RAILROADING ON THE GREAT DIVIDE

(Sara Carter Bayes)

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Original recording:
THE A. P. CARTER FAMILY (A. P. Carter, vocal; Sara Carter Bayes, vocal/autoharp; Janette Carter, vocal/guitar; Joe Carter, vocal/guitar), WOPI, 410 State Street, Bristol, TN, Mar 7, 1952 (Acme 992; re-released on "A. P. Carter's Clinch Mountain Ballads," Pine Mountain PMR-206)

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Performed by Bob Dylan (with -- most likely -- Jim Kweskin) at Gerde's Folk City, Sep 29, 1961.

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ORIGINAL SARA CARTER BAYES LYRICS
transcribed by Manfred Helfert

A. P. CARTER:
This number, I believe, is one of Sara's numbers, "Railroading on the Great Divide."

SARA CARTER BAYES:
Nineteen and sixteen I started to roam,
Out in the West, no money, no home.
I went drifting along with the tide,
I landed on the Great Divide.

Railroading on the Great Divide,
Nothing around me but Rockies and sky.
There you'll find me as years go by
Railroading on the Great Divide.

A skinny oldtimer from old Cheyenne
Railroading Wyoming, the best in the land.
The long steel rail, that short cross-tie,
I laid across the Great Divide.

Railroading on the Great Divide,
Nothing around me but Rockies and sky.
There you'll find me as years go by
Railroading on the Great Divide.

As I look down across the breeze,
Number Three coming, the fastest on wheels.
They roll on me [?], she glides with pride
And rolls across the Great Divide.

Railroading on the Great Divide,
Nothing around me but Rockies and sky.
There you'll find me as years go by
Railroading on the Great Divide.

A. P. CARTER:
Sara, isn't that one you wrote yourself?

SARA CARTER BAYES:
Yes, that's one of my own...