- 3 months ago
The American Hobo-SD
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Transcription by CastingWords
00:30As the drover runs the cattle trail
00:41And the sailor follows billowed sail
00:44So the hobo tames the iron trail
00:46And longs for places far
00:49The open road becomes his home
00:51He can't subdue his urge to roam
00:54The headlight and the whistle's moan
00:57Become his guiding star
00:59Who works and wanders
01:02Also learns and in his heart
01:04He always yearns to see beyond the river's turns
01:08The view from rolling cars
01:12All around the water tanks
01:24Waiting for a train
01:27A thousand miles away from home
01:32Sleeping in the rain
01:35I walked up to a brakeman
01:39To give him time to talk
01:43He says, you've got money
01:47I'll see that you don't walk
01:51I haven't got a nickel
01:55Not a penny can I show
01:59Get off, get off
02:01You're a railroad bum
02:03And he slammed that boxcar
02:06You know, when we were kids
02:11We used to walk the railroad tracks
02:14To see how far we could walk
02:16Make bets among ourselves, you know
02:19Oh boy, look at this
02:20Look how far he's going
02:21And occasionally you see a train pass by
02:27And you see a hobo up there
02:29And you wave at him
02:30They'd wave back
02:33You wondered where these people were going
02:37It was a fascinating adventure
02:41In our little lives
02:43To look at these fellas
02:46And realize that
02:48They were going somewhere
02:50And on a train
02:52I was a real hobo
02:57I did not have a stable home
03:00So I was always willing to
03:03Head out for a new adventure
03:08I listened to a lot of those
03:09Old Jimmy Rogers songs
03:10And he talked about riding freight trains
03:14And made it sound so enticing
03:15That I just couldn't stay off of them
03:17I like the lifestyle
03:18I like the people I associate with
03:20And of course it's a free ride
03:22It's like being on a time machine
03:23Where you ride along
03:25And you see so many historical elements
03:28Of this country
03:29I've always been intrigued with travel
03:31And adventure
03:34It's like kind of recharging your batteries
03:37I'm out here seeing things I missed
03:39When I was a kid
03:40It's an experience that
03:42In a lot of ways
03:43Just escapes an explanation
03:45You really have to do it
03:47To understand what it's like
03:49I think it's the adventure
03:50And the thrill
03:51And sometimes just the peace
03:53To watch the country go by
03:54And I always call it
03:56National Geographic life
03:57Self-survival, you know
04:00Eat when you want to eat
04:03Sleep when you want to sleep
04:04You don't have to worry about the IRS
04:08It's in the blood, I guess
04:11Once you do it
04:12It's in you
04:15You can't quit
04:15You call your own shots
04:17As you see fit
04:20For yourself
04:21I don't own a car right now
04:23I don't like riding Greyhound buses, man
04:26Because I always get lucky, man
04:27I always draw the wild card
04:28I get some big old gal sitting next to me
04:30Who wants to fall asleep
04:31With her head in my lap
04:32And I can't smoke a cigarette
04:33Or drink a beer
04:34And I can do this in a box car
04:35I rode freight trains all my life
04:37Because I just love to do it
04:39Ah, the rhythm of the rails
04:42Is an enticing song
04:44To those who long to be far away
04:45Like the Pied Piper
04:47Wandering souls have followed the tracks
04:50Stitched like seams
04:52Across the country
04:53Since the Civil War
04:54Legend has it
04:57That Erie Crypt and Philly Pop
05:00Two discharged Union soldiers
05:02Were the founding members
05:03Of the fraternity of freight-hopping hobos
05:06The two men
05:07Accustomed to the open-air military lifestyle
05:10Hitched a ride on a passing freight
05:12And rambled over the horizon
05:14Other Civil War veterans
05:17Followed suit
05:17And hopped on trains
05:19To get back home
05:20While the less fortunate soldiers
05:21Left homeless by the devastating war
05:24Rode the rails
05:25In search of a new beginning
05:27A great number of these early wanderers
05:29Sought jobs as migrant farm workers
05:32And carried hoes along with them
05:34Therefore, it is thought
05:37The nickname hobo
05:39Is derived from being called
05:41Homeward-bound soldiers
05:43Or ho-boys
05:45Both shortened to hobo
05:48As the nation expanded westward
05:51The railroads needed laborers
05:52To set ties and lay tracks
05:54And the hobos played a vital role
05:56In these activities
05:57To feed a growing nation
05:59The hobos became the harvesters
06:02Who reaped the crops in mid-america
06:04Often working a route
06:05That took them from the Texas panhandle
06:07To the Canadian border each season
06:10During the prime age of dam construction
06:13The hobos formed the nucleus
06:15Of the hardy traveling workforces
06:17Who built these massive structures
06:19Often in remote areas
06:21Whose only real access
06:23Was by freight train
06:24These restless men
06:26Continued to follow
06:28The developing railroads
06:29Through the Rocky Mountains
06:30And became the lumberjacks
06:32Of the northwest woods
06:34And merchant seamen
06:35Of the Pacific Ocean
06:37This land is your land
06:39This land is my land
06:41From California
06:43To the New York Island
06:46From the Redwood Falls
06:48The Great Depression of the 30s
06:50Prompted factories to lay off laborers
06:52Businesses to foreclose
06:54And farms to fall into ruin
06:56Banks went broke
06:58And millions of people
06:59Lost their life savings
07:00It was a nightmare
07:01And created a new surge of hobos
07:04Who took to the rails
07:05In search of work
07:06In 1934
07:08The U.S. Bureau
07:09Of Transient Affairs
07:11Estimated there were
07:12One and a half million men
07:15And women
07:16Riding America's freight trains
07:18You could taste the depression
07:21These were bad years
07:23You know
07:2430, 31, 32
07:28Everything was lean and mean
07:32No jobs
07:33You had to start
07:34With trying to get
07:36Everything from a day's work
07:39To whatever you can get
07:40Back then
07:42Everybody had a relative
07:43A brother
07:44A son
07:45A father
07:46An uncle
07:46Who was riding the trains
07:48Looking for work
07:50Ah, that lonesome whistle
07:52Continues to recruit
07:54New visionaries
07:55Offering passage
07:56To where dreams are found
07:58I hopped my first freight train
08:01Back in 1966
08:04In Athens, Alabama
08:06A couple of buddies and I
08:08Wanted to go up to Nashville
08:10And we didn't know how to get there
08:12Except take the bus
08:15And so we were sitting down
08:16The weeds by the college there
08:18And this freight train came by
08:21And it was going real slow
08:22So we said, let's do it
08:23Next thing you know
08:24We're on our way to Nashville
08:26Well, I started riding freight trains
08:29As a kind of a recreational
08:30Boyish adventure
08:32When I was about 15
08:33And I rode pretty hard
08:35For several years
08:36Finally coming to rest
08:38At about 21 or 22
08:39Well, the first freight train
08:41I rode
08:42I was a kid
08:43About 15 years old
08:44And I wanted to get home
08:46From Minnesota
08:46Down into Iowa
08:48And I didn't want to wait
08:49For my father
08:50To come up there
08:51To get me
08:51So I rode a freight train
08:52The first true hobo trip
08:56I ever took
08:56Was when my brother
08:58Hopalong Chet and I
09:00Were going back
09:01To our grandfather's
09:02Ninetyth reunion
09:03And we rode from
09:05Barstow, California
09:06To the east coast
09:07To Boston
09:08And it took us eight days
09:10And 13 different train connections
09:12And from that moment on
09:13We were hooked
09:14I decided to make
09:16A documentary film
09:17And it was mostly
09:19The film started out
09:20As an excuse for me
09:21To figure out
09:22How to get on a freight train
09:23So when I finally
09:26Took my first ride
09:27It was everything
09:30That I had imagined
09:31It might be
09:32And it was
09:34Pretty much
09:36An immediate addiction
09:36I've been doing this
09:37Since the age of 13 years old
09:40That's
09:40I'm telling you
09:42The real McCoy
09:43A friend of mine
09:44Used to work
09:45For Canadian National
09:46Up in Montreal
09:47And he knew
09:48I liked trains a lot
09:49I'd always like trains
09:50Going way back
09:51To when I was a little kid
09:52And he said
09:54You know
09:55You might think about
09:56Jumping on trains
09:57To get around
09:58I mean you like
09:59To travel around a lot
10:00And you like trains
10:01And that was sort of
10:03The beginning of it
10:03And I took it from there
10:05I think the first time
10:07Was an old oil spur
10:08Up there
10:09Where I used to live
10:09In Oildale
10:10But the first long trip
10:13I took was from
10:14Bakersfield to Fresno
10:15In the old SP
10:15At the age of
10:1812 or 13
10:20I was living
10:22Near Philadelphia
10:23And with a partner
10:26A year older
10:28We bummed our way
10:32All the way
10:34To the Canadian border
10:35And all the way
10:38South to Florida
10:40Every year
10:45At a different location
10:47Alongside a
10:48Mainline railroad
10:49The National Hobo Association
10:52Sponsors the Hobo Poetry
10:54And Music Festival
10:55This year's site
10:56Is charming
10:57Marquette, Iowa
10:58On the banks
11:00Of the mighty
11:00Mississippi River
11:01Oh and music
11:04Has always been
11:05A central component
11:07Of hobo life
11:07They'd sing of
11:09Their old homes
11:09Their old loves
11:10Their work
11:11And their trains
11:12They'd play
11:13Catars
11:14Mandolins
11:15And banjos
11:16And simpler instruments
11:17Like gin whistles
11:19Harmonicas
11:20And Jews' hearts
11:21The boss set me
11:39A driving spikes
11:40The sweat was enough
11:43To blind me
11:44The boss
11:44He didn't like
11:45My pace
11:46So I left
11:47My jaw
11:48Behind me
11:49I climbed aboard
11:51An old freight train
11:52Round the country
11:53Traveled
11:54The mysteries
11:55Of a hobo's life
11:57To me
11:57Were soon unraveled
11:59Yes and the jungle
12:01Telegraph goes out
12:02To hobos and hobos
12:03At heart
12:04In every corner
12:05Of America
12:06And they come
12:07From all nooks
12:08And crannies
12:09They arrive
12:10By various modes
12:11Of conveyance
12:12Many by car
12:13Truck
12:13Or motorhome
12:15And of course
12:17The freight train
12:19Oh the big rock
12:21Candy mountain
12:22There's a land
12:23So fair and bright
12:24Where the boxcars
12:25All are empty
12:26And you sleep
12:27Out every night
12:28Where the handouts
12:29Grow on bushes
12:30And the sun shines
12:31Every day
12:32On the birds
12:33And the bees
12:33And the cigarette trees
12:34And the lemonade springs
12:35With the bluebird sings
12:36In the big rock
12:37Candy mountain
12:38This fun-filled event
12:57Brings out the free spirit
12:58Of the hobo
12:59That lives within us all
13:00And everyone is encouraged
13:02To partake in the wide variety
13:04Of family activities
13:05This retired hobo
13:13Is being hounded
13:14By his alter ego
13:15To return to the rails
13:17We could hop an extra west
13:19And head out toward the coast
13:20Or maybe take the valley route
13:22With the river as our host
13:23You always liked the scenery
13:24On the Colorado run
13:26Or the smell of hay
13:27As the boxcars weighed
13:28In the autumn Kansas sun
13:30He said we never rode the Chesapeake
13:32Or the seaboard
13:33Or the Sioux
13:33And what about the cotton belt
13:35That promise came from you
13:36You said we'd ride the Lehigh
13:38In the Wabash Cannonball
13:39And you absolutely promised
13:41We'd ride New England
13:42In the fall
13:43How long can I resist the call?
13:45I really couldn't say
13:46But the inner hobo's argument
13:48Gets stronger every day
13:49Now I'm not one for idle talk
13:51But I want the world to know
13:53That if I hear that whistle
13:54One more time
13:56I just might up and go
13:57Early in the morning
14:02And it looked like rain
14:03Around the bend
14:04Cover past the train
14:05Under the cab was Casey Jones
14:07A good engineer
14:08But he dead ain't gone
14:09Dead ain't gone
14:11Dead ain't gone
14:11Dead ain't gone
14:12A good engineer
14:12But he dead ain't gone
14:14Well Casey Jones
14:19Was a brave engineer
14:20He told his fireman
14:21Not to fear
14:22All he needed was the water and coal
14:24Put your head out to the window
14:25See the driver's road
14:26Hey, yeah, the driver's road
14:28Put your head out to the window
14:29See the driver's road
14:30Trains are marvelous contraptions
14:37Under any circumstance
14:38They are unreal shimmering steel
14:41Creatures that are almost alive
14:43Fire-breathing monsters
14:45With intense undulating tails
14:48So what is it that lures a hobo
14:51To mount these beasts
14:52Again and again
14:54And being that I like to play music
14:56You know, there's nothing finer
14:57Than sort of like the rhythm
14:58You know
14:59You're in tune with the rhythm
15:01Not only the rails
15:02But I get in tune with the rhythm
15:03Of waters that the trains go by
15:05The speed
15:06The power of the train
15:09All those really
15:11They really turn me on
15:12The freedom
15:13Not getting away from everything
15:15Getting away from everything
15:16Not feeling like I've got to be
15:19Responsible about anything
15:21Being punctual
15:22Being somewhere at an exact time
15:24Being able to just hang out
15:25Go with the train
15:26Get somewhere for free
15:27I'm getting from point A to point B
15:29And I don't have to drive
15:30I don't have to deal with
15:32Inner city traffic
15:33Or anybody who's not going to
15:36Let me get in my lane
15:37A nice day
15:39A good ride
15:41I like to get into a terminal too
15:43That I haven't seen before
15:44And poke around
15:45I like to do that
15:46You also go through parts of the country
15:53Unlike the interstate system
15:55That has virtually no signs
15:58Of any commercial activity
15:59No billboards
16:01No exit signs
16:02No neon
16:03Seeing America from a boxcar
16:06You see the wild horses
16:07You see the ghost towns
16:09You see everything about America
16:12That's wonderful
16:15To be out in the open prairie
16:16Where there's nothing but beautiful land around me
16:18And I have all that solitude
16:19And all that time to think things out
16:21And get creative
16:22You see in different parts of the country
16:24A new piece of scenery every day
16:28There are places like Idaho
16:29And Montana and Wyoming
16:32All those western places I love
16:35Those mountains are beautiful
16:37The sheer excitement of getting to new places
16:41And new experiences
16:43Just to see what I call priceless wonders
16:46Those things that drift by you when you're riding a train
16:49And the adventure doesn't end
16:50And the adventure doesn't end when the ride's over
16:53Breathtaking landscapes give way to the colorful characters
16:57Who pass through the train yards
17:00The friends you meet along the way
17:03That's what keeps me going back
17:05I think more than anything
17:06They're not in a nine-to-five office kind of person
17:09And we can sit and tell tall tales
17:12And relate to each other
17:13I really enjoy those kind of folks
17:14We're not caught up in that hustle-buzzle
17:17Credit card, plastic money, car payments, concrete highways
17:20And going from the office to the club to make the scene
17:24In other words
17:24I use the hobo as a medium for my poetry
17:29And found that everybody I've met so far has a story
17:32And that helps me tremendously with my feelings
17:37The friendship of the young fellow who took me to Canada
17:42And to Florida was precious
17:45When I started out
17:47I had my own preconceptions about who was out riding freight trains
17:53And I thought that it was a fairly homogenous group
17:57And I think one of the things I've really learned
17:59Is that there are many different personalities
18:02That are out riding the freights
18:03And those different personalities
18:06Rarely devolves their family names
18:08Adopting unique aliases instead
18:11Everybody's road name
18:14Kind of gives in a nutshell
18:17Who they are and what they represent
18:19So I can introduce myself as Jet said John
18:21And that kind of tells a little bit of the other side of me
18:24Rather than just being a hobo
18:26Some guys that walk along the track
18:29They might call him Track Man
18:31You know
18:32And Sidecar Sam
18:33He was riding Sidecar on a tanker
18:36With his feet dangling down alongside the tank
18:40That's why I named him Sidecar Sam
18:42Then Low Line Larry
18:45He rides from Florida all the way up to Utah
18:47And he rides that Low Line
18:48So I gave him the name of Low Line
18:50Everybody has a road name
18:52I was a stranger passing through your town
19:02I was a stranger passing through your town
19:09When I ask you a favor
19:13Good girl, you turned me down
19:18Most of the time I'm alone
19:28Because I have my own destination
19:30And I have my own reason for going somewhere
19:32I love solitude
19:33I was lonely before I started riding
19:35I never get lonely anywhere
19:37I told my wife I was going on an 18-day trip
19:39She hopefully was sorry to see me go
19:43My sister and everybody
19:44They get a kick out of telling their friends what I do
19:46My brother has been with me one time
19:48But he doesn't want to do it again
19:51But he kind of likes the concept
19:52You know what I mean?
19:54My mother looks a little bit askance at it
19:57You know, like it's not the greatest thing
19:59But she understands that I enjoy it
20:00And have a good time doing it
20:01My family, I don't really tell them anymore
20:04Because you get a lot of shaking heads
20:07And shrug shoulders
20:08And they don't really understand why I do it
20:10Since I'm a senior citizen
20:13It's kind of frowned on
20:15A lot of them think it's really neat
20:17But then there's some that just think
20:18I'm totally out of my mind
20:20Most of my friends think it's
20:23It sounds like fun
20:24Sounds entertaining
20:25They don't do it
20:26My friends, they're a little more understanding
20:29They tell me
20:31It's happened more than a few times
20:33They tell me they want to come out
20:34On a ride with me
20:35And as soon as I pack up my gear
20:37And I'm ready to head out the door
20:38They seem to disappear
20:40My mother spent a lot of
20:42Worrisome years, I'm sure
20:43When I got to Dunsmeyer on that trip there
20:47I called her
20:47And it just so happened
20:48I had a check coming from a job
20:50That I'd worked before I left
20:51A couple months before
20:53And she sent it to me by Western Union
20:55I got my butt on a goddamn Greyhound
20:57Quitted that whole boy
20:59Outside the rain was falling
21:20On the lonely boxcar door
21:23But the little farm of Hobo Bill
21:27Lay dead upon the floor
21:31While the train sped through the darkness
21:36With a raging storm outside
21:40No one knew that Hobo Bill
21:44Was taking his last ride
21:48I was always cold
22:00And stuff was always blowing in your face
22:02And I think the coldest ride I had was from Eugene, Oregon
22:09Went into Klamath Falls, Oregon
22:15And then on into Dunsmeyer
22:17But we rode over the top of the mountain there
22:19In a snowstorm
22:20And a couple of other bows and myself
22:23Were in the ice compartment
22:25Back in those old 40-foot reefers
22:28If they didn't have any fruit they were carrying
22:32They'd leave those reefer tops open sometime
22:35And it was an excellent place to get
22:36If you couldn't get inside of a boxcar somewhere
22:38And that's where we were on that mountain
22:41In that snowstorm
22:42Sometimes it's just too hot
22:43You get stuck in the back end of a well car
22:47There's no way to get out of the sun
22:48And you broil to death
22:50The worst part about it would be in situations
22:52Where you've run out of water
22:53And you know that it's going to be a long time
22:55Before you can find any
22:56Finding a place to take a shower
22:57Being hungry
22:58Lonesome towns
22:59Waiting, waiting, waiting
23:01What you're waiting for is when you finally catch out again
23:03And you start moving and you have that
23:05Ah, this is what I was waiting for
23:07But when you wait a long time for that
23:09I sometimes sit there and go
23:10Is this really worth it just to get on that train?
23:14This is really a pain
23:15But in the end it is always worth it
23:17Well the worst thing that I used to think
23:20Was getting a flat wheel
23:22And you're lying there trying to sleep
23:23And you're bouncing off the floor
23:25Every time that wheel goes around
23:26The railroad bull running you out of the yards
23:29Or the town clown
23:31Putting a run on you
23:33From his town
23:36And telling you to move on
23:39I get sick and tired of the bugs sometimes
23:42Some of the places I always slap on the bugs
23:44All of a sudden in the middle of the night man
23:46They'll break air
23:47And they'll leave me out in the middle of nowhere
23:48In the desert
23:49That's kind of hard
23:50The worst thing that could possibly happen
23:53For some of us
23:54Would be if they made it legal
23:57I'd like to make a little disclaimer here
24:00Just for our lawyers sake
24:03No bail
24:04Came down to make sure we're all in line
24:06By no means does the National Hobo Association
24:09Encourage anybody to go get on a freight train
24:12It's illegal and it's dangerous
24:14During the Depression
24:18Hundreds of trespassers
24:20Invaded yards like this
24:22And risked the wrath of the railroad bull
24:25Today it's a misdemeanor in most places
24:28The law's main concern being
24:30Vandalism of railroad property
24:33But a pesky hobo
24:34Could surely wind up in jail
24:36If the bull's warning goes unheeded
24:38Had to run alongside
24:41And follow the advice of the older men
24:46Hook a ride
24:48And get in
24:48And the railroad police
24:51Couldn't stop you from doing that
24:54Because it was just as risky for them
24:57As it was for us
24:59But they could
25:01Masterfully
25:03Keep you out of the railroad yards
25:05And that's where
25:08We
25:09Tangled with them
25:12Back in the old days
25:13You're going to go to the chain gang for 30 days
25:15You know
25:15Especially down south
25:18They were
25:19Mean
25:21And
25:22Bad
25:24Well in the old days
25:26They used to
25:27Hit you with them
25:28Brickman's club
25:29Today
25:31They're not too bad
25:32I guess
25:32They didn't
25:34Stop us from
25:36Getting aboard the train
25:39Slow moving
25:40And we were very agile
25:43And we had done it many times
25:45Once we broke through their lines
25:48We were
25:49On our way to
25:51Peoria
25:52They walked the train
25:53With the deputy sheriffs
25:54Pulled us off of there
25:56But it was kind of nice
25:57Sort of like Aunt B
25:58Bringing us dinner
25:58And everything
25:59You know
25:59It was kind of fun
26:00They wrote us a ticket
26:01For trespassing
26:02On railroad property
26:02We had to spend the night
26:03In the jail
26:04And they told us
26:04To get out of town
26:05The next morning
26:05Because the DA
26:06Wasn't going to prosecute it
26:07The city was too small
26:08I was never badly treated by them
26:13They saw that I was younger
26:16They were in a sense protective
26:20But they did not want me
26:23Aboard their retrains
26:25I got in into a box car
26:27With about eight other hobos
26:29And I was hungry
26:30And I went down
26:31And broke the seal
26:32On one of them refrigerator cars
26:33And did the unmancipal
26:35And took a whole case
26:37Of green beans out of there
26:38And I threw it up
26:39In that box car
26:40And those hobos
26:41Went to screaming at me
26:42And said
26:42Man, we'll get 50 years in jail
26:44What are you doing
26:44Breaking the seal
26:45In that box car
26:46I said
26:46They'll throw us all
26:47Off this train
26:48I said
26:49Well, at least we'll be hungry
26:50Won't be hungry
26:51And one old hobo
26:55Way back in the corner
26:56Of the box car
26:56He threw over
26:58A can opener
26:59And a spoon
27:00He said
27:00I'll join you, young man
27:02Hobo camps
27:12Also known as jungles
27:13Grew up near the train yards
27:15Water tanks
27:16Crew change points
27:17Anywhere locomotives stop
27:19Sooner or later
27:22You did fall into
27:24One of the camps
27:26And very imaginative men
27:29Ran them
27:31They were congenial places
27:33You didn't want to leave
27:36You made friends
27:38You heard great stories
27:40Well, I remember
27:42Going into a hobo jungle
27:44One time
27:45In Barstow
27:47They had a
27:48Really a large hobo
27:50Camp there
27:51I participated in some
27:53Community stew
27:54A couple times in my life
27:56Fit for a king
28:02Hobo stew
28:03The famous mulligan
28:04That's been made
28:05In spike cans
28:06And paint buckets
28:06Under bridges
28:07And on the edge
28:08Of the railroad yard
28:09Since the civil war
28:10The stew pot
28:12Gurgled over the fire
28:13For days on end
28:14They just kept adding
28:15Ingredients
28:16As the level went down
28:18Those jungles
28:19They were clean
28:20They had an order
28:21They didn't throw
28:24Garbage around
28:26Usually if a guy
28:28Come in the jungles
28:29He came there
28:30With his loaf of bread
28:33And his bologna
28:34And cheese
28:35And maybe he wanted
28:36To make a
28:37A pot of coffee
28:40And wait for a train
28:43And catch out
28:45It's the townspeople
28:47That complain
28:49They complain to the police
28:50The police complain
28:51To the railroad bulls
28:52And the railroad bulls
28:53Run them out
28:53If they keep the place clean
28:56You know
28:56And pick up all their trash
28:59And stuff
28:59I don't think
29:00They'd even be bothered
29:01The jungles are being wiped out
29:04With caterpillar tractors
29:05So that there would be
29:06No place for the riders
29:08To hide
29:08There's very few jungles
29:10Nowadays
29:11Go to sleep
29:15You weary hobo
29:17Let the towns drip slowly by
29:23Can't you hear the steel rail humming
29:29That's a hobo's lullaby
29:34Though your clothes are torn ragged
29:41Though your hair is turning gray
29:46Though you've spent a lifetime searching
29:53You'll find happiness someday
29:58So go to sleep
30:03So go to sleep
30:03You weary hobo
30:05Let the towns drip slowly by
30:11Can't you hear the steel rail humming
30:17That's a hobo's lullaby
30:22Communicate through the National Hobo Association
30:28Founded in 1987 by Santa Fe Bow
30:32Who has been a trained barnacle since the 70s
30:35His two goals were uniting others
30:38Who shared a love of the open road
30:39And preserving the history of the hobo
30:42During his travels
30:44Santa Fe came across an old copy
30:47Of the now defunct hobo news
30:49A publication that dated back to 1908
30:52Consequently he created the hobo times
30:56America's journal of wanderlust
30:59And began distributing it
31:01To kindred spirits
31:02In 1990
31:04Buzz Potter came on board
31:06And together they upgraded the times
31:08To the only magazine in America
31:10That features a blend
31:11Of railroad adventure stories
31:14Poetry
31:15Nostalgia
31:16And the current news
31:17Of life on the hobo trail
31:19A letter that we got
31:20From a 96 year old
31:22Former hobo
31:24Who rode back in the depression
31:26And he found out about us
31:28And he sent us a letter
31:29And it said very simply
31:31Dear National Hobo Association
31:32Please don't let the hobo die
31:35It grew slowly over the years
31:37But steadily
31:39And today we have thousands
31:41Of members nationwide
31:42That span the demographic spectrum
31:47From lawyers to laborers
31:48Professional people
31:49Corporate people
31:51They're from all walks of life
31:53And they've been where I've got to go yet
31:54And I learned from their experiences
31:57It's amazing how many people
32:00Don't realize they're hobos
32:01Until they come and see us
32:02And they realize that they're
32:04On the same wavelength with us
32:05With their kindred spirits
32:06They have the wanderlust
32:07The sense of romance
32:09And the sense of nostalgia
32:11All of a sudden we understood
32:13That there were other people
32:15Like ourselves
32:15And we found out
32:16How to get a hold of them
32:17It provides a forum
32:18For us to get together
32:20And tell our tales
32:21Rather than just
32:22Maybe running into
32:23One or two people
32:24In the jungle
32:24And telling your individual experiences
32:26And to get together
32:27Occasionally
32:28And share the fellowship
32:29That was forged
32:30In early days
32:32Around campfires
32:32And remote places
32:33Throughout the country
32:34Now we're a little more respectable
32:36I guess
32:37And we get together
32:37With much better stew
32:39And much better clothes
32:40And much warmer fires perhaps
32:42But the fellowship hasn't changed
32:44We enjoy brotherhood, camaraderie
32:46We sing songs
32:47We trade photographs and addresses
32:49And we sort of get together
32:51This to me is my family
32:52We have younger people now
32:54Some of the ex-generation people
32:56Who are looking for themselves
32:58Trying to find themselves
32:59I guess
32:59And part of that is seeing America
33:02And we're trying to educate our children
33:05And our younger folk
33:07Who might not know
33:08What a steam locomotive is
33:09And what a hobo jungle was
33:10And a mulligan stew
33:11And a pot
33:12And a frisco circle
33:13And stuff like that
33:14Terms that were used
33:14Back in the 20s and 30s
33:17A mulligan stew
33:17And a pot
33:18And a frisco circle
33:19And stuff like that
33:20Terms that were used
33:20Back in the 20s
33:22And 30s and 40s
33:23Many NHA members
33:27Are devoted collectors
33:28Of hobo memorabilia
33:30George Horton
33:32Has acquired hobo artifacts
33:33Such as these
33:34Antique carvings
33:36Each whittled
33:37From a single piece of wood
33:39These whistles and chains
33:41Were formed
33:42In a similar fashion
33:43Enterprising hobos
33:45Even chiseled peach pits
33:47Into monkey trinkets
33:49Del Romines
33:51Wrote a book
33:52On hobo nickels
33:53Explaining how bows
33:55Tooled Indian head coins
33:57To match the profiles
33:58Of their paying customers
34:00They'd even reshape
34:02The buffalo image
34:03On the reverse side
34:05Drummond Manfield's art
34:07Reflects earlier days
34:09When it was pretty much
34:10A man's world
34:11Out on the road
34:12But nowadays
34:14Women are prominent members
34:16Of the hobo community
34:18We have a lot of fun
34:19Together
34:21And it becomes like
34:22Your extended family
34:24Your brothers
34:24Your sisters
34:25And you make friends
34:26For life
34:26So I love them
34:28Hoboings
34:31Definitely in Connecticut
34:32Shorty's blood
34:33Her father was a hobo
34:35For 40 years
34:36And by no means
34:37A bum
34:38You see real hobos
34:40Bristle
34:41At the intimation
34:42That they shunned work
34:43In fact
34:45They discreetly
34:46Mark their own hieroglyphics
34:48Around train yards
34:49To alert each other
34:50About town prospects
34:52An oft-repeated axiom
34:57Sums up the men
34:58On the road
34:59A hobo
35:00Is a traveling worker
35:02A tramp
35:04Is a traveling non-worker
35:06A bum
35:07Is a non-traveling
35:09Non-worker
35:10You gotta do work
35:12In order to
35:12Keep yourself
35:13Independent
35:14Traveling money
35:17Take any kind of a job
35:21Whether it's
35:21Two hours
35:22Or two days
35:23Or two months
35:24Get a road stake
35:27The western farmers
35:30Had a deal
35:32With the railroads
35:33Whereby they would
35:36Ship their cattle
35:37From the ranch
35:39To the slaughterhouse
35:41In Chicago
35:41They had to have
35:44Somebody aboard the train
35:45So that at every
35:48Twelve hour interval
35:50You stopped
35:52Unloaded the cattle
35:55Exercised them
35:58Watered them
35:59Fed them
36:00Got back aboard the train
36:03And went on to Chicago
36:04You got no money for this
36:07But you didn't get transportation
36:10We used to hay
36:11That have two cuttings
36:14Of hay a year
36:15And you're good for
36:18A week to two weeks
36:20Of haying
36:21We went and caught a freight
36:23Out of Denver
36:23And went west
36:25And we wound up
36:27In Yakima, Washington
36:28And he had an ant there
36:31That had an apple orchard
36:35And he thought
36:35Well we could find that place
36:37And maybe we could pick
36:38Some apples
36:39We never found the place
36:40We had the great state
36:42Of Washington state
36:43That's the real
36:46Apple
36:47Knocking country
36:49And we were
36:51Everybody was a hobo
36:53Back then
36:54Roadhog washed
36:55All the windows
36:55In my house
36:56Inside and out
36:57Side door
36:58Had scrubbed
36:58My kitchen floor
36:59Immaculate
37:00And they raked
37:02All the leaves
37:02In my yard
37:03It was fall
37:03Late September
37:04And that was
37:05To pay me back
37:06For the ride
37:07In the little bedroom
37:10I gave them
37:11Separate from mine
37:13Of course
37:13I've done all
37:15Dug irrigation ditches
37:16Broke horses
37:17Hode watermelon
37:20In the fields
37:21And I've done just about
37:24Every kind of work
37:25You can think of
37:26I worked in a produce
37:27Packing house
37:29Loading lettuce
37:31Bananas
37:33Stuff like that
37:34Primarily I play guitar
37:36I do a lot
37:36I do a lot of folk
37:37Festivals around the country
37:38I play veterans hospitals
37:40I do children's hospitals
37:41I try to bring a few
37:43Hundred dollars along
37:44With me on the freights
37:45When I take a trip
37:45And if I run out
37:48Or if I happen
37:49To follow the job
37:50I'll take it
37:50I do anything
37:51From painting
37:52Carpentry
37:53Concrete work
37:54Trimming trees
37:56And when I'm broke
37:57In between guitar gigs
37:58I go to day labor
37:58And push a wheelbarrow
37:59Dig a ditch
38:00Just anything I can
38:01You know
38:01To get by
38:02You know
38:02The average hobo
38:06Isn't going to last
38:07Long at any job
38:08Ah today
38:12There's a new class
38:13Of unticketed passengers
38:14Who vary from
38:15The old time hobos
38:16They aren't chasing
38:18Down jobs
38:19They're running from them
38:20And have come to be known
38:22As yuppie
38:23Or recreational hobos
38:25Yuppie hobos
38:27They're a pretty good group
38:30A lot of those guys
38:32Really do more
38:33Than their share
38:34I approve of them
38:36I'd like to see
38:37Everybody see America
38:38It's a beautiful country
38:39And there's so much
38:40That the people
38:41Don't really see
38:43Well you know
38:44Everybody deserves a vacation
38:45These guys work hard
38:47You know
38:47They put all the big money
38:48Together
38:48I mean if I could have
38:49A bmw and ride the rails
38:51And have the better
38:51Of two equals
38:51I'd have a great life too
38:53They're not as generous
38:55As our old school
38:56Were and has been
38:58They're a different
39:03Breed of bows
39:04I'm out there
39:04Just like them
39:05Just riding the rails
39:06Seeing the country
39:07And that's really
39:08What the real hobos
39:09Are all about
39:10I had somebody
39:11Send me $50 a month
39:12That was the deal
39:13Couldn't send me
39:14More than $50 a month
39:15Unless I came back
39:16To Minneapolis
39:17And re-sign the papers
39:19Because I figured
39:20The less I'd spend
39:21The more I'd experience
39:22And so I would
39:24Go that last week
39:27You know
39:27Where I'd burn all my money
39:28And then I wouldn't
39:30Have any money for a week
39:31And I always found
39:33That the third week
39:33Of the month
39:34I had more fun
39:35As a professional pilot
39:37There is a courtesy
39:38Among airline pilots
39:39That if you present
39:40Your ID card
39:41They'll let you ride
39:42Up in the cockpit
39:43And since the name
39:44Of the game
39:45Is traveling for free
39:46It's a little faster
39:47Way of getting somewhere
39:47If you don't have
39:48Quite the time
39:49Coming here
39:50I rode up in the cockpit
39:51Of a 747-400
39:53Where they offered me
39:55Their bunk room to sleep
39:56Which is just like
39:58A Pullman car
39:58So it's really
40:01A high class
40:01Hobo way of traveling
40:02I don't really think
40:04I qualify as a yuppie
40:06I mean I'm not really
40:07Young and I'm not
40:08Trying to be
40:08Upwardly mobile
40:09I'm sort of a professional
40:11Now doing nursing work
40:12But I don't really think
40:14Anybody that knows me
40:15Would characterize me
40:16As a yuppie
40:17I don't really think
40:18I am
40:19I got no complaints
40:21About other people
40:22Having a different
40:23Approach to it
40:24Somewhat
40:24I think most people
40:25Sort of called me
40:26Like a recreational rider
40:27I guess
40:28So I got into
40:30Riding freight trains
40:31As a necessity
40:32But after I
40:33Eventually got back
40:34On my feet
40:35And got to work
40:35And got a place
40:37To live
40:37And all that
40:37Then I became
40:39Somewhat of a
40:39Recreational rider
40:40Because I just
40:40Couldn't get away
40:41From it
40:41I just had that
40:42Wanderlust in my blood
40:43But we all have
40:44One thing in common
40:45We like to steal rides
40:48Besides traveling
40:51For free
40:51The ever frugal hobo
40:53Has learned to survive
40:55On mother nature's
40:56Free lunches
40:57Most people think
40:59That hobos
41:00Went to houses
41:01For meals
41:02Or work
41:03And try and pay
41:03For them
41:04But a lot of meals
41:07Were taken
41:08From right around here
41:09Right along trackside
41:10Here we have
41:13Plantain
41:14Which no doubt
41:16Was definitely
41:17Part of the hobo diet
41:18I know a lot of
41:21Stories I've read
41:22Hobos and other people
41:24Would always just
41:25Pick up a little bit
41:26Chew on it
41:28Tastes good
41:29With other plants
41:30And between plantain
41:33With a little bit
41:34Of lemon clover flavor
41:35You can eat
41:37A great meal
41:38When I finally
41:39Broke free of money
41:40And realized
41:41That I could live off
41:42The blackberries
41:45You know
41:45And I know where they are
41:47And the raspberries
41:48Are where they are
41:48And the other things
41:49That are around the yards
41:50You can eat
41:50Right off the land
41:52Or the dumpsters
41:54Or whatever else
41:55A quick-witted hobo
41:57Has traditionally
41:59Added humor
42:00To his social commentary
42:01Put your lobsters
42:03In the trash
42:04Eat your pheasant
42:05While it's under glass
42:07Get into your garbage
42:08I have no cash
42:10Little dinner
42:11I'll be gone in a flash
42:12Won't you hold them pickles
42:13Hold that lettuce
42:15Special orders
42:16They don't upset us
42:18Just as long
42:19As they would let us
42:20Dive it our way
42:22Yeah, we're gonna go
42:24Dumpster diving
42:26I'm surviving
42:28Kitty cats are thriving
42:31Today
42:32Just open the lid
42:35Have a little look
42:37It's all prepared
42:38There's no need to cook
42:39We're gonna dumpster diving
42:41Whoa, whoa, hooray
42:43I told you
42:45Get away, kitty cat
42:46I saw
42:47Catching rides on freight trains
42:52Is notoriously dangerous
42:53Even the most seasoned hobo
42:55Will caution against novices
42:57Trying to jump
42:58On board a moving train
42:59Telling horror stories
43:01Of accidents they've witnessed
43:03Resulting in agonizing
43:05Dismemberments
43:06Or gruesome deaths
43:07One wrong move
43:10And you've ended your days
43:12There were extended couplings
43:14Probably 10 or 15 feet across
43:16And the trains were moving
43:17And there were the two of us
43:19One guy would stand here
43:21And shine the light
43:22At the couplings
43:23And after he safely got across
43:25We'd leave the light on
43:26And this was at night
43:27And train maybe going 50 or 60 miles an hour
43:29We'd toss the flashlight to the other guy
43:32And of course it was up to him
43:33To make sure he caught it
43:34And then in turn
43:35He would shine the light
43:37As the second guy would go across the railings
43:39And we had to do this for about
43:40Four or five cars
43:41And I think back
43:42It's probably the most foolish thing I ever did
43:45I'd never do it again
43:46I still get goose bumps
43:48When I think about it
43:49There's dangers out there
43:50And there's no way you can avoid them
43:52And even the most experienced veterans
43:54Cannot avoid the dangers of riding trains
43:56I mean I just really never travel
43:58With somebody I don't know
43:59You just
44:00You just
44:02It's just too chancy
44:03It's too chancy
44:04People
44:06Who wish you harm
44:09And want to
44:10Want to take you and rob you
44:13That's the biggest danger today
44:15It's not from the bulls
44:16And it's not from falling off the trains
44:18Back in the old days
44:20There was nothing for
44:2110, 15 guys
44:23And a side door pullman
44:25Which is a boxcar
44:26To ride in the same car
44:28Nowadays
44:29You wouldn't dare
44:31To ride with
44:31Strange
44:33Hobos
44:34Or anyone you didn't know
44:36You ride by yourself
44:38I was learning how to fight
44:40From a friend of mine
44:41On a boxcar one time
44:42He showed me how to
44:43Take a knife away from a guy
44:44And flip him
44:45And all that stuff
44:47He learned it in the Marine Corps
44:48I think
44:48We practiced that
44:50In a boxcar
44:50Moving about 80 miles an hour
44:52One time
44:52When it comes to train riding
44:54You have to give that train
44:56All of your respect
44:57But the train will never
44:58Give you any
44:59See you can't rely upon
45:01The train to get you
45:03Where you're going
45:03Or to be a smooth ride
45:05Or a safe one
45:05I have a great concern
45:07About equipment failure
45:08I have a concern about
45:09Human error
45:11With regard to rail operations
45:12And these kinds of things
45:13I have no control over
45:14And you never know
45:16Whenever you're going to be
45:16On a train
45:17That has a crew
45:18That's gone to sleep
45:19At the throttle
45:20And next thing you know
45:21You're in a big pileup
45:22At the bottom of a hill
45:23I rode the rods
45:29From Iowa to Illinois
45:33And a more hellish experience
45:38No young fellow ever had
45:41It was horrible
45:45You set up
45:48A little protection there
45:52To keep the soot out of your face
45:54And you bounced along
45:58And you felt the ride would never end
46:01It was a descent into hell
46:05And how these men could do it
46:08Again and again and again
46:11Bewildered me
46:12No matter how long it may take us
46:16Life-threatening challenges
46:18Took our new dimensions
46:19On December the 7th, 1941
46:22The day many believed the hobo died
46:25Will win through to absolute victory
46:28No longer did Bose jungle up in Frisco
46:32Spookolo or Mini Hopeless
46:35Now it was Anzio, Normandy, and Iwo Jima
46:39And when they were welcomed back home
46:42There were jobs for everyone
46:44New automobiles and even diesel locomotives
46:47Life on the hobo trail would indeed
46:50Never be the same
46:52What will become of the hobo
46:57Whenever his time comes to die
47:02I wouldn't trade my experiences out here on the road
47:07For anybody's college education
47:09And though I never really accomplished anything
47:15By all this travel
47:16It satisfied something in me
47:19I don't know whether I was born with it
47:23But it started very young
47:27And I never stopped
47:31I got stopped
47:34But I would
47:37Look right now to be in one of those hobo camps
47:43Will they tell us
47:47That we cannot ride
47:49Will the hobo
47:53Come with the rich man
47:56Will the hobo survive
47:58Or will he go the way of the steam train
48:01We wonder
48:03If you think about how many lifestyles
48:11Or how many businesses or whatever
48:14Have lasted 150 years
48:16There's not very damn many of them
48:18And yet hobo continues to be with us
48:21The day is coming
48:22When we won't be able to ride freight trains
48:24This is not the 30s or the 40s anymore
48:26But that doesn't mean
48:28That it still isn't an alluring prospect
48:30For people of adventurous souls
48:31As long as there's trains
48:33There's going to be people riding them
48:34I can guarantee you that
48:35With a strong railroad industry
48:37You're going to have plenty of trains
48:38And you're going to have more people riding them
48:40I had a dream
48:41About a train that was completely hobo proof
48:44There was no possible way you could jump on it
48:47In fact it was just so slick
48:48There was no grab irons
48:49There was nothing
48:50And I don't know if the rail industry
48:52Is going to go that far
48:53And design cars exclusively
48:55To keep people off of them
48:56It's really getting a lot tougher
48:58A lot of railroad corporations
49:00Are merging together
49:01Security is tightening up a lot
49:03Because there's a few idiots
49:04Out there derailing trains
49:05It might get harder again to hop freights
49:07It might get easier
49:09But it will always be here
49:11There's not going to be too much of it
49:13In the future I'm afraid
49:14Because well they seem to get
49:18Pretty tough on hobos now
49:20There's just more and more poor people
49:22I'm sorry to say
49:23I think there's going to be
49:24More and more poor people
49:26They may be back on the trains again
49:28Going around looking for odd jobs
49:30I think maybe the hobo is
49:32Pretty much gone in the east
49:35But in the west he will live
49:38The old hobos now
49:40Too old to travel
49:42They're becoming homeboys now
49:44They just stay in one location
49:46They don't travel no more
49:47I think we'll always have
49:48Heavy duty rail riders
49:50People that want to ride freights
49:52And go for the adventure
49:53But the old
49:54Bridger steam train hobos
49:56They're pretty much gone
49:57We're losing a few more every year
49:59And my era of hobos
50:03They're vastly dying out
50:08The real hobo
50:11Is a dying breed
50:12A guy out there
50:13Who's trying to get by
50:14Going from town to town
50:15Looking for work
50:16A real gentleman
50:17Honest fellow is a hobo
50:19I have a sinking feeling in my heart
50:21That the day of the hobo is about over
50:24I think it's a fading game
50:27There's a legacy that will always live on
50:29And it will change with the different groups
50:32Who are out there
50:33But as long as there's a rail to ride
50:35I think someone will be riding it
50:37The future could be pretty bright actually
50:40If a young man should want a hobo in this country
50:44It might be the way to go
50:45I think there will always be
50:48Young men like me
50:53Who are a little bit
50:56A thwart civilization
50:59Civilization
51:01I've been a loner
51:04I've been my own man
51:07Fiercely so
51:10Hey, now come to have all you rampers
51:14All you travelers on the road
51:18Well, the time has come
51:21To remember what you're going
51:24Like where do you come from
51:30And where do you think you're going
51:33I don't know how any of the bows ride the trains these days
51:50For the simple reason
51:51They got all the ladders cut off
51:53And you say to yourself
51:56Well, how do they get up there?
51:57You know
51:58But they do
51:59And they make their way
52:01And they're still hobo
52:03And all around the country
52:04God bless them
52:05See you down the road
52:09All around the water tanks
52:17Waiting for a train
52:20A thousand miles away from home
52:25Sleeping in the rain
52:28I walked up to a brakeman
52:32To give him my talk
52:35He says, if you've got money
52:39I'll see that you don't walk
52:43I haven't got a nickel
52:47Not a penny can I show
52:51Get off, get off
52:54You're a railroad bum
52:56And he slammed that boxcar door
52:59Though my pocketbook is empty
53:09And my heart is full of pain
53:13I'm a thousand miles away from home
53:17Waiting for a train
53:20You're a lady
53:22Oh, lady
53:24Oh, lady
53:26Oh, lady
53:26Oh, lady
53:29Oh, lady
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