Joe:

Best wew can do is what is in RUS which says that MTA was copyrighted in 1956 by Atlantic Music Corp. RUS says it was written by Steiner and Hawes as a protest against the proposed subway fare increase from 10 cents to 15 cents and as a campaign song for the Progressive Party candidater for mayor, Walter O'Brien.

It lists the tune as being traditional and the tune to Wreck of the Old '97. While it is the tune to the Wreck of Old '97, it is not traditional. This tune was written by Henry Clay Work for his song The Ship That Never Returned which is, of course, is the song parodied by Charlie who never returned either.

There was a long article about this in the Boston Globe last year some of which follows:

When Jacqueline Steiner heard of the death last week of Walter A. O'Brien Jr., a long-forgotten Boston mayoral contender in 1949, her thoughts moved, once again, to a song about a man riding the subway without enough money to get off.

O'Brien's campaign which finished last in a field of five, had one enduring feature. It was O'Brien's objection to a change in fares that required an extra nickel to leave the subway that inspired Boston's legendary ditty "charlie on the MTA".

"I am continually amazed that people - it doesn't matter where they're from - still know the song which we wrote all those long years ago," said Steiner, now 79, who co-wrote the song with Bess Lomax Hawes for O'Brien's campaign.

The song was popularized nationally by the Kingston Trio in the 1950s, but O'Brien's first name was changed to George to avoid its being associated with the Progressive Party, of which O'Brien was a leader.

Bev and Jerry