Hobos Lullaby - Josh Martinez

Let me tell you about a man I know

who lives down on the rails

Let me tell you about a way of life

when the city ends and the road begins.

When it wasn’t so hard to just make your way

before taxman comes and take all your pay

then one day you just get sick of it all

and walk down the tracks and drift away

It’s a nice sunday morning, see an old man yawning,

it’s the hobo woke up underneath the grocery store’s awning

Grumpy and (?) he shares his Gin with his neighbour

This city 's gone all shitty it’s lost its gritty flavor

Now it’s full of idiots who don’t know nothing about nothing

kids these days and their week ways

He’s sitting on stoops and spitting out truths

his old ways worked going old school always.

plus it didn’t hurt the lord lurked in his hallways

used to hear him shouting to god he’d call all day.

claiming he was aimless but knowing he was lying

Searching for salvation but not exactly trying.

His face is old and his teeth are gone

his pace is slow but he shuffles on

he mumbles in tongues and speaks with a slur

And I swear if you see him you address him «yes sir!»

The real deal hobo he ain 't settling or stopping,

been going strong for so long and yet still ain’t dropping.

people talk and stare as they walk by and glare

but they knew they couldn 't do what he did could do they wouldn’t dare

And he got no car and he doesn’t get emails

he smells like an ogre and repels most females.

cursing out customers outside the store

scaring the children while working the door

And noone calls on his birthday to wish him well

sometimes the lonely gets him he misses someone who listens well

he hasn’t had a friend in who knows how long

and it seems like he’s always singing the same damn song

Day old donuts and cans of beans

Dumpster chicken and river greens.

Hopping on trains with lysol for wine

It’s just another drink to the end of the line.

Raindrops drips across his roof and seeps in

through the cardboard and concrete block he sleeps in

it wreaks havoc with each storm the attic creaks more

(??) collect some bottles on the floor

his home was his castle his domain his home

and his pain grew so great it wouldn’t leave him alone

on his own all his life he’s been cast away

so he walks down the tracks and drifts away

as he lay in the shade by the tracks where he stayed

in the shacks that were made by these quacks who obeyed

no code the open road would give him guidance, they’d focus

through blindness flash potion flask under overcoat liners.

emotions run high getting chased from the stations

when all you really need is patience.

night watch not on they must’ve caught the dose or quota

the coast was clear he steers the tracks like a hobo’s suppose ta

And a man like this is more than just a name on freights,

he’s lived his life in crates and spent late nights in fields

and forced great laughs despite always having to run

real hobos don’t slow down or pass on a hoedown

Some hobos go crazy get a little liquor in 'em

Get to thinking they’ve been victim too long to shake the feeling

Get down.

How down?

Hit the road then the soda

Had a bud in Minnesota hop a freight to Dakota

He loved the motion of locomote

Running coast to coast into the ocean

Cresting over rolling hills

And bustling towns and empty mills

It’s the Dribble and Crumb, the North American Bum.

What you use to stir coffee with?

spoon or a thumb

It’s the Dribbles and Crumbs, the North American Bum.

What you use to stir coffee with?

spoon or a thumb

Hey where you going why the hurry what’s wrong?

You gotta go so soon is the pull that strong?

Well then i guess it’s best that i say my goodbyes

and may you one day find peace under these open skies

Maybe one day he’ll forget the pain,

pack it all in and catch the westbound train.

But for now he’s just hanging for who knows how long

just riding the rails singing the same damn song

Day old donuts and cans of beans

Dumpster chicken and river greens

Hopping trains with lysol for wine

Just another drink to the end of the line

Day old donuts and cans of beans

Dumpster chicken and river greens

Hopping trains with lysol for wine

Just another drink to the end of the line