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The Railroad song

The Railroad Song - Written and Sung by Paul Mead circa 1904-1905

Highlandlake cornet band greeting the Great Western Railroad to Mead

The Highlandlake Cornet Band welcoming
the Great Western Railroad to the new town of Mead
March 1906. Photo courtesy of the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center

Paul Mead wrote a song  extolling the advantages of planting sugar beets instead of wheat in order to entice the railroad to come to town. At the time, Highlandlake was continuing an almost 30 year effort to bring the railroad. In the end, the railroad came, not through Highlandlake, but through the eastern border of Paul Mead's farm. While the words to Paul's song have come down to us through history, the actual musical accompaniment has not.

1. If you want to have a railroad,
And not just an old bobtail road,
Running up to Highlandlake;
You just raise the sugar beets,
And we will bet the treats,
That we will build the road thru Highlandlake. 

2. Just you raise two thousand acres,
All you hayseed Highlandlaker’s,
If you want to take the cake,
They must test 15 percent, sir,
But we sure you will assent, sir,
And you’ll get the road to Highlandlake.

3. And then all the lads and lasses –
Can see the engine as it passes,
Hauling our stuff away,
Saving labor for horses,
Giving grain where now the loss is,
Won’t it be a big thing, hey! 

4. It will haul your grain and taters,
It will cut the rate of freighters,
This road they call the B&M.
It will carry lads and lasses,
It will give the band boys passes,
Hurrah then for the B&M!

 

5. It will raise the price of land, sir,
And it will create demand, sir,
For the products of the farms.
It will make a little city
And it will be a dreadful pity,
If you let this chance slip by. 

6. When you see a good thing, grab it,
Or twill be like Woodley’s rabbits,
It will never, never grab you.
If now you are too lazy,
You will end up going crazy,
Just to hurt the thing that now hurts you.

7. Just hear the whistle blowing,
Tis great, you’ll all agree,
And next the train is slowing,
Going to stop for you and me.

 

Chorus:
Just hear that bell a ringing,
Tis sweet I do declare,
And hear the air brakes singing,
When they stop and blow off air.

 

 

This page was updated on October 23, 2009

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