In the heat of the day down in Mobile, Alabama
Working on the railroad with a steel-driving hammer
Gotta make some money, buy some brand new shoes
Gotta find somebody to take away these blues
"She don't love me," hear them singing in the sun
Pay day's coming when my work is all done

Early in the evening when the sun is sinking low
All day I've been waiting for the whistle to blow
Sitting in a teepee built right on the tracks
Rolling them bones till the foreman comes back
Oh, pick up your belongings, boys, scatter about
We've got an off-schedule train coming two miles out

Everybody's scrambling 'n' jumping around
Picking up their money, tearing the teepee down
The foreman is a-panicked, about to go insane
Trying to get the workers out of the way of the train
The engineer's blowing his whistle loud and long
You can't stop the train, you gotta let it roll on