02 May 00 - 08:34 PM (#221792) Subject: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Sourdough Yep, I tried the DT. I even search "caboose" to make sure. THis song, to the tune of Little Old Log Cabin on the Lane, Little Old Sod Cabin", and the thirty or forty other cousins of that song, is a railway song about an aging railroadman. I remember some lines such as "My arms are getting weary and my eyes are getting dim. I cannot read the signals any more" The recurrent line is, "That little red caboose behind the train". Does anyone have access to the words? The melody is running through my head and I would love to play it when I get together with some friends later this week but I don't know enough lyric. Sourdough Click for related thread and lyrics |
02 May 00 - 08:52 PM (#221801) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Midchuck Mr. Norman Blake recorded it as "The Weathered Old Caboose Behind the Train" on Chattanooga Sugar Babe, Shanachie 6027. Peter. |
02 May 00 - 09:15 PM (#221810) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Stewie I posted the lyrics to Blake's 'The Weathered Old Caboose' as a 'lyr add' thread if that's the one you are after. --Stewie.
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02 May 00 - 10:30 PM (#221843) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Sourdough Stewie - Thanks for looking it up. That song is definitely and closely related to the one I'm looking for but it seems to me to have had the lyrics moderned up a bit. I would like to find the older version of lyric if anyone has it. Sourdough |
02 May 00 - 10:41 PM (#221848) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Metchosin Little red caboose chug chug chug Little red caboose chug chug chug Little red caboose behind the train train train train Goin down the track track track track Smoke stack on the back back back back Little red caboose behind the tra-ain Sorry to foul the thread up Sourdough, but your request reminded me of the above ditty from my childhood that I hadn't thought of for years. |
02 May 00 - 10:43 PM (#221850) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Dale Rose I have it, Sourdough. It is on the same album that I found The Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers. Now I just have to find the time to dig it out again and transcribe it. I'll try not to make it as long as last time, but don't hold your breath! |
02 May 00 - 11:17 PM (#221868) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Sourdough Apparently we share a love of train songs but you seem to have a far deeper knowledge and collection. Whenever you get around to it, I will be happy to get it. I am in your debt once again (but I do think of you gratefully whenever SP Train number 16 is going into the tunnel and the brothers head for the engine to kill Bates the fireman and endager the lives of the passengers and crew. Sourdough |
03 May 00 - 12:28 AM (#221919) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Dale Rose The song will be on the way as soon as I finish this post ~~ didn't take me as long as I thought it would, but the lyrics are another matter. At least you'll have them when you get the song.
Thought I'd list all the songs from the album, lots of neat stuff that is hard to find from other sources ~~ but getting easier every year!.
The Railroad In Folksong, RCA Victor Vintage Series 532, 1966. (notes were by Archie Green)
Orange Blossom Special, Rouse Brothers 39 |
03 May 00 - 01:26 AM (#221974) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Sourdough What a terrific album! What are the numbers after each title, the year of the recording? They seem to fit from the little I know. Thank you! How ar eyou sending the song but not the lyrics? By MP3? Sourdough |
03 May 00 - 01:30 AM (#221978) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: JenEllen Sorry, I had the same brain train as Metchosin I guess. ~Elle |
03 May 00 - 01:46 AM (#221994) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Dale Rose Yes, year of original recording, I neglected to say that. Unless it got hung up in the pipeline somewhere, you should have the RA by now. I haven't figured out how to make mp3 or wav that are sufficiently small yet. As for the lyrics, I have to be in a specific mood to handle lyrics, just recording songs requires a lot less brain power.
I took a look at the Norman Blake song posted by Stewie. It definitely looks like he at least modeled his chorus on The Little Red Caboose Behind The Train, which as noted in Sourdough's first post is itself a descendant of an even earlier song. |
03 May 00 - 02:51 AM (#222030) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Sourdough The RA version has arrived and I can transcribe the lyrics without any problem. I used to trasncribe lyrics professionally. "Hey, Mister, can I get a job like that?" "No, Johnny, it is a special kind of job." I was living in Paris looking for ways to eke out the little money I was making busking and as a receptionist at a Student and Artists' Club on the West Bank. I was getting room and some board working as a male au pair fora family with two boys in Malmaison. (The first time I was a commuter was in Paris - around the Arche de Triomphe on my (BMW) motorcycle and down the Champs Elysee and then over to the Left Bank. I've never really had as interesting a commute since then.) It turned out that there were a lot of French singing groups, for some reason it was groups who wanted to sing American songs, that needed to have lyrics trasncribed because they could not understand them from the recording. It never made a serious income stream but it did lead me to teaching at Berlitz. In any case, thanks again for the recording. Sourdough |
03 May 00 - 03:21 AM (#222044) Subject: Lyr Add: THE LITTLE RED CABOOSE BEHIND THE TRAIN From: GUEST,Gene Lyrics IFFY in a few places
LITTLE RED CABOOSE BEHIND THE TRAIN
I am growing old and weary
CHORUS
There are young ones coming on
CHORUS
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03 May 00 - 04:07 AM (#222061) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Stewie Dale, thanks for the track listing of the 'Railroad in Folksong' LP. About 15 years ago, I missed out on purchasing a copy by a day or two. An old bloke in Victoria (Oz) was selling his oldtimey LP collection but, by the time I found out, he had sold the RCA railroad one - but I purchased 4 others in the series from him. I ended up buying about 50 LPs from him. I am glad to see the track listing. I have all but 4 of them on other albums - one of the missing ones being 'The Little Red Caboose' - so I won't bother chasing the LP. Now if they released it on CD ... Cheers, Stewie. |
03 May 00 - 10:32 AM (#222181) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Dale Rose Out of curiosity ~~ which four songs are you missing, Stewie? A wild guess without checking would be the last four. Also, which four Vintage albums do you have? I'll compare your list with mine. |
03 May 00 - 11:17 AM (#222232) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Sourdough Gene: Thanks for the lyric (posted to the other thread). I quickly grabbed it and was up until 1:30 this morning playing witht he lyric and song. It was like being able to give a glorious scratch to a wonderful itch. Lyric corrections you asked for: "links and chains to rust" "hills they have to double" (Maybe "bills" refers to the increasing cost of running railroads) "In this wide world left to stand" (This is my best guess. I am not sure about this word, though) Sourdough |
03 May 00 - 05:57 PM (#222516) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Joe Offer GEE! I've got both Gene and Dale on my case to correct these lyrics andd get them posted in the right place, but I think they belong right where Gene posted them (click) where they can be compared at a glance with the Norman Blake version Stewie posted. So, I'll post the corrections there. Note that when I find interrelated threads, I often post a link to the other thread in the first message, like you'll see in this thread when I get finished. -Joe Offer- |
03 May 00 - 06:29 PM (#222542) Subject: Lyr Add: LITTLE RED CABOOSE BEHIND THE TRAIN ^^ From: Joe Offer OK, here's the joint transcription from Dale, Gene, Joe, and Sourdough: LITTLE RED CABOOSE BEHIND THE TRAIN Paul Warmack and his Gully Jumpers I am growing old and weary And my sight is getting dim I have laid my links and pins away to rust And the only friend that's left to me In this wide world to stand Is the Little Red Caboose Behind The Train. CHORUS Oh, I'm growing old and feeble now And my sight is getting dim And I cannot see those signals anymore I can hear those whistles blowing And I know I'll soon be going To a better home I know that, far away. There are young ones coming on It is time for me to go They'll be pestered with the rain, the sleet and snow And they'll find a heap of trouble When those hills they have to double With the Little Red Caboose Behind The Train. CHORUS ^^ And the notes from Dale: The Little Red Caboose Behind The Train/Paul Warmack and his Gully Jumpers, recorded Nashville, TN 10/1/28 From The Railroad In Folksong, RCA Victor Vintage Series 532, 1966."Links and pins," the predecessors of couplers, were used to join train cars together - so those words seem to me to be the correct interpretation. -Joe Offer- |
03 May 00 - 07:42 PM (#222604) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Stewie Hi Dale, The four that I don't have are: 'Little Red Caboose', 'Crime of D'Autremont Brothers', 'Peanut Special' and 'The Train Done Left Me'. The four Vintage albums are: 'Early Blue Grass', 'Early Rural String Bands', 'Native American Ballads' and 'Dust Bowl Ballads'. I no longer have 'Dust Bowl Ballads' because I later swapped it for 'Blue Ridge Mountain Music' in the Atlantic Southern Folk Heritage Series - a lovely record, especially the Mountain Ramblers' tracks. I also have the RCA Smoky Mountain Ballads LP on a British reissue (Pickwick). Cheers, Stewie. |
03 May 00 - 08:31 PM (#222648) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Dale Rose Here are the complete notes by Archie Green for The Railroad In Folksong. (I figured more than one might like to read them) I made a rough spell check of my scan, but I did not remove all the hyphens, and likely missed a few paragraph breaks. I also did not put in all the html for italics, etc. It should be easily readable, though. (Stewie, I'll get to my comments about the albums later)
A new nation hacked out of a wilderness-spanning mountain, prairie, forest, desert-gave its builders a tremendous affection for the tools of transport. Ox team, covered wagon, canal boat, clipper ship, locomotive, and motor truck became folklore cluster points. Of all these machines in the United States, none attracted more songs and stories than the iron horse. Not only did the sheer physical labor expended in lacing a con- tinent with track Pulsate in lyric work songs, but hundreds of tragic wrecks sparked dramatic ballads, and many brave trainmen were memo- rialized in touching elegies. Apart from such obvious subjects was the alternate use of the train as a symbol for escape, freedom or salvation. Fortunately, railroadiana is well documented. When Ben Botkin, Frank Donovan, Alvin Harlow and Freeman Hubbard caught steam and whistle in printed narrative and anecdote, folksong collectors etched parallel pieces into sound recordings. This album takes up samples of railroad material-some of which originated in the 1920s: mountain, country, hillbilly. At that time the recording industry's artists and repertoire men gathered a fine harvest. We do not question whether Ralph Peer and his fellow scouts consciously sought railroad songs; we know -only that RCA Victor vaults hold excellent examples of such items comparable to the best Library of Congress field variants.
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03 May 00 - 08:42 PM (#222657) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Stewie Great stuff, Dale. Many thanks for posting it. --Stewie. |
04 May 00 - 03:40 AM (#222783) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Sourdough That sure makes interesting reading and fans my interst in getting the CS. SOmeone did say it was going to be released as a CD, did't they? Sourdough |
04 May 00 - 04:36 AM (#222800) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Stewie Sourdough, the CD comment was only wishful thinking on my part. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it. RCA has abandoned even its highly-acclaimed Bluebird blues reissue series and its 4 oldtimey reissues are long out of print - bean counters triumphing over art. Thankfully, the Monroe Brothers' Bluebirds are to be issued under licence by Rounder. It would be nice if it licensed the Vintage series as well, but I doubt that it will happen. --Stewie. |
05 May 00 - 01:55 AM (#223370) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train From: Sourdough They'll miss a market because people will start making their own CDs from the disks. As I understand it, the technology is pretty good as well as inexpensive and it has automated pop and hiss removal that is reasonable effective. Once that happens, the market will disappear for that particular record. The only thing stopping it is getting the first tranfer done, after that, the copying is a piece of cake. Sourdough |