A ramblin' reckless hobo
Left his happy home
Wandered away from his parents dear
To ramble and to roam
His father warned and his mother prayed
His sweetheart begged him to stay
But none could keep this reckless boy
From ramblin' far away

You see him down in a railroad town
His head hung down in shame
A bottle of rum to end his gloom
He sets in a gamblin' game
His life is filled with crime now
His thoughts go back to home
And all the ones who beg'd him not
To ramble and to roam

Upon a moonless midnight
He robbed a travelin' man
The jury gave him twenty-one years
In a jail in Birmingham
His father's advice his mother's prayers
His sweetheart's tears were vain
They never knew what became of him
For he never wrote home again

Now all you boys remember
These words I'm tellin' you
Don't ever forsake your loved ones
Or your parents kind and true
Remember wherever you travel
Wherever you may roam
You'll never find what you left behind
Your loved ones and your home