Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home

Subject: Train Bringing Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Genie
Date: 21 Jun 02 - 07:19 PM

Could've sworn I posted a request for this song sometime last year and someone posted it, but no luck finding it today in the DT [searched for "Rodgers], the DT/Forum search [searched for "train" and for "Jimmie Rodgers"], or the Filter [searched for "Jimmie Rodgers].

I kinda know the tune and can figure out the chords from that, if my memory serves me right, but if someone happens to have a song sheet with the chords handy, that'd be a plus.

Mainly, though, I'm seeking the lyrics, as well as who wrote it.

Thanks,

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Bringing Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: masato sakurai
Date: 21 Jun 02 - 07:22 PM

See THIS THREAD.
~Masato

Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: TRAIN CARRYING JIMMIE RODGERS HOME
From: Genie
Date: 25 Jun 02 - 01:35 AM

This is a transcription of the lyrics Iris Dement sang on PHC. Only minor lyric changes from those posted in the thread Masato blue clickied to above. I've added chords that work.

Genie

THE TRAIN CARRYING JIMMIE RODGERS HOME
  by Greg Brown
 [As sung by Iris Dement]

  [G]Come along, my [F#7]dear, the [C]time is growin' [G]near.
   We'll have to [Em]walk down (G)where the [E7]field is [D]over[D7]grown.
   Con[G]sumption's claimed his [F#7]life and we [C]dare not miss the [G]sight
   Of the the [Em]train [G]carrying [D]Jimmie [D7]Rodgers [G]home.

   Well, we [G]had some hard [F#7]times these [C]last few [G]years,
   Lost the [Em]farm, (G)almost [E7]lost our [D]spirits, [D7]too.
   Yeah, but [G]it's the strangest [F#7]thing; when we [C]heard that man [G]sing,
   Oh, we [Em]knew [G]some[D]how we'd [D7]make it [G]through.[G7]

   I can [C]hear that whistle (Am7)blow; that old [G]train's a-movin' [Em]slow.
   Sounds like it's [G]cryin' for the [E7]singin' [D]brakeman, [D7]too.
   Back to the [G]sunny south he'll [F#7]go, and he'll [C]never (Am7)roam no [G]more,
   Here's the [Em]train, oh [G]hold me [D]close, oh, [D7]sweetheart, [G]do.

   Come [G]here, my little [F#7]son, and [C]let me hold you [G]up.
   Want you to re[Em]member (G)this [E7]day when [D]you are [D7]grown,
   How your[G] mama and your [F#7]dad were so [C]proud and so [G]sad
   Watchin' the [Em]train [G]carrying [D]Jimmie [D7]Rodgers [G]home.

   There goes the [Em]train [G]carrying [D]Jimmie [D7]Rodgers [G]home.
   Oh-de-[G]lay-ee
   [D]Ay-dee, [C]hoo [G]*

  *yodel

 Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Bringing Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: GUEST,emily rain
Date: 25 Jun 02 - 05:44 PM

i encourage all who haven't heard greg brown's rendition to seek it out. iris dement has a lovely way about her, but the song lost a bit of tenderness in translation... and besides, she butchered the yodel.

on the album _iowa_waltz_ by greg brown

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Bringing Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: van lingle
Date: 25 Jun 02 - 08:39 PM

Thanks for bringing this one up, Genie. I'd forgotten about this great song that speaks so well about the ability of music to inspire hope. Haven't heard the DeMent version but I do like Greg Brown's and The Nashville Bluegrass Band also did a fine one. vl

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Bringing Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: masato sakurai
Date: 25 Jun 02 - 08:58 PM

Here again the link to A Prairie Home Companion (June 15, 2002), where you can hear Iris Dement sing this song.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Bringing Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: van lingle
Date: 25 Jun 02 - 09:35 PM

Thanks Masato, I didn't know you could listen to PHC online. Very cool. Iris DeMent's voice seems a perfect fit for that tune. vl

Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: TRAIN CARRYING JIMMIE RODGERS HOME
From: Genie
Date: 24 Oct 02 - 02:31 PM

Just realized there are a couple of mistakes in the chords I posted above.  Here, anyway, is the way I play it, based on playing along with Iris Dement.

Genie
 

THE TRAIN CARRYING JIMMIE RODGERS HOME            by Greg Brown

 [G]                  [F#7]         [C]                [G]
Come along, my dear, the time is growin' near.
                    [Em]           (G)          [E7]            [D]     [D7]
We'll have to walk down where the field is overgrown.
      [G]                              [F#7]          [C]                        [G]
Consumption's claimed his life and we dare not miss the sight
            [Em] (G)        [D]      [D7]        [G]
Of the train carrying Jimmie Rodgers home.

             [G]                  [F#7]           [C]          [G]
Well, we had some hard times these last few years,
              [Em] (G)      [E7]                  [D]      [D7]
Lost the farm, almost lost our spirits, too.
               [G]                      [F#7]                [C]                    [G]
Yeah, but it's the strangest thing; when we heard that man sing,
            [Em]  (G)    [D]        [D7]        [G]         [G7]
Oh, we knew somehow we'd make it through.

         [C]                      (Am7)               [G]                  [Em]
I can hear that whistle blow; that old train's a-movin' slow.
                        [G]                 [A]       [A7]          [D]  (D7)
Sounds like it's cryin' for that singin' brakeman, too.
                   [G]                    [F#7]             [C]    (Am7)      [G]
Back to the sunny south he'll go, and he'll never roam no more,
     [Em]      (G)    [D]    [D7]   [G]
Here's the train, oh hold me close, oh, sweetheart, do.

          [G]                [F#7]       [C]                   [G]
Come here, my little son, and let me hold you up.
                      [Em]      (G)  [E7]                      [D]       [D7]
Want you to remember this day when you are grown,
               [G]                   [F#7]            [C]               [G]
How your mama and your dad were so proud and so sad
                     [Em] (G)         [D]       [D7]       [G]
Watchin' the train carrying Jimmie Rodgers home.

 Repeat bridge, then:

                      [Em]  (G)         [D]      [D7]       [G]
There goes the train carrying Jimmie Rodgers home.
           [G]      [D]     [C] [G]
Oh-de-lay-ee, Ay-dee, hoo

Got 'em, JenEllen?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: JenEllen
Date: 24 Oct 02 - 02:35 PM

Got 'em, gal! Thanks for clearing the clouds away!
luv,
~JE

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 24 Oct 02 - 04:29 PM

Simply one of the finest songs I've ever heard. I learned it from "The Nashville Bluegrass Band's" recording, and at least one change is RADICALLY different. The second chord I've always played is F (with a C melody note) rather than F#. Perhaps Greg and Iris sing a different melody than the Nashvilles. Hope I can hear their versions one day.

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Genie
Date: 24 Oct 02 - 04:59 PM

You can, Rick. Check out Masato's link to Prairie Home Companion a few posts above.

As I heard the song, in the key of G, the note on "Come..." is G and the note on "...dear..." is F#, "...time..." is E, and " ...near..." is the G an octave lower. (Actually, I usually put the capo on the 2nd fret, so I'm really playing and singing it in A, not G.)

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: JenEllen
Date: 24 Oct 02 - 05:19 PM

Thanks, Genie. You're a peach, you're a plum, you're a doll, you're a pearl. Been dinking around with this all afternoon (G works better for me, the A is just too, too high). If I can wrangle my fingers around that F#7 (2-1-2-3-2-2, right?), you got yourself a date for a duet.
~Jen

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Amos
Date: 24 Oct 02 - 08:29 PM

Jen --

You might be easier with an E7 slid up and just x'ing the low and high E strings -- no barring.

E7 is x22i3x, then slide up two.

See if it helps.

Actually, dinking around with it, it doesn't sound half bad if you make that first G with an E formation on the third fret and slide it down a half-step before going to C. Less strain.


A

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 24 Oct 02 - 10:38 PM

Just listened to it and there ain't no F# at all. It's basically the same structure as the Nashville Bluegrass band use.

The chords are:

G/// G7/// C/// G/// Em/// A7/// D/// /// G/// G7/// C/// G/// Em/// D/// G/// ///

Chorus: C/// /// G/// /// Em/// A7/// D/// ///
G/// G7/// C/// G/// Em/// D/// G/// ///

*****************************************************************

Boy, great version! That woman can flat out sing!

Cheers

Rick (p.s....I meant an F with an "F" note in my post above, but I'd forgotten how I played it. It's not an "F" chord but the G7 that Iris uses.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Genie
Date: 24 Oct 02 - 11:41 PM

Jen, I actually use F# (the 7th is, for some reason, harder for me). It's just an E chord barred up 2 frets.)

Good suggestion, Amos. I slide several chords up a fret (B7, D7, A7) without bothering to use a barre.

FWIW, Rick, I've tried playing it your way and mine, and I think it sounds better with the F# (even if Iris uses G7). (Initially, I did it with a B7, and that sorta works, too, but I still like the F#.)

Anyway, Jen, you've got several suggestions. Just do whatever works for you.

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Peter T.
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 09:09 AM

Who is Greg Brown? yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 12:10 PM

Vivre la difference Genie!

Peter, he's Minnesota's (think he's from there) second greatest songwriter. Great friend of Garnet Rogers, and beloved by many folkies for a number of years.

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Genie
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 02:54 PM

FWIW, Rick, I think you are correct-- the song was probably written with the step down from "Come" to "dear" [in the first line] being a full step, not a half step -- in which case G to G7 works well. (G to B7 also contains that G note to F note transition.) It sounds a lot better to me when I use a modified G7 -- 323003 -- than when I use the more customary G7 -- 320001.

So I may be "folkifying" the tune slightly by going down only a half step from "Come" to "dear." But if it's sung that way, the transition from G to F# fits.

I'll probably do it the way you indicated -- i.e., G to G7 --when I'm in jams and song circles, since it it easier for some folks to follow that way.

I never cease to be intrigued, though, at how different singers/players can use different chords for the same song -- even when using the same basic style -- and the variations can all sound good.

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 10:05 PM

Ahhh Genie....."Folkifying"!!! You have just coined a good one! Is that yours?

Well I've certainly done that a few hundred times....changed melodies, chord structures and occasionally "Waltzified"(!!) a tune.

I've been messing with that tune (Jimmie Rogers) and the various permutations for the last couple of minutes, and a Dm7 can sound very 'old timey' in that slot.

My surprise here was that it was by Greg Brown. I'd have sworn it was by some Country writer. Great job he did.

Rick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Genie
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:45 AM

'Fraid not, Rick. I heard someone (or maybe a couple of people) use the term here at Ye Olde CafŽ in some thread(s), IIRC. But I like that "waltzified." Then you could "fox-trot-ify," "bluesify," "tang-ify," "bluegrassify," or "dirge-ify" a song, too, right?

Greg Brown is coming here to Portland, Oregon very soon. Maybe I'll be able to go hear him. Never have, but based on that song, I imagine it'd be well worth while.

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 12:29 PM

Genie -

I like the posting style of both sets of your cords/lyrics. Looking at the source code, obviously you are not html-ing with notepad, what are you using for your composer?

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: GUEST,Greg Brown
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:06 PM

Hey everybody! Thanks for all the kind words. Just to clarify, though, I'm from Iowa, not Minnesota.

G

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Peter T.
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 02:44 PM

Hey, Greg, how did you get all those pretty (and pretty amazing) women to sing your songs (inquiring minds want to know)?

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Genie
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 03:15 PM

Hi, Greg. I hope you don't mind my using F# instead of G7 in your "...Jimmie Rodgers..." song.

Gargoyle, I use Netscape Composer to format the lyrics and chords. Once I have all the formatting the way I want it in Composer, I go to the "View" and click on "Page Source." Then I copy everything from the first letter* to the last period of the document -- i.e., including the HTML code that's within the document but not the HTML code before and after it -- and paste that into the thread, MAKING SURE TO UN-CHECK THE "AUTOMATIC LINEBREAKS"         BOX before submitting the post. (Right, Joe? - *G*) This preserves the formatting perfectly.

I'm afraid I don't know how to do this in Explorer or in AOL.

Genie

*If you have formatted the first word/letter/phrase of the post -- e.g., the title is in boldface or underscored, you have to include the HTML code for "boldface" or "underscore" that comes right before the first letter of your post, or that formatting will not carry over to the post.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: GUEST,open mike, huge greg fan
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 12:43 AM

Iowa it is, the hacklebarney region.
and he IS a country guy...
and a down home, slow food, orion and mars
natural type, too...
check his web site---www.gregbrown.org
(i think) and ther is a link to the
chat list there where you can discuss
shows, lyrics, fashion statements,
and general village building work.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: GUEST,open mike
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 12:52 AM

so, genie you played along with Iris,
than must have been a wonderful
experience...how was she??

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Genie
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 01:00 AM

She was great, OM. She didn't even know I was there! :-D

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: GUEST,open mike
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 01:06 AM

tricky, you!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 08:47 AM

My relatives sing this song and I've always loved it, I had no idea who it was by. They couldn't remeber where they learned it.

Rick, I'll have to borrow that Nashville Bluegrass Band version from you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 25 Mar 03 - 03:46 PM

The Texas group "Lazy Fingers" sings the song on : Lazy Fingers

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: open mike
Date: 26 Mar 03 - 12:23 PM

i posted these lyrice again--sorry for repeat,
but on another greg brown thread there was a
llist of related topics and i saw only 2 greg songs

Subject: Chords Add: The Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home
From: Genie
Date: 26 Mar 03 - 02:34 PM

Just in case you want to play it "correctly," here are the chords (in G):

The Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home            (words & music by Greg Brown ©)

 [G]                    [G7]       [C]                   [G]
Come along, my dear, the time is growin' near.
                      [Em]           (G)          [E7]             [D] -->  [D7]
We'll have to walk down where the field is overgrown.
       [G]                              [G7]           [C]                        [G]
Consumption's claimed his life and we dare not miss the sight
          [Em] (G)         [D]      [D7]        [G]
Of the train carrying Jimmie Rodgers home.

               [G]                  [G7]           [C]         [G]
Well, we had some hard times these last few years,
            [Em] (G)       [E7]                  [D]--> [D7]
Lost the farm, almost lost our spirits, too.
               [G]                     [G7]                  [C]                  [G]
Yeah, but it's the strangest thing; when we heard that man sing,
             [Em]  (G)  [D]          [D7]        [G] --> [G7]
Oh, we knew somehow we'd make it through.

Bridge:
        [C]                    (Am7)             [G]                    [Em]
I can hear that whistle blow; that old train's a-movin' slow.
                        [G]                 [A]       [A7]          [D]-- [D7]
Sounds like it's cryin' for that singin' brakeman, too.
                   [G]                     [G7]              [C]    (Am7)     [G]
Back to the sunny south he'll go, and he'll never roam no more,
                 [Em]      (G)         [D]          [D7]         [G]
Here's the train, oh hold me close, oh, sweetheart, do.

           [G]               [G7]       [C]                    [G]
Come here, my little son, and let me hold you up.
                      [Em]       (G) [E7]                       [D] --> [D7]
Want you to remember this day when you are grown,
                 [G]                   [G7]               [C]              [G]
How your mama and your dad were so proud and so sad
                    [Em] (G)         [D]       [D7]       [G]
Watchin' the train carrying Jimmie Rodgers home.

 Repeat bridge, then:

                       [Em] (G)         [D]      [D7]        [G]
There goes the train carrying Jimmie Rodgers home.
           [G]      [D]       [C]->[G]
Oh-de-lay-ee, Ay-dee, hoo.

------------------------------

These chords really are better for most jams than the ones I posted above, since some folks don't cotton to barre chords.
Genie