Frisco Road
Utah Phillips
Starlight On The Rails
Banjo tuned E, capo 3, Key of C
Frisco Road
A l[C]ong lonesome go rolling d[F]own the Frisco Road,
Every m[C]ile feeling I was all a[G7]lone
In the p[C]laces where I have seen summer's [F]fat and winter's lean
And don't you k[C]now I wish I co[G7]uld go back [C]home
Chorus:
I do[F]n't know where i left it though, its a[C]lways on my mind
I a[G7]sk the same old questions all the time
Is the [C]old town still the same? Does an[F]ybody know my name?
The years slip[C] by like the nu[F]mbers on an [G7]endless highwa[C]y sign
(spoken)
Standing here in the breakdown lane, don't think I'll make it
today;
And I wish the road was a big freight train, blowing and rolling my
way.
I know the rain wouldn't seem so cold on the top of an old boxcar,
And wherever it was I was trying to go, it wouldn't seem half so
far.
I remember the Roper yard cafe and a pretty little beanery queen;
She gave those jailhouse spuds away to a bum she'd never seen.
Well, I tipped her with a couple of rhymes on the back of a
placemat there,
And I've thought about her plenty of times when I couldn't bum a
square.
Or the time we rode on a piggy-back, punching the Great Divide;
The blowing snow had iced the track and the train got stuck inside;
The diesel fumes they got so thick I thought we'd all be gassed,
Then they sanded her out just in the nick and punched her through
at last.
Now I don't claim to be too proud to shag a ride on my thumb,
But I'd trade this whole hitch-hiking crowd for a honest old
railroad bum;
And if there ever comes a day when the rails have gone to rust,
I'll put my jug and bindle away and give up in disgust.
Beyond these gentle Eastern hills and the soft New England sky
Do the highball whistles echo still where the mile-long blazers
fly?
Sitting here by the toll road gates, I wonder as I rest,
Do the heavy, clanking, lonely freights still thunder a-way out
West?
(sung)
Have you seen the morning sun putting shadows on the run
As you were climbing out of some old reefer hole,
High above the roaring wheels? Then you know just how it feels
To ride the tops and watch the prairies roll.
Utah Phillips
Starlight On The Rails
Banjo tuned E, capo 3, Key of C
Frisco Road
A l[C]ong lonesome go rolling d[F]own the Frisco Road,
Every m[C]ile feeling I was all a[G7]lone
In the p[C]laces where I have seen summer's [F]fat and winter's lean
And don't you k[C]now I wish I co[G7]uld go back [C]home
Chorus:
I do[F]n't know where i left it though, its a[C]lways on my mind
I a[G7]sk the same old questions all the time
Is the [C]old town still the same? Does an[F]ybody know my name?
The years slip[C] by like the nu[F]mbers on an [G7]endless highwa[C]y sign
(spoken)
Standing here in the breakdown lane, don't think I'll make it
today;
And I wish the road was a big freight train, blowing and rolling my
way.
I know the rain wouldn't seem so cold on the top of an old boxcar,
And wherever it was I was trying to go, it wouldn't seem half so
far.
I remember the Roper yard cafe and a pretty little beanery queen;
She gave those jailhouse spuds away to a bum she'd never seen.
Well, I tipped her with a couple of rhymes on the back of a
placemat there,
And I've thought about her plenty of times when I couldn't bum a
square.
Or the time we rode on a piggy-back, punching the Great Divide;
The blowing snow had iced the track and the train got stuck inside;
The diesel fumes they got so thick I thought we'd all be gassed,
Then they sanded her out just in the nick and punched her through
at last.
Now I don't claim to be too proud to shag a ride on my thumb,
But I'd trade this whole hitch-hiking crowd for a honest old
railroad bum;
And if there ever comes a day when the rails have gone to rust,
I'll put my jug and bindle away and give up in disgust.
Beyond these gentle Eastern hills and the soft New England sky
Do the highball whistles echo still where the mile-long blazers
fly?
Sitting here by the toll road gates, I wonder as I rest,
Do the heavy, clanking, lonely freights still thunder a-way out
West?
(sung)
Have you seen the morning sun putting shadows on the run
As you were climbing out of some old reefer hole,
High above the roaring wheels? Then you know just how it feels
To ride the tops and watch the prairies roll.
