My Old Man - Harry Belafonte

My old man had a rounder’s soul

He’d hear an old freight train then he’d have to go

He came through town back before the war

Didn’t even know what it was he was lookin' for

Carried a tattered bag for his violin

Full of lots of songs of the places that he’d been

He talked real easy had a smiling way

He could pass along to you when his fiddle played

Makin' people drop their cares and woes

To hum out loud those tunes that his fiddle bowed

This fiddler’s eye caught one beauty there

She had that rollin' flowing' glowing kind of hair

He played for her as if she danced alone

He played his favorites songs the ones he called his own

He played until she was the last to go

Then he stopped and packed his case and said he’d take her home

And all the nights that passed a child was born

All the years that passed love would keep them warm

Making people drop their cares and woes

To hum out loud those tunes that his fiddle bowed

Well the train one morning blew a lonesome sound

As if she sang the blues of what it took from town

And all that I recall and said when I was young

Was no one else could rally sing those songs he sung

Making people drop their cares and woes

To hum out loud those tunes that his fiddle bowed