(I HEARD THAT) LONESOME WHISTLE

(Hank Williams/Jimmie Davis)

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Covered by Dylan on First McKenzie's Tape(s), late 1961;
Cynthia Gooding's "Folksinger's Choice," Feb or Mar 11, 1962;
Columbia Studios, Oct 26, 1962;

• DOWNLOAD & LISTEN (Real Audio, 239 KB)
  
• DOWNLOAD & LISTEN to HANK WILLIAMS' recording (Real Audio, 67 KB)

New Haven, CT, Jan 12, 1990;
State College, Pa, Jan 14, 1990.

Possibly learned from Johnny Cash's Sun Records version.

Original recording: Hank Williams, Castle Studio, Nashville, TN, Jul 25, 1951
(master 51-S-6079; original release: M-G-M 11054, Sep 1951)

Only three songs from the July 25 session were deemed issuable by Fred Rose. Of these, the most unusual was "Lonesome Whistle," a title truncated in the interests of jukebox cards from "(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle Blow."

Credited to Hank and Jimmie Davis, it was a trite and cliché-ridden prison song....

Tillman Franks... says that Davis told him that he supplied the title to "Lonesome Whistle" and Hank wrote the words after riding on a train with a convict under armed guard. But Hank didn't ride trains anymore.

Like "Ramblin' Man," "Lonesome Whistle" had the form and content of a folk song, and Hank's record gained what impact it had from the way he grafted the sound of a train whistle onto the word "lonesome."

Colin Escott, Hank Williams: The Biography, Boston, 1995, pp. 162-163.

I was ridin' Number Nine,
Headin' south from Caroline.
I heard that lonesome whistle blow.
Got in trouble, had to roam,
Left my gal an' left my home.
I heard that lonesome whistle blow.

Just a kid, actin' smart,
I went and broke my darling's heart,
I guess I was too young to know.
They took me off the Georgia Main,
Locked me to a ball and chain.
I heard that lonesome whistle blow.

All alone I bear the shame,
I'm a number, not a name.
I heard that lonesome whistle blow.
All I do is set [sic] an' cry
When the evenin' train goes by.
I heard that lonesome whistle blow.

I'll be locked here in this cell
Till my body's just a shell
An' my hair turns whiter than snow.
I'll never see that gal of mine.
Lord, I'm in Georgia doin' time.
I heard that lonesome whistle blow.