Lyr/Chords Req: The MTA

Subject: The MTA
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 02:54 PM

Will he ever return, no he never returned, and his fate is still unlearned. He may ride for ever neath the streets of Boston, he's the man who never returned. These words [The chorus?], and a line about his wife yelling "Here's your sandwiches Charlie" as the train came roaring through, are all that remain of a far distant memory of a funny song. I'm sure that all you erudite mudcatters out there will know ALL the words.

Jock

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The MTA
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 03:47 PM

Hi, Jock - our Digitrad and Forum Search (Supersearch) is down, but you can find it with chords here (click) in the Digital Tradition by putting MTA in the blue search box. You'll find threads with additional information on the song here (click) and here (click). The song originally urged people to vote for Walter O'Brien (O'Brian??), but the Kingston Trio changed it to a fictional George O'Brien because Walter was a rather controversial leftist.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The MTA
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 04:12 PM

Well, I thought I had something to add, but Joe covered the bases pretty well.......Nice work Joe.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The MTA
From: Rasta
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 08:45 PM

shes the man who never returned ,poor old charlie shes th e man who never returned---rastaaa--ps any other versions

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The MTA
From: Brendy
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 07:13 PM

I sat in a session one afternoon in the Radharc na Mara hotel in Bunbeg, Co. Donegal, about 20 years ago, and there was the guts of the Quarterdeck Jazz band, a G banjo player from Ithaca (NY), a great fiddle player from South Armagh, a one-armed harmonica player, from somewhere else, and I lash into a verse of old 'Charlie'

It's one of those songs that you could jam with all night, given the right set of musicians...and the harmonies that can be extracted from it, can make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.

A mighty song!

B.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The MTA
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Jul 01 - 07:43 PM

Rasta, there's only one version of "The MTA Song" (although it's also called "Charlie on the MTA" and other things. It uses the same tune as Wreck of the Old 97, a song about a 1903 train wreck "Old 97" has many versions, including some with a "never returned" chorus that apparently was not in the original version of the song. There's also a song called The Train That Never Returned about a train that may or may not be Old 97. The original version of the song was Henry Clay Work's The Ship That Never Returned, published in 1865.
-Joe Offer-