan, and my young son, who followed in his footsteps. We live near the tracks and there is a diner on the tracks that my father loved to go to when he visited and watch the trains go by


Railfan Blues

I hear the train a-comin'
Rollin' down the rail
I'm drinking at the Choo-Choo Diner
Coffee by the pail.

'Cuz I've got the blues, baby
I've go the Railfan Blues
Boys will be boys and trains are their toys
I've got those Railfan Blues.

My coffee is interrupted,
"It's CSX again!"
And again and again, again and again
Again and again and again.

Now I've got the blues, baby
I've got the Railfan Blues
Boys will be boys and trains are their toys
I've got those Railfan Blues.

Though breakfast's been over an hour
We're waitin' on Uncle Pete
Lunchin' at the Choo-Choo Diner
At the window seat.

Yeah, I've got the blues baby
I've got the Railfan Blues
Boys will be boys and trains are their toys
I've got the Railfan Blues

Grandpa Ed comes to visit
I know where we will go
Waiting down at the grade crossing
Santa Fe will show.

I keep on hopin'
Railfan Blues will fade away
But I've HO track in a mile-high stack
And I think these Railfan Blues are here to stay.



Poetry by Nancy Sikora
Read 731 times
Written on 2015-10-21 at 01:33

dott Save as a bookmark (requires login)
dott Write a comment (requires login)
dott Send as email (requires login)
dott Print text


Jamsbo Rockda The PoetBay support member heart!
Very good. I grew up in a house not far from train lines. The sound at night of the trains always felt so comforting.
2015-10-24


one trick pony The PoetBay support member heart!
. . . and brought to mind this line:

"this train's got the disappearing railway blues"

from the Steve Goodman song Arlo sang so well.
2015-10-22


Lawrence Beck The PoetBay support member heart!
This is well-written and amusing. When we lived in a house overlooking railroad tracks, my dad, who'd been a aeronautical engineer, would come out onto the deck and count the cars every time a train passed. Then he'd come back into the house and tell us the number.
2015-10-21


countryfog
Really well done Nancy, and personally very evocative. I've been a "railfan" all my life, when I was a child I wanted to be the guy at the end of the train waving a lantern . . . now trains don't even have cabooses anymore but they are still magical. My youngest grandson is fanatical about trains though without the nostalgia that I have.
2015-10-21


one trick pony The PoetBay support member heart!
this is sweet and cute and wonderfully written and rhymed. it's great to read a blues song/poem without the words, "lovesick, cheatin', prison-bound, or midnight" in it :)
2015-10-21


josephus The PoetBay support member heart!
Great stuff!! I can hear a country singer wailing away on this to a Johnny Cash style driving rhythm
2015-10-21