DTStudy: This Train (is bound for glory)

Subject: DTStudy: This Train (is bound for glory)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Jun 16 - 05:14 PM

This is an edited DTStudy thread, and all messages posted here are subject to editing and deletion.
This thread is intended to serve as a forum for corrections and annotations for the Digital Tradition song named in the title of this thread.

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Gee, we haven't had any discussion on this song. Here are the lyrics from the Digital Tradition:

THIS TRAIN

This train is bound for glory, this train,
This train is bound for glory, this train,
This train is bound for glory,
Don't ride nothin' but the righteous an' the holy
This train is bound for glory, this train,

This train don't carry no gamblers, this train,
This train don't carry no gamblers, this train,
This train don't carry no gamblers
No hypocrites, no midnight ramblers,
This train is bound for glory, this train.

This train is built for speed now, this train,
This train is built for speed now, this train,
This train is built for speed
Fastest train you ever did see,
This train is bound for glory, this train.

This train don't carry no liars, this train,
This train don't carry no liars, this train,
This train don't carry no liars,
No hypocrites and no high flyers,
This train is bound for glory, this train.

This train don't pay no transportation, this train,
This train don't pay no transportation, this train,
This train don't pay no transportation
No Jim Crow and no discrimination,
This train is bound for glory, this train.

This train don't carry no rustlers, this train,
This train don't carry no rustlers, this train,
This train don't carry no rustlers
Sidestreet walkers, two-bit hustlers,
This train is bound for glory, this train.

@gospel @train
filename[ THSTRAIN
TUNE FILE: THSTRAIN
CLICK TO PLAY
RG

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And here is the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index:

This Train

DESCRIPTION: "This train is bound for glory... If you ride it, you must be holy." "This train don't pull no gamblers..." (And so forth, through various sinners the train doesn't pull.) "This train don't pull no extras... Don't pull nothin' but the Heavenly Special."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (recording, Florida Normal Industrial Institute Quartet)
KEYWORDS: train religious
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
JonesLunsford, p. 223, "This Same Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 629-632, "This Train/Same Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 255, "This Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 593-594, "This Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 56, "This Train" (1 text)
DT, THSTRAIN*
Roud #6702
RECORDINGS:
Biddleville Quintette, "This Train is Bound for Blory" (Paramount 12448, 1927)
Big Bill Broonzy, "This Train" (on Broonzy01)
Florida Normal Industrial Institute Quartet, "Dis Train" (OKeh 40010, 1924; rec. 1922)
Garland Jubilee Singers [pseud. for Bryant's Jubilee Quartet] "This Train" (Banner 32267/Oriole 8098/Romeo 5098, all 1931/Perfect 190, 1932; on RoughWays2)
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "This Train" (OKeh 04910, 1939)
S. E. Mullis Blue Diamond Quartet, "Dis Train" (Champion 16424, 1932)
Southern Plantation Singers, "This Train is Bound for Glory" (Vocalion 1250, 1929; rec. 1928)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, "This Train" (Decca 2558, 1939) (Down Beat 104 [as Sister Katty Marie], n.d.)
NOTES: Cohen observes that there are two basic forms of this song, the "This Train" version in the description and a type he calls "Same Train": "Same train carry my mother, same train (x2). Same train carry my mother, Same train be back tomorrow, same train."
There isn't much different in age, but Cohen argues that "Same Train" is older because it is much less interesting. I would say he is almost certainly right.
Cohen also notes the Lomax Special nature of this song. The version in American Ballads and Folk Songs, which probably is the source of most pop folk versions, claims to be based on a field recording by Walter McDonald, but in fact does not agree with that recording, and the later Lomax version in Folk Songs of North America says it's based on American Ballads and Folk Songs, but it again is rewritten. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.0
File: LoF255

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One mistake I see in the DT version (corrected above), is that there should be a double space before "This train don't carry no liars..." to separate stanzas.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: This Train (is bound for glory)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Jun 16 - 05:54 PM

Verse from the version I know that isn't above:

This train is leavin' in the morning, this train

Not sure whose, maybe Offbeat Folksongs?

Subject: RE: DTStudy: This Train (is bound for glory)
From: Airymouse
Date: 16 Jun 16 - 09:49 PM

I like to sing old songs, and I know some versions of old songs that aren't printed up or recorded anywhere, but I am not knowledgeable. So what follows may be really off base.
In the days of sailing ships, when two ships passed, each would hail the other asking where it was bound from and bound to. Mike Seeger sang a call-and-response hymn based on this tradition, with these lines:
Hail there and where do you bound for? Alleluia(2)
Oh, I am bound for the land of glory, Alleluia(2)
Just makes me wonder if the was a sailing ship bound for glory, before there was a train with that destination.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: This Train (is bound for glory)
From: Richie
Date: 16 Jun 16 - 10:06 PM

Hi,
Here's a version published in 1938

Dis Train- The American Caravan 1938

Dis train boun' for glory
Dis train, Oh Hallelujah
Dis train boun' for glory
Dis train, Oh Hallelujah
Dis train boun' for glory
Ef yuh ride no need fret er worry,
Dis train, Oh Hallelujah, Dis train.

Dis train don' carry no gambler
Dis train, Oh Hallelujah
Dis train don' carry no gambler
Dis train, Oh Hallelujah
Dis train don' carry no gambler
No fo' day creeper er midnight rambler
Dis train, Oh Hallelujah, Dis train.

Richie

Subject: RE: DTStudy: This Train (is bound for glory)
From: cnd
Date: 17 Jun 16 - 12:29 AM

Reminds me of the song "Heaven Bound Train," by Carl Story. Very similar makeup and structure with the repetition and such

Subject: RE: DTStudy: This Train (is bound for glory)
From: Mr Red
Date: 17 Jun 16 - 03:23 AM

FWIW because of his Autobiography, people, understandably, assume Woodie Guthrie wrote it. I have seen a statement by him somewhere to the effect he was putting the record straight. He regarded the song as trad.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: This Train (is bound for glory)
From: andrew e
Date: 17 Jun 16 - 06:37 AM

I made an A Cappella choir arrangement of this song sort of based on the Peter, Paul and Mary version.
If anyone would like it for their choir, email andrewjemmetatgmail.com

Actually we're performing this one tomorrow[Saturday] evening in Gympie, QLD.

Andrew