My Old Man

My old man, he had a ramblin' soul He'd hear an old freight train and he had to roll Said he'd been blessed with a gypsy bone That's the reason I guess he'd been cursed to roam He came to town back before the war He didn't even know that it was he was looking for He carried a tattered bag for his violin It was full of songs from places he had been He talked real easy, had a smilin' way He could pass it on to you while his fiddle played He was makin' people drop their cares and woes They'd hum out loud to tunes that his fiddled bowed The people there began to join that sound Everyone in town was laughin', singin', dancin' round Like the fiddler's tunes were all they heard that night As if some dream had said all in the world was right His eye caught a dancing lady there She had that rollin', flowin', golden, danglin' kind of hair He played for her as if she danced alone He played his favorite songs, the ones he called his own She alone was dancing in the room The only thing left moving to his fiddler's tune He played until she was the last to go He stopped and packed his case and said he'd take her home In all the nights that passed, a child was born And all the years that passed, love would keep them warm All their lives they've shared a dream come true All because she danced so well to his fiddler's tune But the train next morning, she blew a lonesome sound As if she sang the blues of what she took from town All that I recall he said when I was young Was no one else could really sing the songs he sung