Nominate your favorite rail-related songs.
I have 2 categories, I'm sure there will be others.
1) Specific Train
City of New Orleans by Steve Goodman
2) Railroad Industry
Canadian Railroad Trilogy by Gordon Lightfoot
I won't post links to them as they are easily found.
One of the best railroad songs NOT involving actual railroading:
Tom Rush, Panama Limited.
And a couple of good railroad-themed tone poems:
Arthur Honegger, Pacific 231
Gerry Mulligan, K4 Pacific (from 'The Age of Steam')
I nominate "Southern Pacific" by Neil Young.
Ed
Baltimore & Ohio
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Driving the Last Spike, Genesis.
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
One of the most underappreciated guitar players of any genre is the late Jerry Reed. This is the only performance of 'Wabash Cannonball' that I could find:
There are very few renditions of 'Orange Blossom Special' that appeal to me. Here is one by Seatrain, featuring the amazing Richard Greene on violin:
Links to my Google Maps ---> Sunset Route overview, SoCal metro, Yuma sub, Gila sub, SR east of Tucson, BNSF Northern Transcon and Southern Transcon *** Why you should support Ukraine! ***
Harvest Train by Tamarack (1991) - most 'inside' lyric: "I curse you William C. van Horn" - who else would understand that ?
Lyrics to Harvest Train
By the time I heard that evening train he was gone, gone, gone Headed for those fields of grain in the far Saskatchewan
Oh the times they were so hard and the fish were few Oh, what's a Maritimer gonna do
Oh my heart, the C.P.R. has taken Every good man in Nova Scotia Gone away on that Harvest Train to the Prairie's Golden Ocean Far from me (Far from me)
Oh I had sensed his restlessness ever since the autumn came all those trains were headed west they were calling out his name
Oh every time I heard that whistle blow I wondered if it was his time to go Oh my heart ...
I curse you William C. van Horn you don't know what you've done you've taken my man from the place he was born left me here with his new son
Oh the prairies always seemed so far away before now the railway's come and made them close as an "All aboard!"
Oh my heart ...
- Paul North.
Put me down for " you can hear the whistle blowing 500 miles by peter, Paul and Mary
My favorite railroad song is "Fireball mail," sung by Hank Snow (or anyone else good). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x-bK0Y-00I
Another is "City of New Orleans" as sung by Arlo Guthrie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg8bKjXmE-s
As a lad I loved the theme to the TV show "Casey Jones." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig3GcDBjQN4
And the classic folk song "John Henry" remains as profound a piece of music as any our country has produced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66r3zZoO4dQ&spfreload=10
The railroad runs through the middle of the house...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4BYdTrkWoo
And I've always loved Gerry Mulligan's "K4 Pacific" mentioned by Wizlish
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
The O.P. has it right. Nobody --- including Steve's friend Arlo --- ever sang a finer version of "City of New Orleans" than the writer, Steve Goodman. Try to find an unaccompanied version, with just Steve and his guitar.
In deference to "City of New Orleans", I understand Gordon Lightfoot jokingly referred to his "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" as the second best railroad song ever written. Joking or not, he was probably right.
I would also offer for your consideration any railroad song by Bruce "Utah" Phillips. His version of "Wabash Cannonball", paired with his "Tolono" is moving. "Daddy What's a Train" is a classic. "Starlight On The Rails", a poem with musical accompaniment, will stir your soul, and "Old Buddy Goodnight" will bring you to tears: "There's some things worse than dyin' alone, and one of 'em's livin' that way." Phillips was a true poet.
Tom
P.S. MikeF90, I like Seatrain's version of "Orange Blossom Special", but have you heard the version Vassar Clements did on the Will The Circle Be Unbroken album?
So many. For starters:
"Big Midnight Special," the version by Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper
"Lonesome Whistle," by Hank Williams
"Ben Dewberry's Final Run," by Jimmie Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman
"Streamlined Cannonball," by Roy Acuff
"Railroad Lady," by Lefty Frizzell
"Lonesome Joe," by Roy Acuff
"Sunshine Special," by Roy Acuff
"The Last Ride," by Hank Snow
"I'm Movin' On," by Hank Snow
"Cherokee Fiddle," by Johnny Lee
Yes, and "In the Baggage Coach Ahead," by Mac Wiseman!
"The Engineer's Child," by many, from Vernon Dalhart thru Hank Snow
"Hummingbird," by Johnnie & Jack
"The Gambler," by Kenny Rogers
"Waiting for a Train," by Jimmie Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman
"Life's Railway to Heaven," by many
"The Bluegrass Express," by the Osborne Brothers
"Wreck of the Old 97," by many
"Night Train to Memphis," by Roy Acuff
"Bringin' in the Georgia Mail," by Charlie Monroe and many others
"Southern Dixie Flyer," by Marty Robbins
"Teardrops Falling in the Snow," by Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper; also by Porter Wagoner
Thanks a lot for getting us started, Shoot180! (I'll be kept up tonight remembering 20 more.)
Dakota Fred,
My Bro, Mi Amigo,
Every one of your list's entries bears fomdness from my recollections of '40's, 50's and later.
How 'bout some from the 30's. Of course that circles the singin' brakeman, Jimmie Rogers songbook; I want to through in 2 recordings of what I think are original music.
A western oriented singing group from the depession-wracked eastern U.S. went to California maybe "riding on the rods."
2 songs came out: "Way Out There" and "One More Ride."
The railroad references are faultless, after listening if you're not there, then listen to the (really) the yodeling.
It replicates the classic and required crossing warning whistle/horn sound.
Roy Rogers may have been in that group of the original "Son's of the Pioneers."
"Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash; also "The midnight Special"
http://www.johnnycashonline.com/music/story-songs-of-the-trains-and-rivers
http://www.thespoon.com/trainhop/songs.html
Check out this list of 23, with commentary about each one, some with multiple artists:
http://harpers.org/blog/2014/06/the-twenty-three-best-train-songs-ever-written-maybe/
Look a yonder comin'Comin' down that railroad trackHey- look a ynder comin'Comin' down that railraod trackIt's the Orange Blossom SpecialBringin' my baby back...
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Paul of Covington The railroad runs through the middle of the house... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4BYdTrkWoo And I've always loved Gerry Mulligan's "K4 Pacific" mentioned by Wizlish
i have not heard that song in 50 years! My daughters have always thought I made it up. Thank you for posting it.
Let me add " The Wreck of C&O #5" sung by Pick Temple. (Those who grew up in the DC area in the 1950's will remember Pick).
I'm kind of partial to Johnny Cash's first hit "Hey Porter" from the early fifties on the Sun Records label.
There was a song about the Rock Island that came out in the early fifties--which declared that the eastbound train was on a westbound track and the northbound train was on a southbound track. Knowing the routes of the Rock Island, I knew such was possible.
The only lyrics I could find this morning with mention of track direction was sung by Johnny Cash (and he did not know where the road went), but there is no mention of eastbound/westbound.
Johnny
A couple of favorites of mine: ".. Mystery Train..." By Elvis from early stuff in the 1950's and then there was "...Frankfort Special..." after he came back from Germany '60's. The one I wish he had done was an old gospel song: "...Glory Train.." . Never heard him do more than just a few bars, but you knew what it was when he was humming it.
Mean Old Frisco Blues , Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter
Golden Rocket Hank Snow
Railroad Bum Jim Reeves
efftenxrfe Dakota Fred, My Bro, Mi Amigo, Every one of your list's entries bears fomdness from my recollections of '40's, 50's and later. How 'bout some from the 30's. Of course that circles the singin' brakeman, Jimmie Rogers songbook; I want to through in 2 recordings of what I think are original music. A western oriented singing group from the depession-wracked eastern U.S. went to California maybe "riding on the rods." 2 songs came out: "Way Out There" and "One More Ride." The railroad references are faultless, after listening if you're not there, then listen to the (really) the yodeling. It replicates the classic and required crossing warning whistle/horn sound. Roy Rogers may have been in that group of the original "Son's of the Pioneers."
Hi, Eff,
I detect a fellow old-time C&W fan -- and glad for the company! One of the best hobby mixes I know blends old-time C&W and railroads.
Your candidates are great ones I should have thought of myself. The Pioneers, especially Nolan and Spencer, knew their railroads AND the Old West.
Singing brakeman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbzc77Tz6PA
Green Light on the Southern by Tony Rice. One of the rare ones that seems to be accurate in the details. Unless I missed something.
"He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack Go sit beneath the tree by the railroad track Oh, the engineers would see him sitting in the shade Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made People passing by they would stop and say Oh my that little country boy could play...."
Johnny B Goode By Chuck Berry
In other words, the sound of a steam locomotive is rock n roll! (or vice versa!)
Is a subway song eligible for this list ?
"Charley on the MTA" - http://ingeb.org/songs/letmetel.html (see the notes at the bottom).
For those who don't know it, here's the refrain:
Chorus: "Did he ever return, No he never returned And his fate is still unlearn'd He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston He's the man who never returned."
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