Lyr/Tune Add: Railroading on the Great Divide

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Jun 20 - 11:02 PM

I drove the Lincoln Highway, US 30, across Wyoming last summer. On the summit between Cheyenne and Laramie is a huge bust of Lincoln, a very impressive sight. I think that's the Great Divide. I crossed the Great Divide way more than twice on my trip from California to Detroit. The Divide wiggles.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Jun 20 - 10:22 PM

Never heard those verses.... they don't 'sound' like something Sara Carter would write, but... *shrug"

You say you just got them recently, but don't give a source. Sometimes people just feel like a good song OUGHT to have more verses,,

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jun 20 - 07:40 PM

But in this case it is true. The Continental Divide in Wyoming is much more gradual, and the Union Pcific railroad has a route that goes through Laramie and through Green River on the other side of the divide. My grandfather was a brakeman, then later a conducto on that route.

Anyone ever hear of those two verses that I posted?

Dave Orleanz

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: leeneia
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 01:21 PM

Okayeeee... Doesn't it bother anybody that the Continental Divide is way up on a mountaintop, the last place we'd expect to find a train? Railroads follow river valleys as much as possible, and when they run out of valley, they blast their way through low-lying ridges.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: GUEST,Dave Orleans
Date: 06 Jun 20 - 11:42 PM

I've been singing this song for years, but I heard two new verses this week that I've never heard before, and can't find anywhere on the internet. They wer sung as a first and last verse.

FirstL
She's commerce, she's romance, she's a wonder to me
The Iron Horse travels from mountain to sea
The rails sing a song the whole < country wide
They beckoned me on and I had to ride.   (So in 19 and 16 - start of 1st verse)

Last:
I had me a sweetheart in old Laramie
Sweet as the candy, a wildflower was she
But life with the engines, it called me away
I'm back in the mountains and here I will stay.

Do they ring abell with anyone?    -Dave

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Jun 20 - 11:14 PM

Needs some cleanup

Subject: Lyr Add: RAILROADIN' ON THAT GREAT DIVIDE
From: Les B
Date: 11 May 99 - 09:24 PM

I saw your request in the autoharp thread. It seems to me there was a thread on this song within the last few months, but sure couldn't find it in the thread bin. Here's the way I've heard it:


In 19 and 15 I started to roam
Out in the West, no money, no home
I just drifted along with the tide
Until I landed on the Great Divide

CHORUS: Railroadin' on that Great Divide
Nothin' around me but the Rockies and the sky
There you'll find me as the years roll by
Railroadin' on that Great Divide

As I look Westward across green fields
Number nine's comin', the fastest on wheels
Through old Laramie she glides with pride
And rolls on across that Great Divide. CHORUS

Ask any old-timer from here to Cheyenne
Railroadin' in Montana (or Wyoming) is the best in the land
Them long steel rails and them short cross ties
I landed on that Great Divide. CHORUS

Subject: RE: ADD: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: Alice
Date: 20 Apr 98 - 01:21 PM

Joe, Thanks for providing this wonderful reference. My dad worked for the Great Northern Railroad in Montana, along with alot of his relatives who came out here for the jobs.He started when he was 14, in 1906, carrying ties. He retired in 1966, before its merger with the Burlington and the Northern Pacific routes. I have lots of wonderful memorabilia from his career... Great Northern and Glacier Park related items. Thanks again for the book reference.
alice

Subject: RE: ADD: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: Barry Finn
Date: 20 Apr 98 - 12:14 PM

As far as I know Skip spent time working the ranches & finding some of the old timers & learning the music from them. Why is he in NH? Doesn't everybody eventually come back to the East Coast? You were cheated, he's a great singer/musician/performer. Barry

Subject: RE: ADD: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: Jon W.
Date: 20 Apr 98 - 10:26 AM

I picked up Erbsen's "Front Porch Old Time Songs" on vacation last summer at Ft. Laramie, Wyoming. Amazing what you can get in those Park Service stores. A few years ago I got a book at Mammoth Cave (Kentucky) called Foxfire 3, which had among other things instructions on building Appalachian banjos and dulcimers. I guess I'll have to order some of Erbsen's recordings.

I still feel cheated that my wife made us leave early from the music festival where Skip Gorman was playing. We only stayed for his first three or four numbers. She claimed to be worried about the kids but I suspect she didn't appreciate real cowboy music. He certainly seemed to have done a lot of research and tried to make his stuff as authentic as possible. What's a cowboy doing in New Hampshire?

Subject: RE: ADD: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Apr 98 - 12:57 AM

Gene Graham gave me an URL for a bigger, better website for Native Ground Music. I wonder why they have two websites.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: ADD: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Apr 98 - 01:26 AM

Gene wanted to know what songs were on Wayne Erbsen's Singing Rails songbook, so here's the list:

Cannonball Blues, Casey Jones, Death of Edward Lewis, East Bound Train, Freight Train Boogie, In the Pines (The Longest Train), John Henry, Life's Railway to Heaven, The Lightning Express, Lonesome Pine Special, Midnight Special, New River Train, Nine Hundred Miles, Nine Pound Hammer, On the Dummy Line, Railroad Bill, The Railroad Corral, Railroadin' and Gamblin', Railroading on the Great Divide, Reuben's Train, Rock Island Line, Swannanoa Tunnel, This Train, Train on the Island, Train That Carried My Girl From Town, Wabash Cannonball, When the Train Comes Along, Wreck of the Old 97

Here's a link to Erbsen's Native Ground Music.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: ADD: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: Barry Finn
Date: 17 Apr 98 - 01:25 PM

Jon W, we now lay claim to Skip Gorman, here in New Hampshire, Yellowstone's loss, our gain. Barry

Subject: RE: ADD: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Apr 98 - 12:56 PM

Well, Jon, lemme tell ya about my source for the song. I was hoping somebody would ask.
It's a songbook called "Singing Rails: Railroadin' Songs, Jokes, & Stories," by Wayne Erbsen, director of the Appalachian Music program at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC. He also has a great bluegrass program on the public radio station in Asheville. I found one of his songbooks in a Park Service store on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and ended up buying all the books he has out. The best ones are this one and the 2 books on cowboys and outlaws, one called "Front Porch Old-time Songs, Jokes, and Stories," and one by Doug Elliott called "Crawdads, Doodlebugs, and Creasy Greens." They're available from Erbsen's Native Ground Music, [phone], and I think they cost about five or six bucks apiece. You can also get them from www.amazon.com by searching under "Erbsen." The songs in the books are very good, but the stories included with them are really great.

Gene, the words I put in parentheses are from Bruce "Utah" Phillips, but the rest are from Sara Carter Bayes. I don't know what he had to do with the writing of the song, but that's A. L. Phipps who is listed with Sara in the BMI directory, and A.L. and the Phipps family had some sort of association with the Carters.
Sara had been married to A.P. Carter. They got divorced, but still performed together. She married Coy Bayes in the late 1930's.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: ADD: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: Gene
Date: 17 Apr 98 - 11:52 AM

http://www.bmi.com

shows 2 entries for RAILROADING.....

1) by Sara Carter Bayes

2) by both Sara Carter Bayes AND A. L. Phillips

Subject: RE: ADD: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: Bert
Date: 17 Apr 98 - 11:04 AM

Joe,

I always thought that Utah Phillips wrote that one.

Bert.

Subject: RE: ADD: Railroading on the Great Divide
From: Jon W.
Date: 17 Apr 98 - 10:15 AM

Thanks, Joe. I have just returned to the library an old Deseret String Band LP with this song on it, sung by Skip Gorman. He has since left the DSB and sings cowboy songs up in the Yellowstone area I believe. He came down here last Labor Day for a music festival I was at. Just curious, what is your source for the song?

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: RAILROADING ON THE GREAT DIVIDE
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Apr 98 - 06:03 PM

The tune to "Gathering Flowers for the Master's Bouquet" reminded me of this song. The tune isn't quite the same, but it's close.
-Joe Offer-


RAILROADING ON THE GREAT DIVIDE
(Sara Carter Bayes)

Nineteen and sixteen I started to roam,
Out in the west, no money, no home.
I went drifting along with the tide,
I landed on the Great Divide.

CHORUS: Railroading on the Great Divide,
Nothing around me but Rockies and sky.
There you'll find me as years go by
Railroading on the Great Divide.

Ask any oldtimer from old Cheyenne
Railroadin' Wyoming the best in the land.
The long steel rails, and short cross ties,
I laid across the Great Divide. CHORUS

As I looked out across the breeze,
Number Three coming, the fastest on wheels.
Through old Lamar, she glides with pride
And rolls across the Great Divide. CHORUS

MIDI file: RAILRO~1.MID

Timebase: 192

Name: Railroading on the Great Divide
Text: By Sara Carter Bayes, 1952
Key: D
TimeSig: 3/4 24 8
Start
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End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:Railroading on the Great Divide
M:3/4
Q:1/4=120
K:D
A2A3A|F2E2D2|E2D2B,2|A,6|D2D3D|F2A3A|B2A2F2|
E6|A4A2|F2E2DD|E2D2B,2|A,4A,2|D4E2|F4G2|F4E2|
D7/4||