A nice little song by a seemingly overlooked folk singer named Len Chandler.


These chords are transcribed from his appearance on Pete Seeger’s Rainbow Quest which I think is the best recording of the song. Len released a few studio albums during the mid-late 60s but they all sound a bit forced and over-produced to me - the live recordings he appears on are well worth a listen

While this particular song is more personal and sentimental, he first became known as a protest singer during the civil rights movement. Here’s a spicy verse he added to Which Side Are You On:

Come all you bourgeois black men
With all your excess fat
A few days in the county jail
Will sure get rid of that

By contrast his most famous work is probably the children’s song Beans In My Ears, which was supposedly banned after it started a trend of kids putting beans in their ears…

Anyway, here are the chords:

Standard tuning, capo 3rd fret (recording is slightly flat). Follows a basic alternating bass picking pattern - see here.

G
 
Bm/G                  G                  C/G                G
I put my ticket in my pocket and took my guitar from the wall
 
                   C/g      Am7/f# G        G/F#  Em
And set it with my suitcase by the railing in the hall
 
G                   C                G         D/F#   G
I hate so much this leaving you it's taught me how to stall
 
                  Em        G              D/F#
If I could hit it lucky I'd never leave at all
 
To catch that


G         A        B            C
Rattlin', rumblin', snortin' and grumblin'
G         D/F#          G
Taking me away from you train
G         A        B            C
Rattlin', rumblin', snortin' and grumblin'
G         C             G
Taking me away from you train


I'd rather take a rattle snake and hold him to my chest
Than to stop the singing of these songs that I love best
So I'll leave home when I have to and I'll come back when I can
Just to keep on keepin on I've got to be a man
To catch that

Rattlin', rumblin', snortin' and grumblin'
Taking me away from you train
Rattlin', rumblin', snortin' and grumblin'
Taking me away from you train

Hey I'm going downstairs love just to catch myself a ride
And to catch myself a-feeling lonesome inside
to catch myself a-hurting that bangs around the brain
to catch myself a-hurting that's worse than any pain
to catch that

Rattlin', rumblin', snortin' and grumblin'
Taking me away from you train
Rattlin', rumblin', snortin' and grumblin'
Taking me away from you train

When my job is finsihed and my fare is in my hand
I'll be heading home to you the quickest way I can
The train that I'll be riding on will have the sweetest sound
The sound of home, sweet angel wings as home to you i'm bound
I'll catch that

Rattlin', rumblin', snortin' and grumblin'
Bringing me home again train
Rattlin', rumblin', snortin' and grumblin'
Bringing me home again train

All these times that I've been leaving you I know it's been all wrong
We'll seldom have to say goodbye since you can come along
I haven't it it lucky yet but thing aren't quite so bad
Together we'll be travelling, together we'll be glad
To catch that

Rattlin', rumblin', snortin' and grumblin'
Going off together now train
Rattlin', rumblin', snortin' and grumblin'
Going off together train

And surely as sure a barbed wire fence can't hold back the tide
Together we'll be breaking through so it's together we should ride
But my schedule's getting tighter baby and those trains just take so long
I guess we'll have to catch a plane and write another song