As is the case with many Blues songs, the lyrics to "Smokestack Lightnin" can mean more than one thing.

Part of the beauty of this song is how the composer plays on the motif of the train.

In my opinion, the "train" is more than a train, and "smokestack lightnin" is more the literal meaning given for that phenomenon.

I believe that "smokestack lightnin" refers to the singer's woman.

My view is that the singer is confronting his cheating woman
{a woman he still loves}. "Stacked" is an African American vernacular term which means "well built" {among other definitions}.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Stacked

The word "stack" also calls to mind the American slang phrase
"blowing one's stack", meaning exploding in anger.

Another colloquial expression for exploding with anger is "seeing sparks fly" or "settin off sparks".   

In that "Smokestack Lightnin" song the woman might be throwin off sparks [of anger] at the man's nerve to confront her {Where did ya, stay last night?...who been here baby since,I-I been gone

The man's cryin during that song {yes, real men do cry} is another play on the train motif since it mimics the way trains sound
{A-whoo-hooo, whoo-hooo, Whooo}.

Furthermore, imo, the words "What's the matter with you" is shorthand for what's the matter with you messin up our good thing by cheatin on me".

I believe that the train in this song is a sexual euphemism for the woman's body. Perhaps the line "Let her, go for a ride" may have been written wrong. If the woman lets her "train" go for a ride, I suppose the singer wants to be the only one riding. since "running a train" on someone is a slang term for a woman being raped by multiple men.

In the version of the song that GUEST,lox posted
[10 Oct 06 - 09:00 PM] the singer also uses the train as a euphemism for the woman's body. "Stop your train/ Let a poor boy ride"

But in the Howlin Wolf version, I think that the phrase "stop your train" is equivalent to the contemporary urban hip-hop phrase
"slow your roll". "Slow your roll" means "slow down"; stop moving and think about what you are doing or saying {or planning to do or say}.

Continuing the analysis of this song, the singer asks his woman the question "who been here baby since,I-I been gone [?]. He then answers his own question with the put-down, dissin description
"a little bitty boy".

And the words "Girl, be on" at the end of the song remind me of the African American contemporary vernacular expression "Girl, get out of here" or "Girl, be real" [The person is trying to act strong and let the person addressed know that he or she isn't fooled by the crap {lies; story"} the other person is sayin {or planned to say}.

****

Of course, I may be wrong about all or some of what I wrote. But the again, I may be right about some or all of what I wrote.

What do you think?


Azizi Powell