Transportation Song Factoid

Subject: Tansportation Song Factoid
From: Bedubya
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 04:53 PM

We were at a party/session over the weekend which evolved/deteriorated into an early morning songswap. Three of us made it until 4:00 AM, during which time we sang 20 or so songs in a row about trains. After burning trains out, we moved on to other modes of transportation - ships for 5 or 6 more, then planes for 3 or 4, and ,finally, a couple of car songs.

At any rate, I got curious as to why we popped out so many train songs versus the other forms of transportation. Surely, I thought, there aren't that many more songs about trains.

So, I just did a Digitrad search and came up with the following interesting results:

Searches for "Plane" and "Airplane" yielded 90 hits. Searches for "Car" and "Automobile" yielded 170 hits (Many of which used "Car" in the sense of "Train Car") Searches for "Train" and "Locomotive" yielded 285 hits. Searches for "Ship" and "Boat" yielded 700 hits.

Does all this mean anything? Why do I know so many train songs and so few ship songs? Why do I spend two hours a day in a car and the only car song I know is John Prine's "The Accident"? Or is it just another one of those things to make you go, "Hmmmm"?

Cheers

bwl

Subject: RE: BS: Tansportation Song Factoid
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 04:55 PM

My dad used to sing a "car" song, but I don't know if he made it up or not, one of those nonsesnse things, about
We're goin' for a ride in the car, car,
Goin' for a ride in the car"

Can't remember any more, I was reall little.

Subject: RE: BS: Tansportation Song Factoid
From: GUEST,Roll&Go-C
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 04:58 PM

Sorcha, that's one of Woody's children songs.

Subject: RE: BS: Tansportation Song Factoid
From: Bedubya
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 05:58 PM

Sorcha

Pete Seeger frequently does Woody's car song. Arlo Guthrie also used it in a scene in the movie "Alice's Restaurant".

Subject: RE: BS: Tansportation Song Factoid
From: Bedubya
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 06:04 PM

Ohmigod! I just noticed I misspelled "transportation" in this thread name. Probably shouldn't use any word longer than five letters at my age.

Subject: RE: BS: Tansportation Song Factoid
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 06:13 PM

And I don't recognize a Woody song when I see it! Maybe we both need Keepers, bedubya!

Subject: RE: BS: Tansportation Song Factoid
From: Whistle Stop
Date: 10 Apr 01 - 07:57 AM

My theory is that this is a function of how long the particular mode of transportation has been around. You have the most hits for boats and ships (which have been around since prehistoric times), the next most for trains (boom years in the the 19th century), next comes automobiles (dawn of the 20th century), last comes airplanes (early 20th century, but only a major factor in ordinary people's lives since around World War II). And so much folk music has to do with departures, arrivals, and general wandering, that the mode of transportation is bound to come up frequently; especially when one considers the natural rhythms involved with each -- the rolling and pounding of the waves, the chugging of the locomotive, etc.

If this forum was primarily focused on rock and roll, my guess is that cars would win out. Rock and roll came to prominence in the 1950s, when our love affair with cars was at its peak. And the major themes in rock and roll (freedom, youth, etc.) fit into the car culture so well that the two have been inextricably linked, from Chuck Berry's "Maybelline," through the Beach Boys' hot rod years, to Springsteen and beyond.

Subject: RE: BS: Tansportation Song Factoid
From: sophocleese
Date: 10 Apr 01 - 08:11 AM

How many songs start, "As I walked/roved out one May morning"? Walking the oldest form of transportation.

Subject: RE: BS: Tansportation Song Factoid
From: GUEST,John Gray / Australia
Date: 10 Apr 01 - 08:12 AM

Sorcha, I've got an LP of Peter, Paul & Mary in concert on which they do a great version of Car-Car. Bought it in Taiwan in 69 for 25 cents. Those were the days.

JG / F.M.E.

Subject: RE: BS: Tansportation Song Factoid
From: Anglo
Date: 10 Apr 01 - 02:20 PM

Somewhere on an old reel to reel tape I have a (insert large number here)th generation dub of Car, Car being done live by Dave Van Ronk and Bob Dylan. Very silly.

Subject: RE: BS: Tansportation Song Factoid
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 10 Apr 01 - 07:00 PM

I think you've got a point, Whistle Stop. I think automobiles came along right at the end of the time when traditional folk music was insulated from modernity by the lack of radios and TV's in the backwoods. I sort of have a mental-subcategory of "on the cusp" songs, where traditional music meets techie stuff. The results are not always pretty, but I have a soft spot in my heart for "I Heard the Crash on the Highway, But I Didn't Hear Nobody Pray." Seeger's "Strontium 90" fits that category, as does my other fave, "The Great Atomic Power." I think it's a send-up of some spiritual tune.

Are you ready for the great atomic power;/ Will you rise and meet your Savior in the air?/ Will you shout or will you cry, when the fire comes from on high?/ Are you ready for the great atomic power?

Of course, it helps to have large cheeks, to hold your tongue in and sing at the same time.

C.C.