He rode the rails since the Great Depression
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Fifty years out on the skids
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He said "You don't cross nobody
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You'll be all right out here kid."
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Left my family in Pennsylvania
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Searchin' for work I hit the road
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I met Frank in East Texas
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In a freight yard blown through with snow
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From New Mexico to Colorado
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California to the sea
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Frank he showed me the ropes sir
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Just till I could get back on my feet
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I hoed sugar beets outside of Firebaugh
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I picked the peaches from the Marysville trees
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They bunked us in a barn just like animals
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Me and a hundred others just like me
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We split up come the springtime
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I never seen Frank again
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'Cept one rainy night he blew by me on a grainer
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Shouted my name and disappeared in the rain and wind
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They found him shot dead outside of Stockton
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His body lyin' on a muddy hill
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Nothin' taken nothin' stolen
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Somebody killin' just to kill
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Late that summer I was rollin' through the plains of Texas
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A vision passed before my eyes
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A small house sittin' trackside
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With the glow of the savior's beautiful light
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A woman stood cookin' in the kitchen
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Kid sat at a table with his old man
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Now I wonder does my son miss me
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Does he wonder where I am
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Tonight I pick my campsite carefully
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Outside the Sacramento yard
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Gather some wood and light a fire
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In the early winter dark
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Wind whistling cold I pull my coat around me
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Heat some coffee and stare out into the black night
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I lie awake I lie awake sir
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With my machete by my side
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My Jesus your gracious love and mercy
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Tonight I'm sorry could not fill my heart
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Like one good rifle
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And the name of who I ought to kill
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The New Timer
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Bruce Springsteen |