Lyr/Tune Req: 'Elevated Line' Chicago El 20's song

Subject: 'elevated line' Chicago El 20's song
From: GUEST,Ted M
Date: 02 Jan 03 - 12:23 PM

I'm looking for words/music for song about the Elevated Train. It is from the 20's or before. Words contain something about a bulldog and a cat.

Subject: ADD: The Evanston Express (Bob Conway)
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 04 Jan 03 - 10:57 PM

I do not think that this is the song you are looking for, but in my files I found this song called "THE EVANSTON EXPRESS". Words are by a fellow named Bob Conway.(1978) It is to be sung to the tune of "THE WABASH CANNONBALL".

The Englewood-Howard line, with the extended line north into Evanston, Illinois was the quickest way to and from the Chicago Loop in the 1970s. ("The Loop" is the name for the central area of downtown Chicago.) At rush hour the Evanston Express made the trip without local stops. Evanston, Illinois is the first suburb NORTH of Chicago along the Lake Michigan North shore. (The last chorus refers to the fact that through the in-train P.A. system you could rarely understand which stop was being called.)

THE EVANSTON EXPRESS
by Bob Conway

The old North Shore is dandy, so the people up there say,
From Highland Park to Wilmette, Winnetka along the way,
When she pulls into the station, you'll really be impressed,
By the modern combination called the Evanston Express.

O listen to the rattle, the clatter and the roar,
Crowded, cold, uncomfortable, who could ask for more,
When and if she gets downtown is anybody's guess,
My God, it's such a thrill to ride the Evanston Express.

There's a girl who rides to Rogers Park to work at Cindy Sue's,
A man who runs a banking house, and some folks who sing the blues,
The good folks who will ride with you are all the very best,
They don't pick up Chicagoans on the Evanston Express.

When she pulled out of Evanston one cold December day,
'Bout halfway down to Howard Street you could hear the conductor say,
She's no shining bolt of lightning, son, I really must confess,
Take it or leave it! It's the Evanston Express.

So here's to Milt Pikarsky, may his name forever shine,
And always be remembered on the Englewood-Howard line,
When his eartly race is over and he takes his final test,
He'll ride for all eternity on the Evanston Express.

And listen to the rattle, the clatter and the roar,
Crowded, cold, uncomfortable, who could ask for more?
Last time they cleaned this train is anybody's guess,
And the next stop in "MXPLZ" on the Evanston Express.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: 'elevated line' Chicago El 20's song
From: Art Thieme
Date: 04 Jan 03 - 11:41 PM

reset my pecan sandie

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: 'Elevated Line' Chicago El 20's song
From: RangerSteve
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 05:07 PM

The song you want is probably one called "Riding on the Elevated Railroad", which was done by a country singer named Robert something, I believe, and, heck, this isn't a lot of help, is it? I'm not sure why I bothered, but at least you've got a title to go on.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: 'Elevated Line' Chicago El 20's song
From: GutBucketeer
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 07:16 PM

Hey M. Ted:

I haven't found the specific piece, but since you are in D.C. one good place to look is the Sam DeVincent Sheet Music Collection in the archives of the Smithsonian American History Museum. DeVincent collected over 130,000 pieces of sheet music. Less than half have been catalouged and are searchable on-line. He did have a box of pieces about urban transportation from trolleys to the El. Here is the link:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d5300fh8.htm

You have to make an appointment and go down to the museum to actually see what was in the box. They are really really helpful however, and they even let you make up to 10 copies for free!. I just found out about it, and can't wait to get some time to explore the box that they have on Ukulele and Ukulele Instruction (not yet online).

JAB

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: 'Elevated Line' Chicago El 20's song
From: GutBucketeer
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 07:35 PM

I just found a song named "Riding the Elevated Train" as sung by Lew Childre on a Rounder release named "Train 45: Railroad Songs of the Early 1900's". You can listen to a sound sample here:

http://www.alphamusic-online.de/280/8774280.html

The sound sample has bullogs in it and describes what you see as you look into the apartment windows as you travel along. I would bet anything that they were on the Red Line.

JAB

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: 'Elevated Line' Chicago El 20's song
From: masato sakurai
Date: 05 Jan 03 - 09:57 PM

From the notes by Norm Cohen to Train 45 (Rounder Records):

Lew Childre's (1901-1961) voyeuristic RIDING THE ELEVATED TRAIN is based on an 1878 composition originally titled "Riding on the Elevated Railroad" by minstrel performer Sam Devere. It appeared in several pocket songsters of the early 1880s. But except for the chorus, Childre's lyrics are almost entirely different: only the couplets about the baby trying to bite its doggy's tail and the dog chasing the cat around are traceable to the 1878 version. Alabama-born Childre started adulthood on a path toward the medical profession, but got sidetracked while in college and in 1923 began his musical career as a singer in a local tent show, followed shortly by a stint with his own jazz band. Within a few years he turned to the fledgling country music idiom, and during the 1930s and '40s was one of the most popular entertainers in the field. Though he was widely known through his radio work, he made few recordings during his career. He recorded "Riding the Elevated Train" in 1951, with Grady Martin (guitar) and Tommy Jackson (fiddle).

The sheet music for Riding on the elevated railroad / by Sam Devere (Boston: Blake, Chas. M., 1885) is at American Memory.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: 'Elevated Line' Chicago El 20's song
From: Art Thieme
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 05:42 PM

I'm left wondering if EDWARD HOPPER ever heard this song. Many of his paintings have that bitter-sweet, magnetic, noir, sundown, quality of light, voyeuristic aspect to them.

Art Thieme

Subject: Lyr.Add.: Riding the Elevated Railroad
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 Mar 03 - 09:27 AM

I thought I'd add some lyrics to this thread that were collected by a family friend; they are slightly different from Sam Devere's sheet music:

RIDING ON THE ELEVATED RAILROAD

(Variant collected by Winfred (Wendy) L. Holt in 1930's
Originally by minstrel performer Sam Devere 1878)

Riding on the elevated railroad –
I'll tell you all about it in my song;
I looked in all the second story windows
As the little train was moving right along;
Some were eating, some were drinking, some were sleeping,
Some were laughing, some did cry –
Some very funny sights I saw there,
And I took them in as I went by.

Chorus:

Riding on the elevated railroad –
It's pleasant and it just suits me;
If you take it day or night,
You'll say that I am right,
Some very funny sights you'll see.

In the first house I saw a woman washing,
While the steam was flying thick about her head;
In the next house I saw a little darling,
She was trying hard to make up the bed;
In the next house a woman was frying beefsteak;
She was a fighter for she had a wicked eye,
While her husband was singing to the baby,
"We'll be happy in the sweet by and by."

In the next house I saw a lively bull pup,
He was chasing a cat for life about the room;
In the next house a woman having a picnic,
She was trying to stab her husband with a broom;
In the next house I saw a lot of Dutchmen
Eating sauerkraut and drinking larger beer;
In the next house a fellow and his sweetheart,
He was doing his level best to chew her ear.

In the next house I saw an aged bachelor,
He was trying to sew his pants up with a nail;
In the next house I saw a little baby,
It was trying hard to bite a poodle's tail;
In the next house I saw a woman waiting
For her husband dear to come and get his tea –
But I saw him in the house upon the corner
With another fellow's wife upon his knee.

I suspect that this elevated line featured one of those small coal burning locomotives, rather than the later electric ones.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble