Tramp (II), The

DESCRIPTION: "I'm a broken-down man without money or friends... I wisht I had never been born." The tramp reports that people constantly tell him to get a job, but none will offer a job. He recalls another tramp thrown off a train and killed on the track
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, McGee Brothers); a version was printed c. 1880 in _De Marsan's Singer's Journal_
KEYWORDS: hobo death hardtimes unemployment
FOUND IN: US(MW,So) Canada(Newf,Ont)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cohen-LongSteelRail, pp. 347-350, "Because He Was Only a Tramp" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Dean-FlyingCloud, p. 71, "The Tramp's Lament" (1 text)
Randolph 843, "The Tramp" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 48, "Broken-Down Sport" (1 text)
Roud #4305
RECORDINGS:
Jack Edwards, "The Tramp" (Supertone 9711, 1930)
Leo Gooley, "The Tramp" (on ONEFowke01)
McGee Brothers, "The Tramp" (Vocalion 5171, 1927)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Remember the Poor Tramp Has to Live" (plot)
NOTES [63 words]: Cohen theorizes that this started as two songs, one about a tramp who can't find work, the other about a tramp thrown from a train and killed. As evidence he prints a version which lacks the dying tramp stanzas. This seems not unlikely, but until we find a version of the song with the tramp thrown from the train *without* the other part, there isn't much point in splitting. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.6
File: R843

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