Lyr Req: Wolverine 14 Talking Blues (Utah Phillips

07 Dec 16 - 05:30 PM (#3825121)
Subject: Lyr Req: Wolverine 14 Talking Blues Utah Phillips
From: open mike

Wondering if anyone has the lyrics to this Utah Phillips train song? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FiZIqYfusA I had the great good fortune to be able to video Rosalie Sorrells singing this song while we rode on a train across Canada... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQS-s971utQ&t=24s

---

07 Dec 16 - 06:33 PM (#3825132)
Subject: Lyr Add: WOLVERINE 14 TALKING BLUES (Utah Phillips
From: GUEST,cnd

WOLVERINE 14 TALKING BLUES
As recorded by Rosalie Sorrels on "Starlight on the Rails: A Songbook" (2005)

Give me a train with an all-night bar.
Wherever I go it can't be too far.
Rock me to sleep in a Pullman car.
I'll ride those trains again.

Got the black smoke rollin' from the stack.
Pull that switch and clear that track.
Throw my guitar right up on a rack.
I'll ride those trains again.

[start talking blues section]
Uncle Sam has got a brand-new set o' trains,
But a subsidy ain't no substitute for brains.
You really want to see them trains roll,
Use some heart, give us [soul].
Take out the diesel; put back the coal.
I'll ride the trains again.

I remember the time I rode the Portland Rose.
How I survived, the good Lord only knows.
Them luxuries, they were so damn few,
And the springs on the seats come a-pokin' through.
They took out the diner and the club car too,
And I damn-near died from thirst.

When a passenger train was a red-ball on the line,
You never wound up side-tracked all the time.
Now all you do is you hurry up and wait,
And you're all stacked up for some damn freight.
I think they are tryin' to make me late,
And that's a hell of a way to run a railroad.
[end talking blues section]

Do you remember the children runnin' up and down the aisles?
How we laughed and we joked and we talked away the miles?
And the porter, he was playin' the dinner chimes.
[talking blues again] Folks, those were the good old times.
And it looks like I have gone and run out o' rhymes,
But at least I ain't bankrupt. [end talking blues]

Hey, now, give me a train with an all-night bar.
Wherever I go, it can't be too far.
Rock me to sleep in a Pullman car.
I'll ride those trains again.

Got the black smoke rollin' from the stack.
Pull that switch and clear that track.
Throw my guitar right up on a rack.
I'll ride those trains again.

Transcribed by ear from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAgR3EDJVzc

Also, I saw your previous comment here: thread.cfm?threadid=14233#1919298

---

07 Dec 16 - 06:36 PM (#3825133)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wolverine 14 Talking Blues Utah Phillips
From: GUEST,cnd

Regarding your inquiry about Red Ball, I don't know if it's related to shoes, but a red ball was a high priority freight train

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/red_ball#Adjective

---

07 Dec 16 - 08:15 PM (#3825147)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wolverine 14 Talking Blues Utah Phillips
From: Mark Ross

Utah wrote the lyrics, Andy Cohen put a tune to it.

Mark Ross

---