I've Been Working On The Railroad - Lyrics

Lyrics

The modern version of the song is:

I've been working on the railroad

All the live-long day.

I've been working on the railroad

Just to pass the time away.

Can't you hear the whistle blowing,

Rise up so early in the morn;

Can't you hear the captain shouting,

"Dinah, blow your horn!"

Dinah, won't you blow,

Dinah, won't you blow,

Dinah, won't you blow your horn?

Dinah, won't you blow,

Dinah, won't you blow,

Dinah, won't you blow your horn?

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah

Someone's in the kitchen I know

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah

Strummin' on the old banjo!

Singin' fee, fie, fiddly-i-o

Fee, fie, fiddly-i-o-o-o-o

Fee, fie, fiddly-i-o

Strummin' on the old banjo.

Someone's makin' love to Dinah

Someone's making love I know.

Someone's making love to Dinah

'Cause I can't hear the old banjo

The 1894 version includes a verse very much like the modern song, though in minstrel dialect, but with an intro that is no longer sung:

(SOLO) I once did know a girl named Grace--

(QUARTET) I'm wukkin' on de levee;

(SOLO) She done brung me to dis sad disgrace

(QUARTET) O' wukkin' on de levee.

I been wukkin' on de railroad

All de livelong day,

I been wukkin' on de railroad

Ter pass de time away.

Doan' yuh hyah de whistle blowin'?

Ris up, so uhly in de mawn;

Doan' yuh hyah de cap'n shouin',

"Dinah, blow yo' hawn?"

Sing a song o' the city;

Roll dat cotton bale;

Niggah aint half so happy

As when he's out o' jail

Norfolk foh its oystahshells,

Boston foh its beans,

Chahleston foh its rice an' cawn,

But foh niggahs New Awleens.

The "Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah" section is actually an older song that has been absorbed by "I've Been Working on the Railroad". It was published as "Old Joe, or Somebody in the House with Dinah" in London in the 1830s or '40s, with music credited to J.H. Cave. "Dinah" was a generic name for an enslaved African woman. The melody for this section of the song may have been adapted from "Goodnight, Ladies", written (as "Farewell Ladies") in 1847 by E. P. Christy.

According to the liner notes to Pete Seeger's Children's Concert at Town Hall (1963), the "Dinah won't you blow" section is a more modern addition, contributed to the song by "some college students".

A high school glee club songbook circa 1947 used this introduction:

(Lead): I used to have a dog named "Bill"

(Chorus): A wukkin' on de lebee

(Lead): He run away but I'm here still

(Chorus): A wukkin' on de lebee

(Remainder was modern version)