Down on the Southern Railroad line on a drowsy August day
Came a man from across the tracks, and stopped our childish play
Boys don't you raise no cane today, I remember the words he said
Fanny Walrevan's sick you know, with a bad pain in her head

Well, we said we'd tell the engineer, that pulls old 41
Not to blow his whistle loud on the morning mail run
And the fast express from Birmingham that's always just on time
She won't blow the whistle low at Crossing No. 9

Well, the August days soon turned to fall, and a chill was in the air
The preacher came, the kinfolks went, and friends was everywhere
Then one day they brought the news that tore apart every mind
Fanny Walraven's gone away, from Crossing No. 9

Way back home in Sulphur Springs winter's coming hard
The Georgia wind is blowing shrill across the section yard
The snow is falling cold and white on the Southern Railroad line
And the trains they don't blow no more
For Crossing No. 9