Lyr Req: Engineers Don't Wave from the Trains...

Subject: Engineers don't wave from....
From: Håvard
Date: 15 Nov 99 - 11:21 AM

Anybody got the lyrics for the folk/country song "The engineers don't wave from the trains anymore"? Also looking for the lyrics and tab's for Elisabeth Cotton's (?) "Freight Train"

Håvard

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Engineers don't wave from....
From: Håvard
Date: 15 Nov 99 - 11:22 AM

actually I got the "freight train" lyrics, just need tab.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Engineers don't wave from....
From: Allan C.
Date: 15 Nov 99 - 11:32 AM

In that search box located in the top right-hand side of this page, you can enter: freight or freight train or Libba or any number of other word clues. Any of them will get you to the lyrics for "Freight Train". I don't know the other song you mention.

Subject: Lyr Add: ENGINEERS DON'T WAVE FROM THE TRAINS...
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 15 Nov 99 - 12:45 PM

"The Engineers Don't Wave Anymore" is done by the Lynn Morris (bluegrass) Band, and was written by Marshall Wilborn, Lynn's husband. Here's the way we do it:

The Engineers Don't Wave Anymore
Marshall Wilborn Tom T. Hall

(Verse)
E E B7 B7
A A E E
E E A A
E B7 E E

(Chorus)
E E B7 B7
A A E E
E E A A
E B7 E C#m
E B7 E E

When I was a little boy I'd hang around the track
Watching them trains go to Louisville and back
I had my dreams and I had my plans
I was going to be an engineer man.

Them big old trains used to chug chug and spew
They were my heroes and they knew that I knew
No matter how far they'd go down the track
They'd always turn 'round and come back.

(Chorus)
But the engineers don't wave from the trains anymore
Not the way they did back in 1954
They've all got computers and diesels and things
And the engineers don't wave from the trains anymore
No, the engineers don't wave from the trains.


There's more important things that changed in the world
Engineers forgot about us little boys and girls
But I still get a far-away look in my eye
When I hear an old train in the night.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Engineers don't wave from....
From: Håvard
Date: 16 Nov 99 - 08:37 AM

That's great Barbara, thanks!

Håvard

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Engineers don't wave from....
From: Easy Rider
Date: 16 Nov 99 - 10:39 AM

You can find TAB for "Freight Train" on Stefan Grossman's Web site. He has a "Tab of the Month" page

Freight Train

This is the very first fingerstyle folk song many of us learned, way back when. I play a more syncopated version than Stefan's, but his is a good place to start.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Engineers Don't Wave from the Trains...
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 12:50 PM

The BMI repertoire (repertoire.bmi.com), Allmusic.com, and the US Copyright Office all say that Tom T. Hall wrote THE ENGINEERS DON'T WAVE FROM THE TRAINS ANYMORE.

It appeared on the album "The Storyteller and the Banjo Man" recorded by Earl Scruggs and Tom T. Hall in 1982.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Engineers Don't Wave from the Trains...
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 03:08 PM

Wow, old thread, and Jim you are absolutely right. I even have in my Shaw Family Songbook that Tom T. Hall wrote it, so I must have thought in 1999 that Marshall wrote it because he sang it. Luckily I've learned a few things in 11 years...

Nice song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Engineers Don't Wave from the Trains...
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 03:47 PM

Wow! I only wish it was always that easy to convince some people they were wrong! Thanks for your gracious reply, Barbara.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Engineers Don't Wave from the Trains...
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 06:51 PM

Barbara Shaw is always gracious, Jim. Thanks to both of you for refreshing this thread. Now that I have Spotify, I can go straight to the song and take a listen. The version I found is from a group called "Boiled Buzzards." I didn't find a recording from Tom. T. Hall or Marshall Wilborn.
But I dunno about the truth of the song. I live along the Transcontinental Railroad in the Sierra Foothills. The railroad is visible from our yard. I always wave when I'm close enough to be seen, and the engineers always wave back.
-Joe-