--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Yes,\" she said. \"'I Been Working on the…" description: "\"“Yes,\" she said. \"'I Been Working on the Railroad.'There's just two things I'm worried about with that: the grammar and the use of slave labor.”\" — Lor..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/61c/lorrie-moore-870_railroad_yes-she-said-i-been-working-on-the-railr_2275939.png" --- # Yes," she said. "'I Been Working on the Railroad.'There's… ![“Yes," she said. "'I Been Working on the Railroad.'There's just two things I'm worried about with that: the grammar and the use of slave labor.” quote by Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/61c/lorrie-moore-870_railroad_yes-she-said-i-been-working-on-the-railr_2275939.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/61c/lorrie-moore-870_railroad_yes-she-said-i-been-working-on-the-railr_2275939.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/61c/lorrie-moore-870_railroad_yes-she-said-i-been-working-on-the-railr_2275939.png) > ““Yes," she said. "'I Been Working on the Railroad.'There's just two things I'm worried about with that: the grammar and the use of slave labor.”” [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. She jokes about working on a railroad while worrying about grammar and slave labor, highlighting absurd concerns. **In simple terms:** She worries about grammar and slave labor in a song. Key Takeaway Question the relevance of concerns. Themes humor language history Mood witty ironic Type literary humorous When to use this quote - creative writing - teaching - political discussion Key Concepts literature songwriting social critique Questions to Reflect On - Is the grammar truly important? - How does the joke affect perception? A Different Perspective Humor can mask serious issues. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Railroad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/railroad/) [Said Working](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/said-working-509853/) [Slave labor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slave-labor/) [Working Railroad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/working-railroad-5293752/) [Worried Grammar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worried-grammar-5293751/) ## Related quotes > [“She said, “Do you see how I’m wearing this apron? It means I’m working. For a living.” The unconcerned expression didn’t flag. He said,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-stiefvater/she-said-do-you-see-how-i-m-wearing-this-apron-it-means-i-m-working/) [Maggie Stiefvater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-stiefvater/) > [There's a stone I had made for Luke at the top of the hill road, where the pasture opens wide and the setting sun…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-mcconnell/there-s-a-stone-i-had-made-for-luke-at-the-top-of-the-hill-road-where/) [Patricia McConnell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-mcconnell/) > [She said she was working for the ABC news, it was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elvis-costello/she-said-she-was-working-for-the-abc-news-it-was-as-much-of-the/) [Elvis Costello](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elvis-costello/) > [Let us remember that the automatic machine is the precise economic equivalent of slave labor. Any labor which competes with slave labor must accept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/let-us-remember-that-the-automatic-machine-is-the-precise-economic/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The slave labors, but with no cheer-it is not the road to respectability, it will honor him with no citizens' trust, it brings no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/the-slave-labors-but-with-no-cheer-it-is-not-the-road-to/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [After four hundred years of slave labor, we have some back pay coming, a bill owed to us that must be collected.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/after-four-hundred-years-of-slave-labor-we-have-some-back-pay-coming/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [“There were eruptions against the convict labor system in the South, in which prisoners were leased in slave labor to corporations, used thus to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/there-were-eruptions-against-the-convict-labor-system-in-the-south-in/) [Howard Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-zinn/) > [Workers, black and white, need some kind of international affirmative action to protect them from unfair competition with unorganized or slave labor abroad and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-jackson/workers-black-and-white-need-some-kind-of-international-affirmative/) [Jesse Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-jackson/) > [“Slavery is not a horror safely confined to the past; it continues to exist throughout the world, even in developed countries like France and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-bales/slavery-is-not-a-horror-safely-confined-to-the-past-it-continues-to/) [Kevin Bales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-bales/) > [There would be a paragraph about some veteran digging tunnels for the Germans in a slave labor camp, or something like that. Finally I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-guggenheim/there-would-be-a-paragraph-about-some-veteran-digging-tunnels-for-the/) [Charles Guggenheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-guggenheim/) > [The South was at the point where the scale was tipping against slavery. It was slowly dawning on the plantation owners that slave labor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-coleman/the-south-was-at-the-point-where-the-scale-was-tipping-against/) [John Coleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-coleman/) > [Free labor has the inspiration of hope; pure slavery has no hope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/free-labor-has-the-inspiration-of-hope-pure-slavery-has-no-hope/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [We must face the ultimate contradiction that our free and democratic society was made possible by massive slave labor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brion-davis/we-must-face-the-ultimate-contradiction-that-our-free-and-democratic/) [David Brion Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brion-davis/) > [“Development is the strategy of evasion. When you can’t give people land reform, give them hybrid cows. When you can’t send children to school,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/development-is-the-strategy-of-evasion-when-you-can-t-give-people/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One of the most effective tools in Brazil's efforts to eradicate slavery is a register compiled by the government that lists individuals and businesses…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wagner-moura/one-of-the-most-effective-tools-in-brazil-s-efforts-to-eradicate/) [Wagner Moura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wagner-moura/) ## More by Lorrie Moore > [But I believed in starting over. There was finally, I knew, only rupture and hurt and falling short between all persons, but, Shirley, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/but-i-believed-in-starting-over-there-was-finally-i-knew-only-rupture/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [I'm very interested in what people will do for money. Money: it's timeless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-m-very-interested-in-what-people-will-do-for-money-money-it-s/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“One of the problems with people in Chicago, she remembered, was that they were never lonely at the same time. Their sadness occurred in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/one-of-the-problems-with-people-in-chicago-she-remembered-was-that/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“If you had forgotten, it would quickly come back to you. Aloneness was like riding a bike. At gunpoint. With the gun in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/if-you-had-forgotten-it-would-quickly-come-back-to-you-aloneness-was/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [Once love had seemed like magic. Now it seemed like tricks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/once-love-had-seemed-like-magic-now-it-seemed-like-tricks/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“Observing others go through them, he used to admire midlife crises, the courage and shamelessness and existential daring of them, but after he'd watched…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/observing-others-go-through-them-he-used-to-admire-midlife-crises-the/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [Start dating someone who is funny, someone who has what in high school you called a "really great sense of humor" and what now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/start-dating-someone-who-is-funny-someone-who-has-what-in-high-school/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [You are unhappy because you believe in such a thing as happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/you-are-unhappy-because-you-believe-in-such-a-thing-as-happy/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“Amber was not shy. If she had been shy, not one of us would be at Perkins right now.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/amber-was-not-shy-if-she-had-been-shy-not-one-of-us-would-be-at/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [People will do anything, anything, for a really nice laugh,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/people-will-do-anything-anything-for-a-really-nice-laugh/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“Farmers aren't rich. They have land but no money." Actually, my father didn't even have that much land. He had once stood on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/farmers-aren-t-rich-they-have-land-but-no-money-actually-my-father/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“My grandmother, who, when I visited, stared at me with the staggering, arrogant stare of the dying, the wise vapidity of the already gone;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/my-grandmother-who-when-i-visited-stared-at-me-with-the-staggering/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [I count too heavily on birthdays, though I know I shouldn't. Inevitably I begin to assess my life by them, figure out how I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-count-too-heavily-on-birthdays-though-i-know-i-shouldn-t-inevitably/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [“Life is sad. Here is someone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/life-is-sad-here-is-someone/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) > [I had never feared insomnia before--like prison, wouldn't it just give you more time to read?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/i-had-never-feared-insomnia-before-like-prison-wouldn-t-it-just-give/) [Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) [Explore all 340 Lorrie Moore quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/) ## More Railroad quotes > [“In spring, 1937, of course, families still rode the rails because of the Depression, which everyone said was already in the history books as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-geigle/in-spring-1937-of-course-families-still-rode-the-rails-because-of-the/) [Ronald Geigle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-geigle/) > [There are two things I don't care how smart you are, you will never understand. One is an alienist's testimony, and the other is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-rogers/there-are-two-things-i-don-t-care-how-smart-you-are-you-will-never/) [Will Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-rogers/) > [I had a great job with the railroad, a good salary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sturgill-simpson/i-had-a-great-job-with-the-railroad-a-good-salary/) [Sturgill Simpson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sturgill-simpson/) > [“-How long you been with the rail road now? -Twenty-seven years. Now, I'll tell you something about the railroad. What I done learned after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/august-wilson/how-long-you-been-with-the-rail-road-now-twenty-seven-years-now-i-ll/) [August Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/august-wilson/) > [The Underground Railroad was a spy network for the North and that story has never been told.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/misha-green/the-underground-railroad-was-a-spy-network-for-the-north-and-that/) [Misha Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/misha-green/) > [I once drove a pair of horses from New York to Vicksburg, and to this day I can almost map out that country as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/collis-potter-huntington/i-once-drove-a-pair-of-horses-from-new-york-to-vicksburg-and-to-this/) [Collis Potter Huntington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/collis-potter-huntington/) > [I came from a poor family. My father was from Glasgow, Scotland; my mother's brothers were brakemen on the railroad. We didn't have anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mickey-rooney/i-came-from-a-poor-family-my-father-was-from-glasgow-scotland-my/) [Mickey Rooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mickey-rooney/) > [“The trains roared in on iron rails, bringing people from places he had never seen, taking them away to places he had only heard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-wilcox/the-trains-roared-in-on-iron-rails-bringing-people-from-places-he-had/) [Victoria Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-wilcox/) > [Stranded in this mill town railroad yard while the whole world was converging elsewhere, we seemed to be nothing but children playing among heroic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-knowles/stranded-in-this-mill-town-railroad-yard-while-the-whole-world-was/) [John Knowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-knowles/) > [When more Chinese started coming after the Gold Rush, employed on large projects like the Pacific Railroad, anti-Chinese sentiment became shrill.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karan-mahajan/when-more-chinese-started-coming-after-the-gold-rush-employed-on/) [Karan Mahajan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karan-mahajan/) > [In America, when you hear about the Underground Railroad, it's so evocative. You think it's a literal subway for a few minutes before your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colson-whitehead/in-america-when-you-hear-about-the-underground-railroad-it-s-so/) [Colson Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colson-whitehead/) > [It's hard to make something as large as a government change. It's a little bit like building the transcontinental railroad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-reilly/it-s-hard-to-make-something-as-large-as-a-government-change-it-s-a/) [Tim O'Reilly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-reilly/) > [The Treaty of Fort Laramie established most of what would later become South Dakota as a reservation, along with the Black Hills. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heather-cox-richardson/the-treaty-of-fort-laramie-established-most-of-what-would-later/) [Heather Cox Richardson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heather-cox-richardson/) > [The Underground Railroad was the first integrated civil rights movement. And it's a great example of when we work together, what we can go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/misha-green/the-underground-railroad-was-the-first-integrated-civil-rights/) [Misha Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/misha-green/) > [We seem to be committing ourselves to an eye wateringly expensive railroad for the few. High speed rail plan is madness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-rutherford/we-seem-to-be-committing-ourselves-to-an-eye-wateringly-expensive/) [Mike Rutherford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-rutherford/) [Browse all 109 Railroad quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/railroad/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Yes,\" she said. \"'I Been Working on the Railroad.'There's just two things I'm worried about with that: the grammar and the use of slave labor.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lorrie Moore" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/yes-she-said-i-been-working-on-the-railroad-there-s-just-two-things-i/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Railroad" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/yes-she-said-i-been-working-on-the-railroad-there-s-just-two-things-i/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/61c/lorrie-moore-870_railroad_yes-she-said-i-been-working-on-the-railr_2275939.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/61c/lorrie-moore-870_railroad_yes-she-said-i-been-working-on-the-railr_2275939.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/61c/lorrie-moore-870_railroad_yes-she-said-i-been-working-on-the-railr_2275939.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Yes,\" she said. \"'I Been Working on the Railroad.'There's just two things I'm worried about with that: the…” — Lorrie Moore", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Lorrie Moore", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Yes,\" she said. \"'I Been Working...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/yes-she-said-i-been-working-on-the-railroad-there-s-just-two-things-i/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/yes-she-said-i-been-working-on-the-railroad-there-s-just-two-things-i/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```