Billy Jack Washburn

Billy Jack Washburn – Jonny Paycheck

From Maine to San Francisco for years I've rode the rails

Coast to coast and border to border I've been in about every jail

One night around the Golden Gate I caught a friend

And lying in the bottom of the boxcar was a man named Billy Jack Washburn

Through the rain and the wind the train was flying

I knew the man was lying there dying

I had to try to save a man with nothing but my two bare hands

And I did He was just a kid (Just a kid)

Now me and Billy Jack We laid around a few Hobo comps for a while

Till Billy Jack got his strength back and the sunshine gave him back his smile

We decided that we would leave and head on down to New Orleans

And we did me and the kid (Me and the kid)

But things weren't like they were before I never had a friend jumping' from the door

Treated him like I was his dad and gave him everything I had which was nothing

Except the love for a friend and a friend he was but I lost him (Lost him)

Billy Jack Washburn was his name I lost him down around Jacksonville

When he fell from the train I rolled off and I hit the ground

I picked his body up and carried it all the way back to town

He was a friend of mine (Friend of mine)

Now here I am in Macon Georgia to help lay Billy Jack in the ground

And by the way Macon Georgia is my home town

When I picked his milk fold up I saw a picture of his mama and her name

And I cried like a baby (And I cried) Cos' his mama and my mama were the same

Well I haven't been home in 26 years

When I do come home it has to be like this

Sometimes old lady fate she deals a terrible kiss

Billy Jack Washburn was his so called name

I lost him down around Jacksonville when he fell from the train

But I lost more than a friend I'll never see my brother again (again)