Arkansas Traveler is considered to be one of the most famous fiddle tunes in the rural South. The words and the music are usually credited to Colonel Sandford C. Faulkner. The story of "The Arkansas Traveler" dates back to 1840. The original story was told and passed down as oral literature. Today there are many different versions of the song but most concentrate on a central theme. .
1.) I travelled out in Arkansaw one day
On a freight that took my breath away,
It went so slow the durned thing made me smile
Took a month and seven days to run about a mile.
CHORUS
Oh! it's fun to be a ridin' trains
I mean a freight that's always late.
In Arkansaw there is no law agin a train that's late,
If the train's on time, it's ahead of time
That's why the freight is always late
No extra fare can get you there
Where you wanna go
2.) I never wanna make that trip again
Ev'ry thing that crawled could beat that train
A snail that started with us in a race
Beat us by about three weeks and eas'ly won first place.
CHORUS