← more from
VerseOne Distribution
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Itinerant Blues

from Prowlin' Lobo Blues by Eric Allen

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

During the Great Depression in the US, many men were forced to leave their family and ride the rails as itinerant laborers. These hobos would usually do agricultural work, moving via trains from place to place based on the seasonal cycle of planting and harvesting crops. Many of these men did not return to their family due to embarrassment or their new found freedoms from living an itinerant lifestyle (a.k.a. the poor man's divorce).

lyrics

Know these lines like I know
lines on my wife's face.
Wanna see her and my little girl,
not in this place.
She's better off now with her ma,
that the banks have collapsed and I won't beg at all
It's either this or a cardboard house
Thrown out of anyway.

Crops are ripe down around Pocatello
They need a hand, I need some dough
Sleepin' out in the jungle all night
Waitin' to catch out on a Union south
Caught some warmth from the tales that never end,
'round the friscos, fires, and stews.
Lord under a water tank sky,
made some new friends to boot.

Jumped on, was a little tough,
she wasn't movin' too fast.
Wanna sleep, it's just my luck,
I got the car with a flat.
Lord bouncin' off the floor every time that old wheel go around,
with the freezin' cold, soot blowin' in my face.

We got 8 in this car, it's a little tight,
At least we're movin' on.
Three look strong, three look haggered,
and one just looks gone.
Sioux City Jimmy nearly lost his foot
gettin' caught up in the flange.
KC Mo lost a finger in a knife fight
Ah somebody called him a tramp.

Down in Pocatello, they treat us good.
Folks around the Portneuf they know folks like us.
Scratch some lines on that fence out front,
so the next man'll know.
Midwestern slaughter houses need cattle lord.
Western ranchers need paid.
Lord this diggins' done and I got mine, gonna
hop a cattle freight headed that way.

Every 12 hours we bring 'em down
A little food, walk 'em around
One wandered off just shy of Omaha
Round her up, she's worth a right fair haul
Sioux City Jimmy still gimpin' around on that foot of his.
My nickel's on the cow
to bring old Jimmy right down.
Lord under these big skies I
feel somethin' free.

Hope she can forgive me
and understand
I did the only thing I thought I could
to be a man
Didn't plan a poor man's divorce
along these tracks
Now I wonder
if I ever get back
Tell
my little girl.

credits

from Prowlin' Lobo Blues, released February 2, 2023
Songwriter - Eric Allen.
Vocals & Guitar - Eric Allen.
Double Bass - James Thomason.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Eric Allen image

Eric Allen Los Angeles, California

Eric Allen, originally from Indiana, is known for his authentic Americana, blues, country sound. Eric released his 2nd album, Prowlin' Lobo Blues, in Feb. 2023. Eric’s self-titled debut album released in Jan. 2021.
o www.facebook.com/ericallen40years/
o sptfy.com/EricAllen40Years
o www.youtube.com/@EricAllen40Years
o ericallenholyroller@yahoo.com ... more

contact / help

Contact Eric Allen

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Eric Allen, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Seafood Sam joins the show to discuss his newest album, " Standing On Giant Shoulders".
listen now