Cisco Houston Web Site

The Songs He Sang

My Gal: Lyrics

As performed by Cisco Houston

Traditional, though attributed to Huddie Ledbetter, listed as "Arr & adpt Cisco Houston" on I Ain't Got No Home

Appears on:
My gal my gal, don't you lie to me
Tell me where did you stay last night?
In the pines in the pines
   where the sun never shines
I shivered the whole night long

My daddy he was an engineer
Killed a mile and a half from town
His head it was found
   in the driving wheels
His body, Lord, never was found

The longest train that I ever did see
Run a mile and a half from town
The engine rolled by
   when the sun come up
And the caboose when the sun went down

My gal my gal, don't you lie to me
Tell me where did you stay last night?
In the pines in the pines where the sun never shines
And shivered the whole night long

Of note:

A weird, lonesome and bleak song, played with a spare guitar and the wind whistling through the chords. Lots of anyalysis of this song on the web, including this Kurt Cobain inspired one, I wouldn't claim to know just what Cisco is getting at in these three verses, but it sure is grim.

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