I'm a broken down tramp without money My clothes are all tattered and torn And I am so sad and so lonely I wish I had never been born All through this wide world I have wandered Inquiring for something to do But whenever I ask for a job of work They say they have none for a tramp Now drink was the cause of my downfall And the money I had I've outrun And the friends that were mine when I had it Now pass by and call me a bum Now don't be too hasty to judge me As I drift along with the tide My clothes may be ragged and dirty But a clean heart is beating inside One night on a dark lonely railroad A hobo all hungry and cold Saw an empty boxcar on the siding He climbed in and closed up the door Six months he had rode on the railway When the brakeman came 'round with his light He was shoved from the car and was killed by the train Because he was only a tramp Now young men, let this be a warning For all you who long for the road Better stick to the straight life and don't be like me A poor bum to die in the cold