Billy Base

SONG INFORMATION

Origin: Traditional (Appalachia, Southeast, late 1800's). Robert Duncan Bass recorded perhaps the earliest version of a variation of this song sung by two African-Americans in 1905 in Florence County, SC. Later, Robert W. Gordon collected a version by Bascom Lamar Lunsford titled "Old Reuben" in 1925, of which Lunsford said he'd been taught it as a teenager in 1898 in Buncombe County, NC.

This old train song goes by many names, but most commonly "Reuben's Train," "Train 45," and "900 Miles."

First release as "I'm Nine Hundred Miles Away from Home" by Fiddlin' John Carson (1924)
First recorded as "Train 45" by Grayson & Whitter (1927)
Released as "Old Ruben" by Doc Watson, Gaither Carlton (1961)
Released as "Reuben's Train" by Dock Boggs (1970)

Ol’ Reuben made a train and he put it on a track
He ran it to the Lord knows where
Oh me, oh my, ran it to the Lord knows where

Shoulda been in town when Reuben’s train went down
You could hear that whistle blow a hundred miles
Oh me, oh my, you could hear the whistle blow a hundred miles

Last night I lay in jail had no money to go my bail
Lord how it sleeted and it snowed
Oh me, oh my, Lord how it sleeted and it snowed

I’ve been to the East, I’ve been to the West
I’m going where the chilly winds don’t blow
Oh me, oh my, I’m going where the chilly winds don’t blow

Oh, the train that I ride is a hundred coaches long
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles
Oh me, oh my, you can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles

I got myself a blade, laid Reuben in the shade
I’m startin’ me a graveyard of my own
Oh, me, oh, lordy my, startin’ me a graveyard of my own

Ol’ Reuben made a train and he put it on a track
He ran it to the Lord knows where
Oh me, oh my, ran it to the Lord knows where