9 Canadian Folk Music 47.2 (Summer 2013) “Waiting for a Train ” in Canada

It was a good jam despite my guitar being outnum-bered two to one by banjos. At one point I sang Jim-mie Rodgers’s “Waiting for a Train ” (a.k.a. “All Around the Water Tank”). I’d known this song for years, but had recently dusted it off after hearing Roy Forbes’s fine version.1 Waiting for a Train (Jimmie Rodgers’s version) All around the water tank, waiting for a train, A thousand miles away from home, sleeping in the rain; I walked up to a freight man to give him a line of talk, He said, “If you’ve got money, I’ll see that you don’t walk”; “I haven’t got a nickel, not a penny can I show”, “Get off, get off, you railroad bum, ” and he slammed the boxcar door. Well, they put me off in Texas, a state I dearly love, Wide open spaces around me, moon and stars above; Nobody seems to want me or lend me a helping hand, I’m on my way from Frisco, going back to Dixieland; My pocket book is empty and my heart is full of pain, I’m a thousand miles away from home, waiting for a train. I was intrigued when John Leeder said he had heard his father sing it in 3/4 time. All of the recorded ver-sions I’d heard were in 4/4 time (e.g., Jimmie Rodg