28
THE HOBO BAND

The roads are good and the weather's grand,

So I'm off to play in the Hobo Band;

With a gaspipe flute and a cowhide drum

I'm going to make the music come.

With a toot, toot, toot, and a dum, dum, dum,

Just hear me make the music come!

 

[NOTES] This rhyme is about a man who is going to make music in a group of hobos. Hobos are people who have no home. They walk from town to town and make music for money. This man will put holes in a metal pipe that was used for gas and he will blow into it like a flute to make music. He will hit a drum made from the skin of a cow to make a beating sound.

grand—very good

hobo—someone with no job or home

band—many people who make music together

gaspipe flute—make a sound by blowing into a gas pipe with holes

cowhide—skin of the cow

toot—the sound a flute makes

dum—the sound a drum makes