One Cold December Day- Justice (WV) 1929 REC
[From recording C-3522 on 5-21-1929 released Brunswick 367 in December 1929. This is similar to and possibly a cover of Kelly Harrell's version titled "The Dying Hobo." This version has two verses of George Collins after an opening stanza of "The Dying Hobo." The other verses are floating from "In the Pines" and other songs like the "Lonesome Dove." A common practice was to rename any cover songs and claim a copyright and sometimes rights to the song under the new name.
Justice's (or Harrell's) version was collected in 1957 in Pike County, KY and was published by Roberts (B version) in his book, In the Pines.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
Bio Wiki: Dick Justice (1906 – September 12, 1962) was an American blues and folk musician, who hailed from West Virginia, United States. Born Richard Justice, he recorded ten songs for Brunswick Records in Chicago in 1929. Unlike many contemporary white musicians, he was heavily influenced by black musicians, particularly Luke Jordan who recorded in 1927 and 1929 for Victor Records. Justice's "Cocaine" is a verse-for-verse cover of the Jordan track of the same name recorded two years earlier. The song "Brownskin Blues" is also stylistically akin to much of Jordan's work but stands on its own as a Justice original. As Jordan hailed from around Lynchburg, Virginia it is perhaps worth speculating that the two may have been associates. Justice is also musically related to Frank Hutchison (with whom he played music and worked as a coal miner in Logan County, West Virginia), Bayless Rose and The Williamson Brothers. His recording of the traditional ballad "Henry Lee" was the opening track of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music. Justice also recorded two sides ("Muskrat Rag" and "Poca River Blues") with the fiddler Reese Jarvis.
One Cold December Day- Justice (WV) 1929 REC
[Listen: One Cold December Day- Dick Justice]
Down by a western water tank
One cold December day
In the bottom of an empty car
A dying hobo lay.
He had a girl in yonders town
She dressed of silk so fine.
When she heard that poor old George was dead,
She laid her silk aside.
Oh mother oh mother let us offer respects,
Let us lay his saddle aside.
So I can kiss his sweet pale lips,
For I know he'll never kiss mine.
The longest train I ever saw
Was on the Georgy line.
The engine passed at 6:15,
The cab drove by at nine.
Look up look down this lonesome road,
Hang down your head and cry.
[Guitar break]
I see a dove on yonders hill
She flies from pine to pine,
She's *moaning for her own true love,
Any why can't I moan for mine.
[Guitar break]
The longest train I ever saw
Was on the Georgy line.
The engine passed at 6:15,
The cab drove by at nine.
Look up look down this lonesome road,
Hang down your head and cry.
* should be "mourning"