Cisco Houston a consacré une importante part de son répertoire aux chansons des laissés-pour-compte, des trimardeurs, des travailleurs journaliers, des hobos. Celle-ci en est une. Et l’on voit le pauvre journalier se joindre à ses camarades de combat.

MYSTERIES OF A HOBO’S LIFE

I took a job on an extra gang,
Way up in the mountain,
I paid my fee and the shack shipped me
And the ties I soon was counting.

Well the boss he put me driving spikes
And the sweat was enough to blind me,
He didn’t seem to like my pace,
So I left the job behind me.

I grabbed a hold of an old freight train
And around this country traveled,
The mysteries of a hobo’s life
To me were soon unraveled.

I traveled east and I traveled west
And the shacks could never find me,
Next morning I was miles away
From the job I left behind me.

I ran across a bunch of stiffs
Who were known as Industrial Workers.
They taught me how to be a man
And how to fight the shirkers.

I kicked right in and joined the bunch
And now in the ranks you’ll find me,
Hurrah for the cause, to hell with the boss
And the job I left behind me