Train Songs

Subject: Train Songs
From: Harold W
Date: 08 Apr 00 - 11:27 PM

I know that there are old standard train songs on the Mudcat, such as WABASH CANNONBALL, CHATTANOOGA CHOO-CHOO, etc. C. W. Mcall wrote a couple of songs about trains in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado (The Silverton, Galloping Goose). Is there any other recent train songs?

Ken Johnson

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Mbo
Date: 08 Apr 00 - 11:33 PM

Man o man, Harold, have YOU opened a can of worms! I'll get back to you tommorow on all the ones I can come up with! Right now I'll just say "East Tennessee" by Jim Croce is VERY VERY good!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Sorcha
Date: 08 Apr 00 - 11:44 PM

How recent is "recent"?

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 12:08 AM

Norm Cohen's Long Steel Rail is being reprinted as we speak, he tells me. Get it. Support academic folklore studies -- labors of love by good people! (Shall we make up a bumper sticker of that phrase, Kat?)

Sandy

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: catspaw49
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 12:37 AM

Harold, I think you need to check a little deeper in at the DT too. Did you know you can browse by keywords? Entering @ train in the searchbox got over 80 hits.... not all of them gems of course or only slightly rail related, but there are at least 30+ good railroad songs about wrecks and hobos and related stuff. Kendall Morse does a great rendition of "PHOEBE SNOW" by Utah Phillips and it's in there...a kind of hobo song. If I had the time to learn it, I'd sing it next week.

There are also a couple of Woody's like "EAST TEXAS RED"..a great "don't get mad get even" song, and "HOBO'S LULLABY" which aren't in the DT.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From:
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 12:40 AM

Steel Rail Blues

Stan Rogers - Guysborough Train (recently resurrected on the new CD)

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From:
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 12:44 AM

Chatanooga Choo-choo

In Cape Breton's Summertimre Revue, there was also a song (I think) called They Took the Train Away

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Dale Rose
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 01:04 AM

As Sorcha says, it depends on your definition of recent. I'd say a bunch of stuff by Utah Phillips and Gordon Lightfoot could be considered instant classics. Then are tons of old railroad songs that are rarely done.

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Dale Rose
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 01:06 AM

Then THERE are tons . . . (It's late)

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Stewie
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 02:21 AM

I have recently posted the lyrics to 17 train related songs, many of them relatively recent.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: GUEST,ej
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 05:55 AM

How about "LAST TRAIN TO SAN FERNANDO"? From the 50's or 60's. Does anyone have the words to this?

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: karen k
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 06:31 AM

Dave Goulder, a wonderful singer and dry stonewall builder from Rosehall, Scotland, way up in the Highlands, has a great album of all railroad songs. Can't think of the name of it right now, but will try to come up with it and post it later. If you can find this one it's a gem.

karen

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Mbo
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 12:07 PM

Blue Train--Marty Stuart
CITY OF NEW ORLEANS (obviously!)--Arlo Guthrie
SHADES OF GLORIA--Maura O'Connell
Train Kept A-Rollin'--Aerosmith (sorry, I had to include it!)
Engine of Love--Earl Jordan
SMOKESTACK LIGHTNIN'--originally Howlin' Wolf, but I like the Yardbirds live version better


--Mbo

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: GUEST,marcelloblues
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 01:24 PM

It was a train, (that) took me away from here, but a train, can't bring me home. Tom Waits (FRANK'S WILD YEARS, maybe)

cheers

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: GUEST,Bob Schwarer
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 02:20 PM

Wreck of the FFV.

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: GUEST,Rich(stupidbodhranplayerwho.....)
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 02:43 PM

I would strongly recommend Utah Phillips CD "Good Though"

Rich

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Ely
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 03:18 PM

Georgia Railroad [instrumental];
Crossing Number Nine;
Bringing in the Georgia Mail;
Slow Train Through Georgia;
Last Train from Poor Valley;
Southern Railroad Blues;
Railroad Days;
Weathered Old Caboose behind the Train [the one about the Canadian railroad];
Dixie Flyer Blues--Norman Blake

The L & N Don't Stop Here Anymore--Jean Ritchie

Starlight on the Rails--Utah Philips

Morningtown Ride--Malvina Reynolds

Rock Island Line;
Midnight Special--Leadbelly

Freight Train--Elizabeth Cotten

Five Hundred Miles--Hedy West

Nine Hundred Miles--[recorded by] Cisco Houston

Railroading on the Great Divide--Sara Carter

Freight Train Blues--Roy Acuff

Larry Penn also loves train songs; I saw him at a small concert in Houston a few years ago and he always does "Wabash Cannonball" and the poem about the railroad spike and things.

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: GUEST,Lee
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 04:05 PM

Among my favorites:

"One More Ride", Hank Snow.

"Glory Land Express", Orville Prophet.

"Atlantic Coastal Line", Charley Pride.

"Waiting for a Train", Jimmie Rodgers.

Lee

P.S. I was Country when Country Wasn't Cool!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Clinton Hammond2
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 04:31 PM

Lee? Is that Hank Snow song the same as the one written by Garnet Rogers on his album Small Victories?

"He said I love the sound I even love the smell
God damn the bastards all to hell
How dare they say the railroad won't pay?"

Ian Tamblyn has a good train song, also about the demise of the Canadian rail called "Railroad".. but I don't know what album it's on...

"There's a train standing in the station
The conductor is calling all aboard
There's only one thing wrong, once this train is gone
It won't be back no more..."

Tony Kaduck's "Railway Tune" has got to be one of my favorites... you can find it, if ya don't know it already, covered by James Keelaghan on his album Timelines... I laugh every time I play it...

{~`

Subject: ADD: The Iron Horse ^^
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 07:01 PM

A regrettably US-sided thread ... Here's a train song from Scotland, sung by Tony Cuffe on 'When First I Came To Caledonia' (1988):

THE IRON HORSE
(Charles Balfour)

Come Hielandman, come Lowlandman, come every man on earth, man
And I'll tell ye how I got on, atween Dundee and Perth, man
I gaed upon an iron road, a rail they did it ca', man
And ruggit [pulled] by an iron horse, an awfy beast to draw, man

There were hooses in a lang straight row a-standin' upon wheels, man
And the pair o' chiels that fed the brute were black as ony de'ils, man
And ne'er a thing they gave the beast but only coals to eat, man
'Twas the queerest beast that e'er I saw, for it had wheels for feet, man

The beast it roared and aff we gaed through water, steam and stanes, man
We gaed at sic a fearful rate I thought we'd brak' oor banes, man
By and by we stoppit at a place ca'd something-Gowrie
But ne'er a word had I to say but only sit and glower, aye

And after that we crossed the Tay and landed into Perth, man
I vow it was the queerest place that e'er I saw on Earth, man
For the hooses and the iron horse were far aboon the land, man
And how they got them up the stairs I cannae understand, man

But noo I'm safely landed and my feet are on the sod, man
If I gang tae Dundee again I'll tak' another road, man
Though I should gang upon my feet till I'm no' fit to stand, man
Catch me again when I'm ta'en in wi' the terrible iron horse, man

[1988:] A song from Ford's "Vagabond Songs" in which an old-fashioned country farmer confronts that marvel of 19th century high technology: the steam engine. According to Ford, the song was written by Charles Balfour, stationmaster at Glencarse, between Dundee and Perth, and was first sung at a "festival of railway servants" held at Perth in 1848. (Notes Tony Cuffe, 'When First I Went To Caledonia') ^^

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Callie
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 08:13 PM

Tom Waits' "Downtown Train" and a wonderful song called "Poison Train" by a man in Darwin (Australia) whose name eludes me.

--Callie

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: ddw
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 08:57 PM

Don't know about the "recent" criterion, but there's Bukka White's Special Streamline and the one Tom Rush made as a spinoff of it, The Panama Limited.

Also Dwight Yoakum's Smoke Along The Track. And the Kingston Trio's Fast Freight.

I'm restraining myself; I love train songs and could probably come up with 50 or so, but a lot of them would be in the DT, so it'd just be a waste of everybody's time.

david

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Pete Peterson
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 09:16 PM

A friend of mine JU Lee wrote a song called Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Man-- it's a series of fast images about life working on that railroad. Written in the last ten years and a GOOD song-- I'll post it if anybody is interested. PETE

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Harold W
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 10:18 PM

I should have defined recent meaning after 1976. Maybe this should clear this up.

Ken Johnson

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: GUEST,Frankie
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 10:44 PM

Great thread, I love train songs and I'm going to "track" some of these down. Here's a few:

Golden Rocket by Hank Snow

Streamlined Cannonball by Roy Acuff

And my all-time favorite Green Light on the Southern by Norman Blake.

F

Subject: ADDE: San Fernando
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 04:24 AM

I asked for these lyrics last year and Wolfgang pointed to a link which had them from whence I've cut 'n' pasted these, hope it's formatted OK.
As sung in the UK by Johnny Duncan and the Bluegrass boys, (and Bud & Travis in the US) not by St Lonnie as I had misremembered.

SAN FERNANDO

It's the last train to San Fernando
The last train to San Fernando
And if you miss this one
There'll never be another one
So let's bitty-bitty boom-boom
To San Fernando

Last night I met sweet Dorothy
Said, "Tomorrow I am joining in matrimony."
("Do it now, John!")
She said, "If you act right
You can take me out tonight
And we'll wine and dine but be back on time."

It's the last train to San Fernando
It's the last train to San Fernando
And if you miss this one
There'll never be another one
So let's bitty-bitty boom-boom
To San Fernando

Said, "I'm marrying right into society
Be careful of the place you are taking me
Because if you slip, I'll slide
And I'll never get to be a bride."
And we'll bitty-bitty boom-boom to San Fernando
("What is this?")

It's the last train to San Fernando
("Bitty-bitty-bitty!")
Last train to San Fernando
And if you miss this one
There'll never be another one
So let's bitty-bitty boom-boom
To San Fernando

("Sing it, Keely!")
Diplomatically, I asked Dorothy to dance
("How else?")
There was nothing on my mind but romance
I said to myself, "Oooh boy
Better beat this iron while it's hot."
And we'll bitty-bitty boom-boom to San Fernando

It's the last train to San Fernando
("Hush-a-baby!")
Last train to San Fernando
And if you miss this one
There'll never be another one
So let's bitty-bitty boom-boom
To San Fernando

It's the last train to San Fernando
The last train to San Fernando
(quiet)

Let's bitty-bitty boom-boom to San Fernando!
(loud)
Roger the <==0==>

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Whistle Stop
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 08:37 AM

"Recent" is tough, probably for a lot of us. But there are lots of good suggestions here. The Norman Blake stuff is all great, and also the Tom Waits. Mbo suggests the classic City of New Orleans, but you may want to make note of the fact that it's actually a Steve Goodman song (Arlo did a cover that got a lot of airplay, but he didn't write it).

I'd also suggest It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry by Bob Dylan, and another by Guy Clark whose name escapes me -- it is Texas 1949?

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Whistle Stop
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 08:45 AM

One more: it's called Texas Eagle by Steve Earle. It's the first song on the excellent CD that he recorded with the Del McCoury band last year ("The Mountain"). that qualifies as "recent".

Of course, there's also This Train by Woody Guthrie -- can't call that one recent, but in my opinion it's timeless.

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: GUEST,Lost cookie
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 09:34 AM

Orange Blossom Special

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: GUEST,Mbo_at_ECU
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 10:49 AM

I know yer gonna hate me for this, But ELO did a smokin' version of "Orange Blossom Special" on the rare album "The Night The Light Came on in Long Beach", when with minimal band accompaniament, their fiddler Mik Kaminski tore up on the Orange Blossom Special like Paganini come back to life and fiddlin' at a barndance! Woooo woooo!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Mooh
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 11:03 AM

Train Kept A Rollin' (a great crossover folkie tune), If Love was a Train (Michelle Shocked), Silver Train (Johnie Winter and the Stones), Passion Train (Salamander Crossing), Kansas City (I might take a train...), lots of Gordon Lightfoot stuff...

My brain hurts. Peace Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: ceitagh
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 11:04 AM

Hey guys....why is this a BS thread?
ceit

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Willie-O
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 11:27 AM

well it ain't really, ceit. or, they all are.

Guy Clark Texas 1947, fer sure.

Canadiana, less obvious than the Trilogy:

• Crossties on a Railroad by Dennis Brown
• Railroad Line (Bill Garrett?)
• I Never Did Like That Train (Murray McLauchlan)
• I Like Trains (Fred Eaglesmith) (these should be sung back to back for best effect...)
• Harvest Train (Alex Sinclair)

Lonesome Willie-O

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LAST RIDE^^
From: Art Thieme
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 11:29 AM

"Zack, The Mormon Engineer" is a classic---about an engineer on the Denver & Rio Grand R.R. that had a wife in every town along the way. Also, "The Hobo's Last Ride"--originally done with banjo by Buell Kazee (1928 ?)and then re-done with a new tune by Hank Snow (and by me too on Folk Legacy).

THE LAST RIDE

In the Dodge City Yards of the Santa Fe stood a freight made up for the east,
The engineer with his oil and waste stood groomin' the great iron beast,
Ten cars back in the murky dusk a boxcar door swung wide,
And a hobo hoisted his pal aboard to start on his last long ride.

The lantern swung, the freight pulled out and the engine it gathered speed,
The engineer pulled his throttle wide and clucked to his fiery steed.

Ten cars back in the murky dusk a hobo rolled a pill,
The flare of the match showed his partner's face stark, white and deathly still,
As ther train wheels clicked on the couplin' joints---a song for the rambler's ear,
The hobo talked to the still white form--his pal for many a year.

"It's a mighty long time we've rambled, Jack, with the luck of the men that roam,
The backdoor steps for a dining room and a boxcar for a home,
We dodged the bulls on the eastern route, the cops on the Chesapeake,
We rode the Leadville narrow gauge in the days of Cripple Creek,
We traveled down through sunny Cal. on the rails of the old S.P.,
And of all you had, through good or bad, half always belonged to me,
I made a promise to you, Jack, if I lived and you cashed in,
To take you back to that old churchyard and bury you there with your kin,
I'm keepin' my promise to you, Jack, and takin' you home on the fly,
It's a decent way for a 'bo to go home to the by-and-by.

"I knew that the fever had you Jack, and the doctor, he wouldn't come,
He was too busy with the wealthy folks to doctor a worn out bum."
As the train rolled over those ribbons of steel straight through to the east it sped,
The engineer in his high cab seat kept his eyes on the rails ahead,
Ten cars back in the murky dusk, a lonely hobo sighed,
For the days of old and his pal so cold who was taking his last long ride...

Art Thieme ----(this is probably in the DT but it's fun to go through the words another time.)

Subject: Lyr Add: ONE MORE RIDE (Bob Nolan)
From: GUEST,Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 12:13 PM

ONE MORE RIDE
Words and music by Bob Nolan
As recorded by Sons of the Pioneers (Okeh 5725, 1936)

I'm along for a trip; don't need no grip; I'm takin' one more ride
Way out there in the prairie air; I guess it's in my hide.
For the clickety-clack of the railroad track is callin'.
Here's a man that knows where the Santa Fe goes when she gets under steam,
And her big loud bell bids a fond farewell; hear her whistle scream.
She's bound to go where there ain't no snow a-fallin'.
One more ride.

Now I miss the gloom of the pale white moon that seemed to know my name,
And the tumbleweed where the prairie dog feeds, I miss them just the same.
They're all a part of the song in my heart I'm singin'.
I recall the tune I sang to the moon; it seemed to make him smile,
As I rode away at the close of day and stayed so long, awhile,
But I long to be where the memory is ringin'.
One more ride.

As the years go by, I'll wonder why I longed to leave my home,
And hit the trail of the iron rail away out there alone,
But my heart will sigh till I know that I am leavin'.
If I don't come back, there's a one-way track way down in Mexico
You'll find me there or any old where that a tumbleweed will grow.
So it's goodbye now, you'll never know how I'm grievin'.
One more ride.

[Also recorded by Hank Snow, Johnny Cash, Marty Stuart, Johnny Bond, et al.]

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: GUEST,Mrrzy-at-work
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 12:21 PM

Don't ignore Shel Silverstein's famous one-verse train song:

Let me sing you a song 'bout the old 49 / Fastest engine on the Santa Fe line / On the 12th of December, she made a desparate dash / And she got there on time and she did not crash.

Also the old one that Joan Baez did, that I should have listed under Songs I Can't Sing Without Bursting Into Tears, about Engine 143 and Georgie, which has that fantastic imagery about the crash's effects on the engineer, even better than the Cisco Houston imagery about how "they found him in the wreck with his hand on the throttle: he was scalded to death by the steam."

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WRECK ON THE C & O^^^
From: GUEST,Mrrzy-at-work
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 12:33 PM

Didn't see this one in the dB so here it is. I know Joan Baez sang it, I can't remember which album (same as Once I knew a pretty girl), and I never knew who wrote it. These are the words I hear...

ENGINE 143

Along came the FFB, the swiftest on the line,
Running down that steel road, just twenty minutes behind,
Running into Sou'ville, headquarters on the line,
Receiving their strict orders from the station just behind.

Georgie's mother came to him with a bucket on her arm.
She said, "My darling son, be careful how you run.
There's many a man has lost his life in trying to make lost time,
But if you run your engine right, you'll get there just on time."

Up the track she darted. Into a rock she crashed.
Upside down the engine turned, and Georgie's breast is smashed.
His head lay against the firebox door. The flames were roaring high.
"I'm proud to be born for an engineer and see no road to die."

The doctor said to Georgie, "My darling boy, be still!
Your life may yet be saved, if it is God's blessed will!"
"Oh, no!" cried George, "This will not do. I'd rather die so free.
I want to die for the engine I loved, a hundred and forty three."

Then the doctor said to Georgie, "Your life cannot be saved."
Murdered upon the railway, and laid in a lonesome grave,
His face was covered up with blood. His eyes they could not see,
And the very last words poor Georgie cried were "Nearer my God, to Thee!"

As an aside, I couldn't find the thread where how to type accents was explained, can anyone help with that?

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 01:27 PM

And how about Glendale Train, about the robbing of same by the James Gang. It was a New Riders song, and we had a thread on the forum about it not long ago. Also the Grateful Dead's Casey Jones, and John Fogerty's Big Train from Memphis, although Fogerty's tune is a metaphorical song about Presley. A group called the Long Riders also had a good train song called Here Comes that Train Again.

LEJ

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 02:39 PM

Is anyone familiar with New River Train? I remember this from the distant past, but find no evidence of it in the DT. It was a bluegrass song and it went

"I'm leavin' on that New River Train, Lord, Lord
Leavin' on that New River Train
The same old train that brought me here
Gonna carry me back home again..."

Subject: Lyr Add: One More Ride (Garnet Rogers)^^
From: Clinton Hammond2
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 02:46 PM

Let's not forget Jethro Tulls "Locomotive Breath!! LOL!! O.k.. so it's not actually about a train... but what the hell! LOL!!

Maybe I'll submit the lyrics to the One More Ride that I know...

ONE MORE RIDE
(Garnet Rogers)

My legs had gone to sleep By the time we made Swift Current
I gathered up my suitcase and guitar
When I saw him on the platform in a cap and baggy trousers
He nodded as I stepped down from the car
I was zipping up my coat; he was flagging down a taxi
For a flustered mother, He sent her on her way
A young woman turned and asked me
"Does that man work for the railroad?"
I said "No, that's Bill, he's here every day.

That's old Bill, he's down here every day
He likes to work, he won't take pay
He's been here since he retired in 82
I've seen his kind everywhere I go
They're made to feel to old and slow
They're restless when they have no job to do

He wants one more ride, before his time is over
I think he worked these rails before the war
One more ride, and you know he'd better hurry
The railroad won't come through here anymore."

He was blowing across his coffee At the counter in the restaurant
I sat down next to him and said "hello"
I said, "I guess the days are numbered
When you can work here at the station
They're closing down the line, now where'll you go?"

He shook his head, he bit his lip, His cup and saucer rattled
He cleared his throat and slowly turned around
He said, "I don't know what I'll do, I'm too old to change my habits
I can't believe they'd close the railway down."

He said, "I love the sound, I even love the smell
God damn the bastards all to hell
How dare they say the railroad won't pay?

I wanted one more ride, before my time was over
To feel the wind and hear the diesels roar.
One more ride, to dream when I was younger
But dreams count for nothing anymore."

Well I gave into the impulse, I ran and bought a ticket
I brought it back and I set it by his side
i said, "Let's head out west together, I tell my best lies in a club car
Come on old man, let's take one more ride.

We'll drink and watch the sun sink in flames across the prairie
At nighttime feel the darkened coaches sway
We'll hear the whistle echo through a thousand icy canyons
Come on old man, let's go. What do you say?"

His eyes grew bright he raised his chin
A longing hit him like a gust of wind
And then he shook his head and whispered
"Thanks, but no,
Some dreams you win, some dreams you hold,
Some haunt you like the gleam of gold
And I'll hang on to this one
Thank you all the same."

One more ride, the time is over
We stood outside and watched the sun go down
One more ride I heard him whisper in the darkness
And he turned to walk toward the lights of town

A fantastic song, if I've ever heard one!

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Art Thieme
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 04:35 PM

Tonight, April 10, 2000 on the Nashville Network at 7:00 PM (Central Daylight Time) is an intriguingly blurbed film. It's called THE LONG SUMMER OF GEORGE ADAMS. The blurb says: *** 1982---James Garner & Joan Hackett---The diesel changes an old time railroad man's life and job with his wife in 1950s Oklahoma.

Another interesting film late tonight seems to be Wild Boys Of The Road"-*** -- 1933-- on Turner Classic Movies at 2:30 AM. blurb: 2 guys and a girl hop a freight train to nowhere.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Art Thieme
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 04:41 PM

Hllo again Mr. Ernie,

"New River Train" (if I'm remembering correctly) was recorded by BILL and CHARLIE MONROE----a pre-bluegrass classic. Was on RCA Camden as an LP. That's all I recall.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: bob schwarer
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 06:59 PM

Note to "Mrrzy".

FFB is realyy FFV..........Fast Flying Vestibule.

Bob S.

Subject: Train song links
From: GUEST,Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 07:06 PM

Here are some Internet sources for train songs:

Choo choo. - a list of 50 songs with lyrics and discography.

RailServe - Train Songs and Sound FX - a list of CD's with links to CDnow, which sometimes provides track listings and samples.

Wes Modes' Train Songs - a list of about 500 songs and performers.

Philip Pacey's Music and Railways - a truly amazing list of mainly classical, but some pop, music inspired by railways.

Chris Coleman's Railroad Songs - a list of about 1000 songs and performers, some with dates.

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Banjer
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 07:25 PM

Just a wee bit of thread creep...I dug out one of a series of tapes, Country Family Reunion II, Vol. 1, which was produced after the passing of Grandpa Jones and Justin Tubb, both featured on version I of the series and before the passing of one of my longtime favorites, Boxcar Willie. Boxcar sings Wabash Cannonball and while one must keep in mind that the hobo personna was largely his stage act, the love for that song and Roy Acuff that shows through as he sings it is amazing. He also does a real nice version of Life Is Like A Mountain Railway, after which he talks about not knowing how much time he has left here on earth but is thankful for every day. Brought a tear to my eye, it did! Just had to throw that in!

Subject: Lyr Add: FOLSOM PRISON BLUES (Johnny Cash)^^
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Apr 00 - 05:02 PM

FOLSOM PRISON BLUES
Words and music by Johnny Cash, ©1956
As recorded by Johnny Cash on "I Walk the Line" (1964)

I hear that train a-comin'. It's rollin' round the bend.
And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when.
I'm stuck in Folsom Prison and time keeps draggin' on.
But that train keeps a-rollin' on down to San Antone.

When I was just a baby, my mama told me, "Son,
Always be a good boy. Don't ever play with guns."
But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.
When I hear that whistle blowin', I hang my head and cry.

I bet there's rich folks eatin' in a fancy dinin' car.
They're prob'ly drinkin' coffee and smokin' big cigars.
Well, I know I had it comin'. I know I can't be free.
But those people keep a-movin', and that's what tortures me.

Well, if they freed me from this prison, if that railroad train was mine,
I bet I'd move it on a little farther down the line.
Far from Folsom Prison, that's where I want to stay,
And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away.

Subject: Lyr Add: GLENDALE TRAIN^^
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Apr 00 - 05:13 PM

GLENDALE TRAIN
(John Dawson, © 1971)

(Chorus:)
Somebody robbed the Glendale train this morning at half past nine.
Somebody robbed the Glendale train, and I swear I ain't lyin'.
They made clean off with sixteen G's and left two men lyin' cold.
Somebody robbed the Glendale train and they made off with the gold.

Charlie Jones was the engineer. He had twenty years on the line.
He kissed his wife at the station gate this morning six thirty-five.
Everything went fine until half past nine, when Charlie looked up and saw
There were men with horses and men with guns and no sign of the law. (Chorus)

Amos Wise was the baggage man and he dearly loved his job.
The company they rewarded him with a golden watch and fob.
Amos Wise was a markin' time when the door blew off his car.
They found Amos Wise in fifteen pieces fifteen miles apart. (Chorus)
- -
^^
Recorded by the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Frank Wakefield and the Good Old Boys,
The Middle Spunk Creek Boys. JTD

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: Ely
Date: 12 Apr 00 - 06:05 PM

More about Larry Penn:

Has a really good one called "End of Train Device" about the demise of cabooses. I was trying to remember when this happened--I know trains still had them when I was a kid so I'm guessing about 15 years ago.

He's also got one about Kate Shelley, who crawled across a trestle in the dark, during a storm, with her dead father's railroad lantern to warn of a wash-out.

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: GUEST,Lee
Date: 12 Apr 00 - 08:00 PM

Back in the '50s Jack Kingston in Ont., Canada, did a catchy number titled "'C.N. Special", and the Kingston Trio [no relation], put out "Blue Water Line".

For anyone who really LOVES "The Orange Blossom Special", the best version ever recorded, [my unhumble opinion], was done by a fiddler in Barberton, Ohio, by the name of Jim Pontius, on his "Down Home Fiddle" album. I've worked with fiddlers for about forty-five years and this is the best piece of work I've ever heard. Jim has a phone number, 1-216-825-4376. He might have a few copies left.

Subject: RE: BS: Train Songs
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Apr 00 - 08:10 PM

Dave Goulder's a great song writer, and the best known of his songs is JANUARY MAN, in the DT. When he was a young man back in England he worked on the footplate.

I think the record karen k was trying to remember the name of might be "The man who put the engine in the chip shop" (Fellside Records FEO65 - vinyl only I suspect, or it might be Stone, Steam and Starlings, which is on CD. The thing about his trains is they aren't big epic American trains, they're rattly English ones.

Here's a site with lots of stuff about railway records, including Dave Goulder's "man who put the engine in the chip shop"