By: Tom Russell
October in the Railroad Earth is a critically acclaimed studio album by American singer-songwriter Tom Russell, described by Russell himself as “Jack Kerouac meets Johnny Cash... in Bakersfield.” The title track draws heavily from Jack Kerouac’s prose-poem and his time as a railroad brakeman in San Francisco. I hope you enjoy it.
And the freight trains still roll with their cannonball soul From Chicago to the stockyards of Fort Worth All the way out to Frisco′s end of land sadness October in the railroad earth October in the railroad earth Jack Kerouac getting high on a fifth of cheap Tokay Skid Row alley, Howard and Third His shadow on the shades near the Southern Pacific station October in the railroad earth Old bums with tattoos from Singapore Boxcars, iron wheels giving birth Flophouse afternoons of old warped wood America October in the railroad earth Out where the freight trains still roll with their cannonball soul Chicago to the stockyards of Fort Worth All the way out to Frisco and that end of land sadness October in the railroad earth October in the railroad earth Jack's Bible on his desk near the peanut butter jar His notebook with those beat poetic words Raisin bread and oatmeal, coffee on a hot plate October in the railroad earth Jack hits the morning alley with his brakeman′s lantern Stares at a hooker in a polka-dotted skirt Three eggs for a dime and that lumberjack stew October in the railroad earth October in the railroad earth What's that thing called fame really worth? Light a candle for his soul in some old Mexican church October in the railroad earth Well Jack bottoms out in Big Sur up in Ferlinghetti's cab Tries to hitchhike but drivers swerve and curse His wife is taking in sewing to pay his bills and his bar tab October in the railroad earth Jack is gone in October, sixty-two dollars in the bank And he′s buried near the place of his birth Getting beat up outside of bars and passing out in cars He left his blood soaked in the railroad earth October in the railroad earth What′s that thing called fame really worth? Light a candle for his soul in some old Mexicali church October in the railroad earth Out where the freight trains still roll with their cannonball soul Chicago to the stockyards of Fort Worth All the way out to Frisco and that end of land sadness October in the railroad earth October in the railroad earth On the road, Dharma bums, Tristesa, Visions of Cody Mexico City blues and Big Sur Book of Dreams, Dr. Sax, Lonesome Traveler, Son of the Dawn October in the railroad earth Desolation Angels, Visions of Gerard The Town and the City, Subterraneans, Big Sur Visions of Cody, the hippos were boiled in their tanks October in the railroad earth Desolation Angels, Visions of Gerard The Town and the City, The Subterraneans Dr. Sax, Visions of Cody And The Hippos Were Boiled in their Tanks, Old Angel Midnight, The Vanity of Duluoz . . . so long, Jack
You can listen to the full song below.