Joan Baez sings 'Engine 143' from her 1961 Vanguard abum 'Joan Baez, Vol. 2'. The album lists the song as traditional and I believe it was collected and arranged by A, P. Carter and sung by the Carter Family. The song lyrics are in the video and listed below.
[Vinyl/15-Images/Lyrics/WAV]
Engine 143
Singer - Joan Baez
Along came the FFV the swiftest on the line
Running on that C&O road just twenty minutes behind
Running into Seville, headquarters on the line
Receiving their strict orders from a station just behind
Georgie's mother came to him with a bucket on her arm
She said, "My darling son, be careful how you run
There's many a man has lost his life in trying to make lost time
But if you run your engine right you'll get there just on time"
Up the tracks she darted, into a rock she crashed
Upside down the engine turned and Georgie's breast did smash
His head lay against the firebox door, the flames were rolling high
I'm proud to be born for an engineer, on the C&O road to die
The doctor said to Georgie, "My darling boy, be still
Your life may yet be saved if it is God's blessed will"
"Oh no," cried George, "this will not do, I'd rather die so free
I want to die for the engine I love one hundred and forty three"
And the doctor said to Georgie, "Your life cannot be saved"
Murdered upon a railway and laid in a lonesome grave
His face was covered up with blood, his eyes they could not see
And the very last words poor Georgie cried
"When nearer my God to thee"
Songwriter: A.P. Carter
© Peermusic Publishing
[Lyrics from LyricFind]
