When I was a young boy—I was actually young once—we lived in a development called Terrytown between the cities of Scottsbluff and Gering, Nebraska. The property across the street had not been developed when my family lived there, so you could walk across the field to the fence that bordered the Union Pacific Line. My friends and I spent many hours in those fields and we always ran to the fence to wave at the steam engines coming by. I guess that must be why I like trains. Probably the first train song I remember was “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” That song, at least the version I know, came out in 1894 as “The Levee Song” and was written for a musical production at Princeton University. Based on the lyrics, the Princeton version was actually a combination of several older songs that go back at least to the 1850’s, perhaps further. The lyrics in the song about “Dinah” can be found in several other songs around that time. The composer of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” was never identified but the song has been covered by many folk artists including one of my favorites, John Denver. And the song is still a popular children’s song, you can find all sorts of renditions on YouTube. Another train song still popular with children today is “Down by the Station.” I knew it as the “Pufferbelly Song.” You know “Down by the station early in the morning. See the little pufferbellies all in a row?” I doubt if the kid’s singing the song nowadays, and maybe even their parents, know what a pufferbelly is. Do you? The song is credited to Lee Ricks and Slim Gaillard in 1948, though similar lyrics can be found back as far as 1931. One thing I did not know was that Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra did a recording of the song, though I couldn’t find it in the listing of records he released. How many of you know who Tommy Dorsey is? Yet another song I remember from my youth is still sung as a children’s song; “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain.” The song was actually derived from a religious song; “When the Chariot Comes.” The first printed version of “Coming Round the Mountain” appeared in Carl Sandburg’s An American Songbook in 1927, but is thought to have originated in Appalachia in the 1800s. The song has been sung by such notables as: The Peanuts cast in Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, Jessie from Toy Story II, Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Muppets, and, wait for it, Barney the Dinosaur. And how about “Come all you rounders if you want to hear, the story about a brave engineer?” That’s about all the words I can remember to “The Ballad of Casey Jones.” I know snippets of other verses but that’s about it. Casey was, as everyone, I’m sure, is aware, was a real person; an engineer on the Illinois Central Railroad. He is credited with saving the lives of the passengers on his train, on April 30, 1890, when he stayed in the engine cab working the throttle and brakes to try and slow his train when he came upon a stalled freight train on the main line. None of the passengers lost their lives in the wreck, but Casey died “With the throttle in his hand.” A friend of his, Wallace Saunders, a wiper on the IC, wrote the original lyrics, but never tried to copywrite the song. Some other folks borrowed and performed his song and it got spread around, but they also never looked into a copywrite. Eventually two other gentlemen, Lawrence Seibert and Eddie Nelson rewrote the lyrics and music, releasing the song in 1909 as “Casey Jones, the Brave Engineer.” “But the dreams of a boy disappear when you’re grown. And though I may dream the railroads are gone. The ties they are rotten. And the tracks shot to hell. Along with my dreams and the old railroad bell.” Trains and songs have been linked together from the inception of the railroad. The earliest known train song, according to Wikipedia, is “The Carrollton March” written by Arthur Clifton. It was first performed on July 4th, 1928 at the commencement ceremony of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Baltimore, Maryland. Incidentally, Wikipedia has a list of over 1,000 train and railroad songs. Music, singing, and chanting had to have helped make the backbreaking work of laying rails much more tolerable for the workers. Carol and I attended a rail festival in Manassas a few years after we moved there and enjoyed listening the chants of the Buckingham Lining Bar Gang when demonstrating how the rails were straightened before the days of modern machinery. There was no instrumentation, but the chants used to synchronize the gang’s work was musical indeed! Many musicians began their careers “riding the rails,” working odd jobs and performing along the way. Woodie Guthrie is one I’m more familiar with. He traveled throughout the mid-west and sang many train songs including “This Train is Bound for Glory” (“This Train”), “Little Black Train,” and “Lost Train Blues.” One musician that didn’t “ride the rails” was Lecil Travis Martin. You might know him better as Boxcar Willie. He joined the Air Force in 1949 and served as a flight engineer in B-29 Superfortresses during the Korean War. During his Air Force career, he performed at local venues as an amateur. While sitting at a railroad crossing near Lincoln, Nebraska he saw a person riding in the door of a boxcar that looked a lot like a fellow serviceman, Willie Wilson. He immediately pulled off the road and wrote the song “Boxcar Willie.” Later he performed the song at a local talent show in California, won first prize and the nickname Boxcar Willie. He retired in 1976 and became a fulltime performer, eventually moving to Branson, Missouri where he opened a theatre, a museum and two motels. I enjoy his song “From a Boxcar Door.” “In my dreams I’d ride the rails to California. Workin’ diners and farms along the way. Or I’d hop a ride to hide across the border. With a black-eyed girl beside me all the way.” What about some more mainstream railroad songs? How about “Chattanooga Choo Choo?” The song was originally written by Mack Gordon and composed by Harry Warren in 1941. They wrote the song while travelling on the Southern Railway’s Birmingham Special and were inspired by the train’s small wood burning steam locomotive The song’s name, however, did not refer to any particular train. “Chattanooga Choo Choo” was originally recorded as a swing tune by Glenn Miller and his orchestra. The song was an extended production number in the 20th Century Fox movie Sunrise Serenade. “Chattanooga Choo Choo” became the #1 hit in the US on the Billboard Best Sellers chart on December 7th, 1941. An interesting juxtaposition, a number one hit on a day that lives in infamy! The song was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Song from a Movie in 1941 and won Glenn Miller the world’s first ever Gold Record in February 1942. “Chattanooga Choo Choo” has been covered by a litany of singers and orchestras. One I would like to hear is Cab Calloway and his orchestra's version but I couldn’t find it on YouTube. Another well know railroad song is “Wabash Cannonball.” It probably originated in the late 1800s and first appeared on sheet music in 1882 as “The Great Rock Island Route” credited to J. A. Roff. It was rewritten in 1904 by William Kindt as “The Wabash Cannonball.” The first recording of the song was by The Carter Family, released in 1932, but the more popular rendition was by Roy Acuff in 1936. Roy’s version is one of the few all-time singles to have sold 10 million copies worldwide. The song was so popular that, in 1929, the Wabash Railroad renamed its Detroit to Saint Louis daytime express as the Wabash Cannon Ball. “Wabash Cannonball” has been performed and recorded by a long list of country western, bluegrass, and folk singers including Johnny Cash. And you can’t mention Johnny Cash without also mentioning “Folsom River Blues.” Johnny was another Air Force (Yea!) member and was inspired to write the song while serving in West Germany and seeing the movie Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison. The song first appeared on his 1955 debut album With His Hot and Blue Guitar but hit #1 on the country music charts when he released a version recorded live at Folsom Prison. It’s been recorded by many other artists, but who can top Johnny Cash? One of my favorite train songs is “500 Miles.” It is also known as “The Railroaders Lament” and is credited to Hedy West in 1961 though some version also credit Curly Williams of John Phillips as co -writers. The song appears on The Journeyman’s debut album in 1961 and that may have been its first release. It has been covered by many groups including The Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, and Sonny & Cher among many others. Why even Little Jimmy Cartmill used to pick it out on his banjo. My all-time favorite railroad song, though, is “The City of New Orleans.” The song was written and first recorded by Steve Goodman in1971. Steve was inspired by the Illinois Central’s City of New Orleans and wrote the song on a trip to visit his wife. The song has been recorded by many artists, but the version by Arlo Guthrie, Woody Guthrie’s son, is probably best know. The story goes that Steve asked Arlo to be allowed to play a song for him. Arlo agreed if Steve bought him a beer and the song didn’t last any longer than the beer. Arlo liked the song and recorded it in 1972. “Now the mountains are silent. And the railroads are gone. And the coal towns no longer hear the miners at dawn. But the train whistle shrills out her memories to me. While the thunderclouds roll out of East Tennessee.” Article by Jim Cartmill
Sources: Wikipedia and Youtube “The Railroad Song” Lyrics and music by Jim and Ingrid Croce Editors Note: To listen to the song enter “jim croce railroad song videos” in your browsers search engine. You should get a set of YouTube videos to choose from.
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PCRCThe Page County Railroad Club has a wealth of railroad information shared between it's members. In this blog we will do our best to share that knowledge. Archives
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