Subject: Lyr Add: WABASH CANNON BALL (Roy Acuff)
From:
Jim Dixon
Date: 06 Oct 19 - 12:48 AM
Here’s one version that Roy Acuff sang. Besides the difference in verse order, I have boldfaced the differences between this version and the version in the DT, which bears no attribution. You can hear this at The Internet Archive.
WABASH CANNON BALL
As recorded by Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys, 1936. (Columbia 20197)
1. From the great Atlantic Ocean to the wide Pacific shore,
From the green of glowing mountains to the South Bell by the shore,
She’s mighty tall and handsome and known quite well by all.
She’s the combination on the Wabash Cannon Ball.
2. She came down from Birmingham one cold December day.
As she rolled into the station, you could hear all the people say:
“There’s the girl from Tennessee; she’s long and she’s tall.
She came down from Birmingham on the Wabash Cannon Ball.”
3. Our eastern states are dandy, so the people always say,
From New York to St. Louis and Chicago by the way;
From the hills of Minnesota where the rippling waters fall.
No changes can be taken on that Wabash Cannon Ball.
4. Here’s to Daddy Claxton; may his name forever stand,
And always be remembered round the courts of Alabam’.
His earthly race is over and the curtains round him fall.
We’ll carry 'im home to vic'try on the Wabash Cannon Ball.
5. Listen to the jingle, the rumble and the roar,
As she glides along the woodland, through the hills and by the shore.
Hear the mighty rush of the engine; hear that lonesome hobo’s call.
You’re trav'lin’ through the jungles on the Wabash Cannon Ball.
Roy Acuff and his Crazy Tennesseans made another recording in 1938 (Columbia 37008). You can also hear this one at the Internet Archive. In that version, verse 5 becomes verse 2.
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