I’ve Been Working on the Railroad

aka “Levee Song”, 1894
Words and Music for “Levee Song” by Anonymous (1894).
Words for “The Eyes of Texas” by John Lang Sinclair
(1880-1947), 12 May 1903.

[Source: pp. 74-75 of “Songs for Pickin’ and Singin'”
Selected and Arranged by James F. Leisy
(Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, 1962)]

[For info see p. 309 of “The Book of World-Famous Music:
Classical, Popular and Folk” by James J. Fuld
(Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged)
(New York: Dover Publications, 1995)


Accompaniment by Benjamin R. Tubb:


Lyrics

  1. I’ve been working on the railroad,
    All the live-long day;
    I’ve been working on the railroad,
    Just to pass the time away.
    Don’t you hear the whistle blowin’,
    Rise up so early in the morn,
    Don’t you hear the captain shoutin’:
    “Dinah, blow your horn.”

Dinah, won’t you blow, Dinah, won’t you blow,
Dinah, won’t you blow your horn,
Dinah, won’t you blow, Dinah, won’t you blow,
Dinah, won’t you blow your horn.

Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah,
Someone’s in the kitchen I know,
Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah,
Strummin’ on the old banjo.

  1. (The) eyes of Texas are upon you all the live-long day
    The eyes of Texas are upon you, you cannot get away
    Do not think you can escape them at night or early in the morn
    The eyes of Tex-as are upon you
    ‘Till Gabriel blows his horn.