His lonesome whistle I shall hear no more.
No more I’ll hear it echo from the shore.
For they forced him to resign
From the Rambling River Line -
His lonesome whistle I shall hear no more.
I used to hear that lonesome whistle
Blow below the railroad trestle
From his pilot house so sweet and low.
Then I’d meet him by a willow
With a mud-bank for my pillow;
There I’d love him, then I’d let him go.

CHORUS:
His lonesome whistle I shall hear no more.
No more I’ll hear it echo from the shore.
For they forced him to resign
From the Rambling River Line -
His lonesome whistle I shall hear no more.

I know that he was never true to me;
His whistle blew for more than two or three.
Up and down that Rambling River
Almost any girl would give her
Love beneath a weeping willow tree.

CHORUS

Ev’ry time the moon was yellow
He became a moon-touched fellow
And his whistle whispered “Love you so!”
Then the girls all came a-running
But their husbands came a-gunning;
Management decided he must go.
He once too often pulled that whistle cord;
The rules of navigation he ignored.
’Neath a willow tree he tarried
With a lady who was married
To the current Chairman of the Board!

CHORUS

They revoked his pilot’s papers
Though he thought that all his capers
Had been fully licensed all the way.
Management thought he’d do damage
To their corporation image -
Didn’t even give him sev’rance pay!
My aching heart is bursting with my sin;
The tears roll down my cheek and off my chin.
And they wet my weary pillow
Weeping for that weeping willow -
I’m the fool that turned the rascal in!

CHORUS