Lyr Req: The Steam That Blows the Whistle

Subject: Lyr Req: The Steam That Blows the Whistle
From: GUEST,Peter J. Gossett
Date: 01 Oct 03 - 09:05 PM

Know a little about trains? Can you help me transcribe words to this song? It's a song sung by the Buchanan Brothers and the Georgia Catamounts called The Steam That Blows the Whistle (Never Turns the Wheel) written by Dick Sanford/James Cavanaugh/Sammy Mysels.

I have a snippet of the song containing the help I need at this link: http://www.geocities.com/buchananbrothers/steam.wav (if it does not open, I'll have it there shortly).

I have a start but a bunch of blanks:

Oh our pappy was an engineer
So many years ago
But it was in the bushes
That he taught us what we know

The steam that blows the whistle never turns the wheel
To drive that mighty engine along that golden ____
From ____ Californy from Memphis to Mobile
The steam that blows the whistle never turns the wheel
Takes ___ ton of coal and water to get that train to go
Only take a ____ little limb pull? to get make whistle blow

Oh the steam that blows the whistle never turns the wheel
To crush? that weight and ____ and ____ two ____
To spend that heavy gyro and keep that ____ _____
The steam that blows the whistle never turns the wheel
Takes a ton of coal and water to get that train to go
Only take a ____ little limble pull? to get make whistle blow

Oh the steam that blows the whistle never turns the wheel
To drive that mighty engine along that golden ____
From ____ Californy from Memphis to Mobile
The steam that blows the whistle never turns the wheel
Takes ___ ton of coal and water to get that train to go
Only take a ____ little limb pull? to get make whistle blow

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Steam That Blows the Whistle
From: Louie Roy
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 10:56 AM

Peter I have the words to the steam that blows the whistle never turns the wheel,but it is an entirely different song from the one you want an it was written by J.G.Braddock SR Louie Roy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Steam That Blows the Whistle
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 08:49 PM

Here's what I hear:

Oh, our pappy was an engineer so many years ago,
But it was in the woodshed that he taught us what we know.

The steam that blows the whistle never turns the wheel.
To drive that mighty engine along that road of steel,
From Maine to Californy, from Memphis to Mobile,
The steam that blows the whistle never turns the wheel.

Takes a ton of coal and water to get that train to go.
Only takes a thimble-full to make that whistle blow.

Oh, the steam that blows the whistle never turns the wheel.
To crush that wheat and barley and grind it into meal.
To spin that heavy gyro and keep that ship on keel,
[The steam that blows the whistle never turns the wheel.]

Notes:
Woodshed = the proverbial place that kids were spanked (paddled, whipped, whatever)
Maine to California = a cliché for the width of the USA, before Alaska and Hawaii became states.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Steam That Blows the Whistle
From: graywolf1980
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 10:47 PM

Hello and thank you so so much for your help! The lyrics have puzzled me for well more than a year. However, I still think it's bushes, though it might not make much sense. Thimble-full....I don't know much about trains, but can you clarify that for me? LOL

Thanks again!