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{{Other uses}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Hobos2. a hobo is what alex klassen is .
[[File:Hobos2.jpg|thumb|right|Two hobos walking along railroad tracks, after being put off a train. One is carrying a [[bindle]].]]
A '''hobo''' is a [[Migrant worker|migratory worker]] or [[Homelessness|homeless]] [[Vagabond (person)|vagabond]], often [[Poverty in the United States|penniless]].<ref>[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hobo Definition of 'hobo'] from the [[Merriam-Webster]] website</ref> The term originated in the [[Western United States|Western]]&mdash;probably [[Northwestern United States|Northwestern]]&mdash;United States during the last decade of the 19th century.<ref name="oup">{{Cite web| url=http://blog.oup.com/2008/11/hobo/ | title=On Hobos, Hautboys, and Other Beaus| publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |work=OUPblog| date=November 12, 2008 | accessdate=2009-08-05}}</ref> Unlike [[tramp]]s, who work only when they are forced to, and [[Slacker|bum]]s, who do not work at all, hobos are workers who wander.<ref name="oup"/><ref name="ocandk">{{Cite web| last=Mencken| first=H.L.| authorlink=H. L. Mencken| work=[[The American Language]] (4th ed.)| year=1937| title=On the road again url=http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/07/on-road-again.html | publisher= grammarphobia.com(July 25, 2009)| accessdate=2009-08-05}}</ref>

==Etymology==
[[Image:ThreeHobosChicago1929.jpg|thumb|right|225px|Informal three-quarter length portrait of three hobos sitting under a covered structure in Chicago, Illinois, in 1929.]]
The origin of the term is unknown. Etymologist [[Anatoly Liberman]] says that the only details certain about its origin is that the word emerged in [[American English]] and was first noticed around 1890.<ref name="oup"/> Liberman points out that many [[folk etymology|folk etymologies]] fail to answer the question: "Why did the word become widely known in California (just there) by the early Nineties (just then)?"<ref name="oup"/> Author [[Todd DePastino]] has suggested that it may come from the term ''hoe-boy'' meaning "farmhand," or a greeting such as ''Ho, boy!''.<ref>[http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/143783in.html Interview with Todd DePastino, author of ''Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America''] from the [[University of Chicago Press]] website</ref> [[Bill Bryson]] suggests in ''[[Made In America (book)|Made in America]]'' that it could either come from the [[railroad]] greeting, "Ho, beau!" or a [[syllabic abbreviation]] of "'''ho'''meward '''bo'''und".<ref name="Smith 2009">{{Cite book | last=Bryson | first=Bill | authorlink=Bill Bryson | title=[[Made in America (book)|Made in America]] | year=1998 | nopp=yes | isbn=0-380-71381-0 |page={{Page needed|date=September 2010}}| location= | publisher=}}</ref> [[H. L. Mencken]], in his ''[[The American Language]]'' (4th ed., 1937), wrote:

<blockquote>
Tramps and hobos are commonly lumped together, but in their own sight they are sharply differentiated. A hobo or bo is simply a migratory laborer; he may take some longish holidays, but soon or late he returns to work. A tramp never works if it can be avoided; he simply travels. Lower than either is the bum, who neither works nor travels, save when impelled to motion by the police.<ref name="ocandk"/>
</blockquote>
A further possible source may be from the French noun "hobereau" meaning "a gentleman of the countryside" as defined in the TV5 Mondiale dictionary. The word may thus have been introduced by French-speaking migrants during the 18th and 19th centuries.

==History==
It is unclear exactly when hobos first appeared on the American railroading scene. With the end of the [[American Civil War]] in the mid 19th Century, many soldiers looking to return home took to hopping freight trains. Others looking for work on the American frontier followed railroads westward aboard freight trains in the late 19th Century.

In 1906, Professor Layal Shafee, after an exhaustive study, put the number of tramps in America at 500,000 (about 0.6% of the U.S. population). The article citing this figure, "What Tramps Cost Nation", was published by ''The New York Telegraph'' in 1911 and estimated the number had surged to 700,000.<ref>New York Telegraph: "What Tramps Cost Nation," page D2. ''The Washington Post'', June 18, 1911</ref>

The population of hobos increased greatly during the [[Great Depression]] era of the 1930s.<ref name="">[http://www.virginia.edu/sociology/publications/faculty%20articles/OlickArticles/galeholocaust.pdf Virginia.edu]</ref> With no work and no prospects at home, many decided to travel for free via freight trains and try their luck elsewhere.

Life as a hobo was a dangerous one. In addition to the problems of being itinerant, poor, far from home and support, and the hostile attitude of many train crews, the railroads employed their own security staff, often nicknamed ''bulls'', who had a reputation for being rough with trespassers.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} Also, riding on a freight train is a dangerous enterprise. The British poet [[W.H. Davies]], author of ''[[The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp]]'', lost a leg falling under the wheels while trying to jump a train. One could easily get trapped between cars, or freeze to death in bad weather. When freezer cars were loaded at an ice factory, any hobo inside was likely to be killed.<ref name="Life and Times">[http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6813169-life-and-times-of-an-american-hobo] Life and Times of an American Hobo</ref>

According to Ted Conover in Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America's Hoboes (1984), as many as 20,000 people live the hobo life in North America today. Modern freight trains are much faster and harder to ride than in the 1930s, but can still be boarded in railyards.<ref>Conover, Ted. ''Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America's Hoboes''. 1984, ISBN 978-0-670-60319-0 [publishing information and page number needed]</ref>

==National Hobo Convention==
In 1900, the town fathers of [[Britt, Iowa|Britt]], [[Iowa]] invited Tourist Union #63 to bring their annual convention to town, and the [[National Hobo Convention]] has been held in August each year ever since.<ref name="Moon">Moon, Gypsy: "Done and Been", page 24. Indiana University Press, 1996.</ref> Hobos stay in the "Hobo Jungle" telling stories around campfires at night. A hobo king and queen are named each year and get to ride on special floats in the Hobo Day parade. Following the parade, [[mulligan stew (food)|mulligan stew]] is served to hundreds of people in the city park. Live entertainment, a carnival, and a flea market are also part of the festivities. They also win money for the parade to help them get food. The first and most important rule of the hobo code was 'decide your own life', which meant 'do what you want to do'.

==Culture==
===Lingo in use up to the 1940s===
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2009}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Hobo term
! Explanation
|-
| Accommodation car
| the [[caboose]] of a train
|-
| Angellina
| young inexperienced kid
|-
| Bad Road
| a train line rendered useless by some hobo's bad action
|-
| Banjo
| (1) a small portable [[frying pan]]. (2) a short, "D" handled [[shovel]]
|-
| Barnacle
| a person who sticks to one job a year or more
|-
| Beachcomber
| a hobo who hangs around [[dock (maritime)|docks]] or [[seaport]]s
|-
| Big House
| [[prison]]
|-
| Bindle stick
| collection of belongings wrapped in cloth and tied around a stick
|-
| Bindlestiff
| a hobo who carries a bindle.
|-
| Blowed-in-the-glass
| a genuine, trustworthy individual
|-
| "'Bo"
| the common way one hobo referred to another: "I met that 'Bo on the way to Bangor last spring".
|-
| Boil Up
| specifically, to boil one's clothes to kill lice and their eggs. Generally, to get oneself as clean as possible
|-
| Bone polisher
| a mean [[dog]]
|-
| Bone orchard
| a [[graveyard]]
|-
| Bull
| a railroad officer
|-
| Bullets
| [[bean]]s
|-
| Buck
| a Catholic [[priest]] good for a dollar
|-
| Buger
| today's lunch
|-
| C, H, and D
| indicates an individual is Cold, Hungry, and Dry (thirsty)
|-
| California Blankets
| [[newspaper]]s, intended to be used for bedding
|-
| Calling In
| using another's [[campfire]] to warm up or cook
|-
| Cannonball
| a fast train
|-
| Carrying the Banner
| keeping in constant motion so as to avoid being picked up for loitering or to keep from freezing
|-
| Catch the Westbound
| to die
|-
| Chuck a dummy
| pretend to faint
|-
| Cover with the moon
| sleep out in the open
|-
| Cow crate
| a railroad stock car
|-
| Crumbs
| [[louse|lice]]
|-
| Doggin' it
| traveling by [[bus]], especially on the [[Greyhound bus]] line
|-
| Easy mark
| a hobo sign or mark that identifies a person or place where one can get food and a place to stay overnight
|-
| Elevated
| under the influence of drugs or alcohol
|-
| Flip
| to board a moving train
|-
| Flop
| a place to sleep, by extension: "Flophouse", a cheap hotel.
|-
| Glad Rags
| one's best clothes
|-
| Graybacks
| lice
|-
| Grease the Track
| to be run over by a train
|-
| Gump
| a scrap of meat
|-
| Honey dipping
| working with a shovel in the sewer
|-
| Hot
| (1) a [[fugitive]] hobo. (2) a decent meal: "I could use three hots and a flop."
|-
| Hot Shot
| train with priority freight, stops rarely, goes faster; synonym for "Cannonball"
|-
| Jungle
| an area off a railroad where hobos camp and congregate
|-
| Jungle Buzzard
| a hobo or [[tramp]] who preys on their own
|-
| Knowledge bus
| a [[school bus]] used for shelter
|-
| Main Drag
| the busiest road in a town
|-
| Moniker'' / ''Monica
| a [[nickname]]
|-
| Maeve
| a child hobo usually a girl
|-
| Mulligan
| a type of [[community stew]], created by several hobos combining whatever food they have or can collect
|-
| Nickel note
| five-dollar bill
|-
| On the Fly
| jumping a moving train
|-
| Padding the hoof
| to travel by foot
|-
| Possum Belly
| to ride on the roof of a [[passenger car (rail)|passenger car]]. One must lie flat, on his/her stomach, to not be blown off
|-
| Pullman
| a railroad sleeper car. Most were made by George Pullman company.
|-
| Punk
| any young kid
|-
| Reefer
| a compression of "[[refrigerator car]]".
|-
| Road kid
| a young hobo who apprentices himself to an older hobo in order to learn the ways of the road
|-
| Road stake
| the small amount of money a hobo may have in case of an emergency
|-
| Rum dum
| a drunkard
|-
| Sky pilot
| a preacher or minister
|-
| Soup bowl
| a place to get soup, bread and drinks
|-
| Snipes
| cigarette butts "sniped" (e.g. in ashtrays)
|-
| Spear biscuits
| looking for food in garbage cans
|-
| Stemming
| panhandling or mooching along the streets
|-
| Tokay Blanket
| drinking alcohol to stay warm
|-
| Yegg
| a traveling professional thief, or burglar
|}

Many hobo terms have become part of common language, such as "Big House", "glad rags", "main drag", and others.

===Hobo (sign) code===
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2009}}
[[File:HoboMarkingsCanalStFerry.jpg|thumb|300px|Hobo code at a [[Canal Street Ferry]] entrance in [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]]]
To cope with the difficulty of hobo life, hobos developed a system of symbols, or a code. Hobos would write this code with chalk or coal to provide directions, information, and warnings to other hobos. Some signs included "turn right here", "beware of hostile railroad police", "dangerous dog", "food available here", and so on. For instance:

*A cross signifies "angel food," that is, food served to the hobos after a sermon.
*A triangle with hands signifies that the homeowner has a gun.<ref name="Moon">Moon, Gypsy: "Done and Been", page 198. Indiana University Press, 1996.</ref>
*A horizontal zigzag signifies a barking dog.<ref name="Moon"/>
*A square missing its top line signifies it is safe to camp in that location.
*A [[top hat]] and a triangle signify wealth.
*A spearhead signifies a warning to defend oneself.
*A circle with two parallel arrows means to get out fast, as hobos are not welcome in the area.<ref name="Moon"/>
*Two interlocked humans signify [[handcuffs]]. (i.e. hobos are hauled off to jail).
*A [[Caduceus as a symbol of medicine|Caduceus symbol]] signifies the house has a medical doctor living in it.
*A cross with a smiley face in one of the corners means the doctor at this office will treat hobos for free.
*A cat signifies that a kind lady lives here.<ref name="Moon"/>
*A wavy line (signifying water) above an X means fresh water and a campsite.
*Three [[diagonal]] lines mean it's not a safe place.
*A square with a slanted roof (signifying a house) with an X through it means that the house has already been "burned" or "tricked" by another hobo and is not a trusting house.
*Two shovels, signifying work was available (Shovels, because most hobos did manual labor).

Another version of the Hobo Code exists as a display in the [[Steamtown National Historic Site]] at [[Scranton, Pennsylvania]], operated by the [[National Park Service]].

===Hobo (ethical) code===
An ethical code was created by Tourist Union #63 during its 1889 National Hobo Convention in St. Louis Missouri.<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.hobo.com/tourist_union_63.htm | title=Tourist Union 63 | publisher=National Hobo Museum}}</ref> This code was voted upon as a concrete set of laws to govern the Nation-wide Hobo Body; it reads this way:

#Decide your own life, don't let another person run or rule you.
#When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman at all times.
#Don't take advantage of someone who is in a vulnerable situation, locals or other hobos.
#Always try to find work, even if temporary, and always seek out jobs nobody wants. By doing so you not only help a business along, but ensure employment should you return to that town again.
#When no employment is available, make your own work by using your added talents at crafts.
#Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals' treatment of other hobos.
#When jungling in town, respect handouts, do not wear them out, another hobo will be coming along who will need them as bad, if not worse than you.
#Always respect nature, do not leave garbage where you are jungling.
#If in a community jungle, always pitch in and help.
#Try to stay clean, and boil up wherever possible.
#When traveling, ride your train respectfully, take no personal chances, cause no problems with the operating crew or host railroad, act like an extra crew member.
#Do not cause problems in a train yard, another hobo will be coming along who will need passage through that yard.
#Do not allow other hobos to molest children, expose all molesters to authorities, they are the worst garbage to infest any society.
#Help all runaway children, and try to induce them to return home.
#Help your fellow hobos whenever and wherever needed, you may need their help someday.
#If present at a hobo court and you have testimony, give it. Whether for or against the accused, your voice counts!

==Hobos==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}

===Notable hobos===
*[[Jack Black (author)]]
*Charles Elmer Fox, author of [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0877452512/ "Tales of an American Hobo" (1989)].
*[[Maurice W. Graham]], a.k.a. "Steam Train Maurie".
*[[Joe Hill]]
*Monte Holm, author of [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1882792769/ "Once a Hobo" (1999)]. Died in 2006 at age 89.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hobonickels.org/holm.htm|title=Monte Holm Dead at 89|accessdate=2010-02-06|publisher=Original Nickel Hobo Society}}</ref>
*[[Leon Ray Livingston]], a.k.a. "A No.1".
*[[Christopher McCandless]] a.k.a. Alexander Supertramp.
*[[Harry McClintock]]
*[[Utah Phillips]]
*[[Robert Joseph Silveria, Jr.]], a.k.a. "Sidetrack", who killed 34 other hobos before turning himself in to the authorities.
*Bertha Thompson, a.k.a. "Boxcar Bertha" was widely believed to be a real person. ''Sister of the Road'' was penned by [[Ben Reitman]] and presented as an autobiography.
*[[Jim Tully]], an author who penned several pulp fiction books, 1928 through 1945.
*Steven Gene Wold, a.k.a. "[[Seasick Steve]]"
{{col-2}}

===Notable people who have hoboed===
*[[Raul Hector Castro]]<ref name="Tucson City Morgue">[http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2009/04/06/113664-the-american-dream-and-ra-l-castro/ Tucson Citizen Morgue]</ref>
*[[Joe Coleman (painter)|Joe Coleman]]{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
*[[Ted Conover]]
*[[Edward Dahlberg]]
*[[W. H. Davies]]
*[[Jack Dempsey]]
*[[U Dhammaloka]]
*[[Loren Eiseley]]
*[[Charles Fort]]
*[[Woody Guthrie]]
*[[Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema]]
*[[Eric Hoffer]]
*[[Burl Ives]]
*[[Harry Kemp]]
*[[Jack Kerouac]]
*[[Jack London]]
*[[Louis L'amour]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Louis L'amour: A brief biography |author= |url=http://www.louislamour.com/aboutlouis/biography.htm |publisher=louislamour.com |date= |accessdate=2008-12-07}}</ref>
*[[Rod McKuen]]
*[[James Michener]]
*[[Robert Mitchum]]
*[[Eugene O'Neill]]
*[[George Orwell]]
*[[Harry Partch]]
*[[John Steinbeck]]
*[[Beck Hansen]]
*[[Aidan Walsh]] (Oranmore)
*[[Dale Wasserman]]<ref>"Dale Wasserman, 94; Playwright Created 'Man of La Mancha'" obituary by Dennis McLellan of the Los Angeles Times printed in The Washington Post December 29, 2008.</ref>
*[[Charles Bukowski]]

{{col-end}}

==In mainstream culture==
Examples of characters based on hobos include [[Emmett Kelly]]'s "Weary Willy" and [[Red Skelton]]'s "Freddy the Freeloader".

===Movies===
*''[[The Billion Dollar Hobo]]'' (1977), starring [[Tim Conway]] and [[Will Geer]].
*''[[Emperor of the North Pole]]'' aka ''Emperor of the North'' (1973), directed by Robert Aldrich. {{OCLC|70283150}}. Loosely based on [[Jack London]]'s ''The Road''.
*''[[Hard Times (1975 film)|Hard Times]]'' aka ''The Streetfighter'' (1975), directed by [[Walter Hill (filmmaker)|Walter Hill]] (his directorial debut), and starring [[Charles Bronson]] (as a hobo turned [[street fighting|street fighter]]) and [[James Coburn]].
*''[[Into the Wild (film)|Into the Wild]]'' (2007), directed by [[Sean Penn]], based on [[Jon Krakauer|Jon Krakauer's]] non-fiction book about Christopher McCandless
*''[[Kit Kittredge: An American Girl]]'' (2008), starring [[Abigail Breslin]], [[Chris O'Donnell]], [[Julia Ormond]] and [[Max Thieriot]]. Directed by [[Patricia Rozema]].
*''[[Resurrecting the Champ]]'' (2007), starring [[Samuel L. Jackson]] and [[Josh Hartnett]], directed by [[Rod Lurie]].
*''[[Sullivan's Travels]]'' (1941), directed by [[Preston Sturges]].
*''[[Tokyo Godfathers]]'' (2003), an [[anime]] directed by [[Satoshi Kon]].
*''[[Wild Boys of the Road]]'' (1933), directed by [[William A. Wellman]]
*''[[The Polar Express (film)|The Polar Express]]'' (2004), a [[Computer animation|computer-animated]] [[Film|feature film]] directed by [[Robert Zemeckis]] and starring [[Tom Hanks]], features a gruff but helpful hobo character (one of five characters played by Hanks) who seems to be the corporeal appearance of a [[spirit]] or [[angel]].
*''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646104/ Hobo]'' (1992), a documentary by [[John T. Davis]], following the life of a hobo on his travels through the United States.

===Books===
*''All the Strange Hours: The Excavation of a Life'', by [[Loren Eiseley]], 1975. ISBN 0-8032-6741-X
*''[[The Areas of My Expertise]]'' by [[John Hodgman]] - Humor book which features a lengthy section on "hobos", including a list of 700 hobo names which spawned an online effort to illustrate the complete list.
*''[[Bottom Dogs]]'', by [[Edward Dahlberg]]
*''Beggars of Life'' (1924), by [[Jim Tully]]
*''[[Evasion (book)|Evasion]]'' by Anonymous
*''From Coast to Coast with Jack London'' by "A-No.-1" ([[Leon Ray Livingston]])
*''Hard Travellin': The Hobo and His History'', by Kenneth Allsop. ISBN 0-340-02572-7.
*''[[Hobo (book)|Hobo]]'', by Eddy Joe Cotton, 2002. ISBN 0-609-60738-3
*''The Hobo - The Sociology of the Homeless Man'', by [[Nels Anderson]], 1923.
*''[[The Jungle]]'' by [[Upton Sinclair]] contains a section in which the main character, [[Jurgis Rudkus]], abandons his family in Chicago and becomes a hobo for a while.
*''Knights of the Road'', by Roger A. Bruns, 1980. ISBN 0-416-00721-X.
*''Lonesome Road'', by Thomas Minehan, 1941.
*''[[Lonesome Traveler]]'', by Jack Kerouac ("The Vanishing American Hobo")
*''[[The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane]]'' by [[Kate DiCamillo]]
*''Muzzlers, Guzzlers, and Good Yeggs'' by [[Joe Coleman (painter)|Joe Coleman]]
*''[[Of Mice and Men]]'', by [[John Steinbeck]]
*''[[On the Road]]'', by [[Jack Kerouac]]
*''Once a Hobo...'' (1999), by Monte Holm
*''One More Train to Ride: The Underground World of Modern American Hobos'' by [[Clifford Williams (academic)|Clifford Williams]].
*''[http://erroluys.com/RidingtheRails.htm Riding the Rails: Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression]'' by [[Errol Lincoln Uys]], (Routledge, 2003)ISBN 0-415-94575-5
*''Riding Toward Everywhere'' by William T. Vollmann, 2008. ISBN 978-0-06-125675-2
*''[[The Road (novel by Jack London)|The Road]]'', by [[Jack London]]
*''Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America's Hoboes'' by [[Ted Conover]] - Paperback: 304 pages, Publisher: Vintage (September 11, 2001), ISBN 0-307-727-868
*''Sister of The Road: The Autobiography of Boxcar Bertha'' - (as told to) Dr. Ben Reitman
*''[[Stumptown Kid]]'', By Carol Gorman and Ron J. Finley
*''Tales of an American Hobo'' (1989), by Charles Elmer Fox
*''Tramping on Life'' (1922) and ''More Miles'' (1926), by [[Harry Kemp]]
*''Waiting for Nothing,'' [[Tom Kromer]]
*''[[You Can't Win (book)|You Can't Win]]'', by Jack Black

===Comics===
*''[[Kings in Disguise]]'' (1988), by [[James Vance (comics)|James Vance]] and [[Dan Burr]]

* Many cartoons depict hobos as main or secondary characters, hobo related activities such as traveling by train, with a [[bindle]], or in company of hobos. For example, ''8 Ball Bunny'' (1950) with [[Bugs Bunny]], [[Merrie Melodies]] ''Hobo Gadget Band'' (1939), ''Mouse Wreckers'' (1948) and [[MGM]]'s ''Henpecked Hoboes'' (1948).

===Songs===
Musicians known for hobo songs include [[Ramblin' Jack Elliott]], [[Utah Phillips]], [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]], [[Seasick Steve]], and [[Boxcar Willie]].

Examples of hobo songs include:
*"[[Big Rock Candy Mountain]]" by [[Harry McClintock]]
*"[[Hallelujah, I'm a Bum]]" recorded by Harry McClintock, [[Al Jolson]], and others
*"Hard Travelin'" and "[[Hobo's Lullaby]]" by [[Woody Guthrie]]
*"Hobo" by [[The Hackensaw Boys]]
*"Hobo Bill", "I Ain't Got No Home" and "Mysteries of a Hobo's Life" by [[Cisco Houston]]
*"Hobo Blues" and "The Hobo" by [[John Lee Hooker]]
*"Hobo Chang Ba" by [[Captain Beefheart]]
*"Hobo Flats" by [[Oliver Nelson]]
*"The Hobo Song" by [[Johnny Cash]]
*"[[Hobo's Lullaby]]" (aka "Weary Hobo"), written by [[Goebel Reeves]], recorded by various artists including [[Woody Guthrie]], [[Arlo Guthrie]], [[Emmylou Harris]], [[Pete Seeger]], [[The Kingston Trio]], and Ramblin' Jack Eliot
*"Morning Glory" by [[Tim Buckley]] lyrics by [[Larry Beckett]]
*"[[I Am a Lonesome Hobo]]", "Only a Hobo" and "Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie" by [[Bob Dylan]]
*"[[Jack Straw (song)|Jack Straw]]" by [[Robert Hunter (lyricist)|Robert Hunter]] and [[Bob Weir]]
*"[[Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet]]" a recording of a hobo singing on a London street, by composer [[Gavin Bryars]].
*"[[King of the Road (song)|King of the Road]]" by [[Roger Miller]]
*"[[Like a Hobo]]" by [[Charlie Winston]]
*"Last of the Hobo Kings" by [[Mary Gauthier]]
*"Kulkurin Valssi" (Hobo Waltz) by [[Arthur Kylander]]
*"Lännen lokari" (Western Logger) by [[Hiski Salomaa]]
*"Papa Hobo" and "Hobo's Blues" by [[Paul Simon]]
*"[[Streets of London (song)|Streets of London]]" by [[Ralph McTell]]
*"[[Waiting for a Train]]" by Jimmie Rodgers
*"Hobos on Parade" by [[Shannon Wright]]
*"Hobo Jungle" by [[The Band]]
*"Mary Lane" by [[Fred Eaglesmith]]

==See also==
*[[Freight Train Riders of America]], a brotherhood of hobos
*[[Freighthopping]]
*[[Hobo nickel]], an art form associated with hobos
*[[Kirby, Texas|Kirby]], [[Texas]], the "hobo capital of Texas"
*[[Wobbly lingo]], the jargon of the hobos who joined [[Industrial Workers of the World|the union]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
#Brady, Jonann (2005). [http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1020800&page=1 "Hobos Elect New King and Queen."] ''ABC Good Morning America'', includes Todd "Ad Man" Waters' last ride as reigning Hobo King plus hobo slide show with Adman’s photo’s taken on the road.
#Bannister, Matthew (2006). [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/lastword_28dec2006.shtml "Maurice W Graham 'Steam Train,' Grand Patriarch of America’s Hobos who has died aged 89."] ''Last Word''. BBC Radio. Matthew Bannister talks to fellow King of the Hobos "Ad Man" Waters and to obituary editor of ''[[The New York Times]]'', Bill McDonald.
#Davis, Jason (2007). [http://kstp.com/article/stories/S208805.shtml?cat=69 "The Hobo,"] ''On The Road'' 30 minute special. KSTP television. Covers "Ad Man" Waters taking his daughter out on her first freight ride.
#Harper, Douglas (2006)[1986]. [http://www.americanethnography.com/article.php?id=118 "Waiting for a Train,"] Excerpt from ''Good Company: A Tramp Life'' ISBN 978-1-59451-184-4
#Johnson, L. Anderson. "Riding The Rails For The Homeless." ''The New York Times''. July 12, 1983, sec B page 3, col 3. Story on "Ad Man" Waters The Penny Route.
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|hobo}}
{{External links|date=July 2009}}
*[http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/white/hobo/firstpage.html In Search of the American Hobo 1876-1939] from American Studies at the University of Virginia
*[http://www.northbankfred.com/index.html North Bank Fred] contains numerous photographs, links, stories, and academic reports about hoboes and freighthopping.
*[http://www.worldpath.net/~minstrel/hobosign.htm Fran's Hobo Page], by Fran DeLorenzo. Includes hobo history and a glossary of hobo signs.
*[http://www.archive.org/details/700HoboNames "700 Hobos"], MP3 of John Hodgman's recording of 700 hobo names, from archive.org
*[http://www.hobo.com/ Iowa Hobo Foundation]
*[http://www.stephanvanfleteren.com/gallery_hobo/index.html ''Hobo's in the U.S.A.''], a photo documentary on hobos by Stephan Vanfleteren, a Belgian photographer.
*[http://www.incendiaryimage.com/sketchbook/?p=24 "Hobo Marks"] Photographic examples of the marks that hobos leave to record their path and status.
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/rails/ "Riding the Rails"], ''[[American Experience]]'' PBS series.

[[Category:Rail transport in the United States]]
[[Category:Transport culture]]
[[Category:Criticism and refusal of work]]
[[Category:Hoboes|*Main]]

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Revision as of 16:03, 10 April 2011

For other uses, see Hobo (disambiguation).

[[File:Hobos2. a hobo is what alex klassen is .

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