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