Wabash Cannonball

Melody -

From the great Atlantic Ocean
To the wide Pacific shore,
From sunny California
To ice-bound Labrador,
She's mighty tall and handsome,
She's known quite well by all,
She's the 'boes' accomodation
On the Wabash Cannonball.
Chorus:
Listen to the jingle,
The rumble and the roar,
As she glides along the woodlands,
Through hills and by the shore
Hear the mighty rush of the engine,
Hear those lonesome hoboes squawl,
While traveling through the jungle
On the Wabash Cannonball.

2. This train, she runs to Memphis,
Mattoon, and Mexico,
She rolls through East St. Louis
And she never does it slow,
As she flies through Colorado,
She gives an awful squawl,
They tell her by her whistle
The Wabash Cannonball
Chorus:

3. Our eastern states are dandy,
So the people always say,
From New York to St. Louis
And Chicago by the way,
From the hills of Minnesota
Where the rippling waters fall,
No changes can be taken
On the Wabash Cannonball
Chorus:

4. Now here's to Boston Blackey,
May his name forever stand,
And always be remembered
By the 'boes throughout the land,
His earthly days are over
And the curtains 'round him fall,
We'll carry him home to victory
On the Wabash Cannonball
Chorus:

1a. From the great Atlantic ocean
To the wide Pacific shore
From the green ol' Smoky mountains
To the south lands by the shore
She's mighty tall and handsome
And she's known quite well by all
She's the regular combination
On the Wabash Cannonball.
Chorus:

The train engine was a symbol of power that easily adapted itself to religious imagery. In most versions, the last line is "He'll be carried home to Glory on the Wabash Cannonball."

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