Sixteen Cents

12. SIXTEEN CENTS

The Blake and Rice and Skaggs and Rice series of recordings recreated a style of duet singing and playing which Steve and I are big fans of. This is our attempt to tell a sad hobo story in that format.

Sixteen cents in his pocket, his overcoat was torn
He said, “I started hopping trains the day that I was born.”

His mother was a teacher but father never learned
Now the son is quickly fading but he doesn’t seem concerned

Standing in the railyard while the rain came pouring down
The old man saw the engine but he never heard a sound

Sixteen cents in his pocket, the story’s true but sad
When they found him in the boxcar, sixteen cents was all he had

Sometimes his mind will wander back to an older time
When a young boy watched the B&O rattle down the line

I used to see him waiting to hop a local freight
He said, “When you’re on your own time, you ain’t never late.”

Today he couldn’t catch the train, Good Lord knows he tried
Just like a locomotive, time and fortune passed him by

Sixteen cents in his pocket, the story’s true but sad
When they found him in the boxcar, sixteen cents was all he had

He said, “I been all over; this rail has been my home.
Never paid for transportation since I started out to roam.”

“I never cared for money, never saw the need.
I never studied culture, but my future’s guaranteed.”

It didn’t make the papers, wasn’t news in town
When they searched him at the station, sixteen cents was all they found

Sixteen cents in his pocket, the story’s true but sad
When they found him in the boxcar, sixteen cents was all he had

He was just another hobo, Sixteen cents was all he had