Last Of The Hobo Kings - Mary Gauthier

Steam Train Maury died last night

His wife Wanda by his side

He caught the Westbound out of here

Hopped the high irons to the by and by

They say he jumped ten thousand trains

Rode a million miles for free

Helped out at VA hospitals

And penitentiaries

Dandy Dave, Rusty Nails and Sweet Lady Sugar Cane

Dead Eye Kate and the Baloney Kid raise their cups tonight in Steam Train’s name

Senators, congressmen, puppets on a string

Among the windswept vagabonds Steam Train was the king

The last of the hobo kings

The last of the hobo kings

Now bums just drink and wander round

Tramps dream and wander too

But a hobo was a pioneer

Who preferred to work for food

He knew how his nation was doing

By the length of a side walk cigarette butt

Born with an aching wanderlust

Embedded in his gut

Hounded, beaten, laughed at, broke

Chased out of every town

With a walking stick sceptre

And his shredded coffee can crown

The last of the hobo kings

He was the last of the hobo kings

The last free men are hoboes

Steinbeck said, and he paid cash

And the stories that he bought from them

Helped write the Grapes of Wrath

But boxcars have been sealed for years

And trespassers do time

And the railroad yards are razor wired

And hoboing’s a crime

So here’s to you Steam Train Maury

Hold that Westbound tight

As you ride off into history

The last hobo, the last ride

The last of the hobo king

He was the last of the hobo kings