Origins: Good morning mister railroad man

Subject: Origins: Good morning mister railroad man
From: GUEST,Ian
Date: 02 Apr 21 - 07:48 PM

This song is listed as "traditional", or " written by Ry Cooder" (or Martin Simpson depending on source.)
Lyric origins aside, from my listening the tune Ry largely uses is "The northern lights of old Aberdeen" written by Mary Webb in the early 1950s. What's going on?

Subject: RE: Origins: Good morning mister railroad man
From: Felipa
Date: 02 Apr 21 - 08:27 PM

Is this the same song as "Good morning, Mister Railway Man, what time do your trains go by?/ At 9.16 and 2.44 and 25 minutes till 5/At 9.16 and 2.44 and 25 minutes till 5/I thank you mister railway man, I want to watch your trains go by"? If so, I heard it in the 1960s, years before I heard of either Ry Cooder or Martin Simpson. The singer was "stuck on a Danville girl, you bet your life she was a pearl," and the tune wasn't the same as the Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen. (I learned various songs from compilations such as the Electra Folk Box and I don't always recall who performed them)

As for "what's going on?": Sometimes songs are described as traditional by people who don't know who the author/composer is even though there is a known author. Often songs are listed as being "by" a person who sang/recorded them but did not write them. And it is hard to make up a tune that doesn't bear some resemblance to another tune!

Subject: RE: Origins: Good morning mister railroad man
From: Felipa
Date: 02 Apr 21 - 08:36 PM

The Digital Tradition has the song under the title Danville Girl and says it is traditional and arranged by Woody Guthrie and Cisco Huston
https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=1465

The version I heard, unlike that in the DT, started with the question about the times of the trains, according to my memory. But we have the same verses from there on.

Subject: RE: Origins: Good morning mister railroad man
From: GUEST,Ian
Date: 02 Apr 21 - 08:50 PM

Don't tell that to Lennon and McCartney Felipa!

Subject: RE: Origins: Good morning mister railroad man
From: Felipa
Date: 02 Apr 21 - 09:08 PM

Woody Guthrie Danville Girl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd9Rf2ifDK4

There are several versions of this song. Words and tunes vary (it is "traditional"). The harmonies on the Guthrie recording make it sound very different from the way I learned the song, but I am am able to sing along with the tune I know.

I don't sing this tune, which is like a related song, "Waiting for a train": "Scott Everitt sings Danville Girl by [sic] Woody Guthrie"

The way Ry Cooder and Martin Simpson sing it is closer to the tune I learned Ry Cooder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkJWHr5HWQQ
Martin Simpson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8WRc8hyM88

There is also a recording on youtube of a Tyler Grant performing Good Morning Mr Railroad Man. And some others but those are the ones I've just sampled now.

I think I've found the version I heard way back then,: Cisco Houston

And I hope you are clearer about "What is going on". Choose whichever version of the song your like, even mix and match if you want to.

Subject: RE: Origins: Good morning mister railroad man
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 Apr 21 - 09:50 AM

What time do your trains roll by, which I have I think by Cisco Houston, starts Tell me, not Good morning.

Subject: RE: Origins: Good morning mister railroad man
From: Felipa
Date: 03 Apr 21 - 06:31 PM

That's such a small difference, Mrrzy. The same singer might not always use the same words. But as I do sing the song as "Good morning ...", I just double-checked the Cisco Houston recording on youtube (link in my last message in the discussion before this one). Cisco does start with "good morning, mister railway man," on that recording.