500 Miles

This song is done in the style of many old negro spirituals, many of which had a double meaning in aiding the escape of slaves. This one sounds more like a marching tune for escaped slaves to be singing on the road, though, since the meaning would be difficult to mistake. (My interpretations are in parentheses.)

If you miss the train I'm on (the Underground Railroad), you will know that I am gone (I've run away from Master) You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles (That's how far the local slave-catchers will chase me)

...

Lord I'm one, Lord I'm two, Lord I'm three, Lord I'm four, Lord I'm five hundred miles from my home (That's roughly how far it is to the Free States/Canada)

...

Not a shirt on my back, not a penny to my name (This is a grueling journey) Lord, I can't go home this-a-way (because if I do, Master will beat me to death)

i think this song is about death. if u miss the train im on, u will know 'im gone'' (meaning the spirit leaving the body) lord im 500 miles away from home (afterlife) etc etc.... :)

She has asked him to leave with her to start a new life/run away. If he hears the train whistle she has gone on without him and he will have missed his chance to be with her forever. She's not waiting for him forever.

This song is about the unemployed men who stowed away in train box cars during the Great Depression, seeking to spare their families the burden of feeding them, and hoping to find work in another town. The singer has no money to call or write to his family, to let them know where he is. He says that if they did not actually see him get on the train, they will realize that he must have done so when they notice that he is missing and hear the train's whistle. Later in the song, he laments that he is ashamed to return home because he has not found work and has no money to bring back to his family.

I sing this song with 2 extra verses (see link, below) as my personal testimony. The "train" that I was "on" was running away from my childhood upbringing in the Christian faith after my preacher father committed suicide (1963). The "miles" was the great distance away from that faith that I found myself as an Atheist (1963-1968). "Not a shirt on my back, not a penny to my name" describes the utter spiritual bankruptcy that I found in Atheism. I felt like I "couldn't go back home" to Christianity, but then... well, the fourth verse tells what happened (and the fifth is my attempt to share the Good News with anyone who will listen)... Give it a listen and let me know what you think (johnroller@faithbiblechristian.com, or "John Herschel Roller" on Facebook). Here's the link to the song: https://ctclient.dattodrive.com/index.php/s/e2sywuFFvV3bTUc