Freight Train Blues Chords

KeyC CapoNone TuningStandard Difficulty Plays599

Freight Train Blues by Bob Dylan is a moderately challenging guitar song played in the key of C. It uses the chords C, G, D and F. Use the transpose and diagram tools on this page to change the key, see each shape, or simplify the chords.

Transpose
C
Text
16
Speed
  			
		 
Intro: C (G) C (G) D G F C G 

C 
I was born in Dixie in a boomer's shack, 
Just a little shanty by the railroad track 
Freight train was it taught me how to cry, 
The holler of the driver was my lullaby. 
I've got the freight train blues (hee, hee, hoo) 
                               D            G 
Oh, lawdy mama got em on the bottom of my ramblin' shoes 
                        C      
And when the whistle blows, I gotta go 
F 
Baby don't you know 
     C                     G 
It looks like I'm never gonna lose 
               C        (D G C F G ) 
The freight train blues. 

Well, my daddy was a fireman and my mama hear 
She was the only daughter of the engineer 
My sweetheart loved the brakeman and that ain't no joke 
Its a shame the way she keeps a good man broke. 
I got the freight train blues (hee, hee, hoo) 
Oh, lawdy I got em in the bottom of my ramblin' shoes 

And when the whistle blows, I gotta go 
Oh mama don't you know 
Well it looks like I'm never gonna lose 
The freight train blues. 

Well, the only thing that makes you laugh again 
Is a south bound whistle on a south bound train 
Every place I want to go 
I never can go because you know 
Because I got the freight train blues (hee, hee, hoo) 
Oh, lawdy mama, got em on the bottom of my ramblin' shoe 
    	

Chord diagrams

Guitar tuner

--
Start the tuner and play a string

Reference tones

Standard tuning, lowest to highest. Click a string to play it; the string the mic hears is highlighted.

Click Start tuner and allow microphone access. The needle centers and turns green when a string is in tune (within 5 cents).
No microphone? You can still tap any string above to hear its exact reference pitch.

Metronome

100 BPM Andante