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5-string banjo + 12-string Guitar: Charlie On The MTA (Including lyrics and chords)

4,222 views · Published 29 January 2011 · 2:46 · Indexed 4 October 2026

Channel: threelegsoman · 2011 · Education

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Recording the banjo on its own first then recording over the top of it without the advantage of proper recording equipment is somewhat problematical. However, I have tried to do so here and I think have managed to keep reasonably in sync. The Kingston Trio were a big influence on me in my early days when learning to play and sing folk songs, and this is one of their songs which I found to be amusing and fun to play and sing. Hope you find it so too.

Charlie On The MTA 
Kingston Trio
No capo

C                                                        F              
Let me tell you of a story 'bout a man named Charlie                      
         C                             G7
On a tragic and fateful day.
             C                                                          F        
He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family,
               C                 G7   C
Went to ride on the M T A.

C                                                        F   
But will he ever return? No, he'll never return,             
               C                     G7
And his fate is still unlearned. (Poor old Charlie!)
               C                                      F          
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston,
                C               G7         C   
He's the man who never returned.

Charlie handed in his dime at the Scully Square Station,
And he changed for Jamaica Plain.
When he got there the conductor told him, "One more nickel!"
Charlie couldn't get off of that train.

Now all night long Charlie rides through the stations,
Crying, "What will become of me?
How can I afford to see my sister in Chelsea,
Or my brother in Roxbury?"

 Charlie's wife goes down to the Scully Square Station,
 Every day at a quarter past two.
 And through the open window she hands Charlie his sandwich
 As the train goes rumbling through.

Now you citizens of Boston, don't you think it's a scandal,
How the people have to pay and pay?
Fight the fare increase, vote for George O'Brien,
Get poor Charlie off the M T A!


I have just produced a book of songs under the title "50 Songs from the 'threelegsoman' collection". It is available as a printed book or as an eBook and can be found at:
http://store.blurb.com/ebooks/316519-50-songs-from-the-threelegsoman-collection

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