Story Behind The Song
This song is based off of a ghost story my Father used to tell my brother and me when we were kids... Semi based on actual events: in 1930's north-Central Wisconsin. A Brakeman that was struck by the incoming train has been rumored to be visible at the track location(now a bike path)on the anniversary of the Brakeman's untimely death...holding his Brakeman's lantern(a 4 sided candle lit lantern with 2 sides Red and the 2 opposite sides are green)
| Song Length |
2:53 |
Genre |
Folk - Country, Blues - Country |
| Tempo |
Medium Slow (91 - 110) |
Lead Vocal |
Male Vocal |
| Mood |
Composed, Gloomy |
Subject |
Trains, Ghosts |
| Language |
English |
Era |
1930 - 1939 |
Lyrics
Early in the evening
I put on my work clothes
Grabbed my lantern and
Off to work I'd go.
Hop on a railcar
Swing my lantern left and right
To let the engineer know
Everything's alright
(chorus)
Little did I know that day
That things wouldn't work the way I planned
That's how the legends say
I became the
ghost BrakeMan...
ghost Brake Man
[Verse]
I was riding the freight train
north on track 49
I flipped the switch
to make the train change lines
but I didn't notice that
the switch should have moved some more
the train derailed and dumped out all the ore
I worked with the clean up crew
did my best to lend a hand
I still didn't have a clue
[Verse]
that soon I'd be a ghost brake man
[Bridge]
bcuz on came a passenger train
rolling down down the track
I took off running to try and
hold the engine back
I knelt down on the side of the rail
and tried to flash that warning red
but my lantern light went out
and that's why I wound up dead!
[Verse]
now I'm forever working
the rails are my eternal home
this damn lantern's my reminder of
why I walk alone
And if I could live that day
all over again
I'd make sure that it wouldn't end this way
So, I wouldn't be a condemned
ghost brakeman