Best Railroad Songs

[Deggesty]

Paul_D_North_Jr

  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." 

- Paul North. 

 

Paul, I wonder if the man's wife ever wised up and put a nickle into the lunch bag she handed him. Or, did she prefer that he not come home?

I don't remember how the verse went (this was written more than sixty years ago), but the chorus, with its melody, is quite familiar.

[wanswheel]

M.T.A. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP1bvY7IqZY

To Morrow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp88oumRQvs

[ACY Tom]

Too bad Vernon Dalhart wasn't around to get paid for use of his "Old 97" melody on the MTA song.

[16-567D3A]

                                                             .                                                                                                                                                 .                          

[wanswheel]

ACY

Too bad Vernon Dalhart wasn't around to get paid for use of his "Old 97" melody on the MTA song.

 

Blue Ridge Institute Museum says:

Train wrecks occurred relatively frequently at the time, and it was the ballad which sustained this accident's national fame. "The Wreck of the Old 97" was initially recorded commercially by Virginia musicians G. B. Grayson and Henry Whitter, but when it was released by light-opera singer Vernon Dalhart, it became the first million-selling record in the United States.

http://www.blueridgeinstitute.org/ballads/old97.html

On one cloudless morning I stood on the mountain,
Just watching the smoke from below,
It was coming from a tall, slim smokestack
Way down on the Southern railroad.

It was 97, the fastest train
Ever ran the Southern line,
All the freight trains and passengers take the side for 97,
For she's bound to be at stations on time.

They gave him his orders at Monroe, Virginia,
Saying, "Stevie, you're way behind time.
This is not 38, but it's Old 97,
You must put her into Spencer on time."

He looked 'round and said to his black greasy fireman,
"Just shovel in a little more coal,
And when I cross that old White Oak Mountain
You can just watch Old 97 roll."

It's a mighty rough road from Lynchburg to Danville,
And the lie was a three-mile grade,
It was on that grade that he lost his air brakes,
And you see what a jump that she made.

He was going down the grade making 90 miles an hour,
When his whistle began to scream,
He was found in that wreck with his hand on the throttle,
He was scalded to death by the steam.

Did she ever pull in? No, she never pulled in,
And at 1:45 he was due,
For hours and hours has the switchman been waiting
For that fast mail that never pulled through.

Did she ever pull in? No, she never pulled in,
And that poor boy must be dead.
Oh, yonder he lays on the railroad track
With the cart wheels over his head.

97, she was the fastest train
That the South had ever seen,
But she run so fast on that Sunday morning
That the death score was numbered 14.

Now, ladies, you must take warning,
From this time now and on.
Never speak harsh words to your true loving husband.
He may leave you and never return.

[ACY Tom]

Wanswheel:

Thanks so much!

I always thought Dalhart wrote the song, so I'm glad to see Grayson and Whitter get the credit.  And I've never seen the full text of the lyrics before.  Joe Brody (nicknamed Steve) was properly immortalized.

Tom

P.S.  I'm always amused when I hear more modern singers who have learned the song from the Dalhart version.  Instead of "lost his air brakes", they often say "lost his average" because Dalhart's pronunciation is a bit misleading. 

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Deggesty

Paul_D_North_Jr

  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." 

- Paul North.  

Paul, I wonder if the man's wife ever wised up and put a nickle into the lunch bag she handed him. Or, did she prefer that he not come home? 

I don't remember how the verse went (this was written more than sixty years ago), but the chorus, with its melody, is quite familiar.

"Charley's wife goes down
To the Scollay Square station
Every day at quarter past two
And through the open window
She hands Charley a sandwich
As the train comes rumblin' through."

[MikeF90]

ACY

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?

Nope, haven't tracked it down yet.

To @16-567D3A, a big +10 for Pure Prairie League's 'Kansas City Southern': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O20XrApSuM

I've always liked the Grateful Dead's tribute to Casey Jones, but that lifestyle would not be tolerated on today's Class I's.

[Bob Schuknecht]

"The Wreck of the Old 97" by myself at karaoke night. It is the railroad song I sing more than any other.

[wanswheel]

The Kingston Trio had a huge hit record on rock’n’roll radio, Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, which more or less made it possible for them to sell other songs, like M.T.A., on the Ed Sullivan Show. It seems the basic tune of M.T.A. is actually 40 years older than the Old 97.

[Anonymous]

James Coffey's "Legends of the Rails"

Not accurate and kind of cheesy, but the nostolgia has always appealed to me.

 

 

[ACY Tom]

Mike F90:  Sending you a P.M.

Tom

[Bruce Kelly]

Like I did the last time this topic popped up here, I submit this little-known tribute to the brave laborers who left their homes and families and everything they knew in order to scratch out some sort of living while building the early railways of Britain. Starts out with a bit of sentimental build-up, carving the right of way and laying the track, and then the train finally gets moving at about 5:50:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTkooJV7xx0

And to see the kind of rail visuals Phil and the boys incorporated in the live performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFW5_yLB5VA

 

 

[thegreatpumpkin]

Rock Island Line - 1950's Johnny Horton and/or Johnny Cash versions

City of New Orleans - 1970's Steve Goodman and/or Arlo Guthrie versions

Can’t You See - 1970's The Marshall Tucker Band (considered among the top five Southern Rock songs ever, the band is from Spartanburg SC so the "southbound all the way to Georgia" is most likely the Southern)

Driver 8 - 1980's R.E.M. (Southern Crescent is mentioned in the song, Chessie System is shown in the video, the band is from Athens GA) 

 

[power58]

Steel Rail blues gordon Lightfoot

[wanswheel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izSCwP_4YGU

[ramrod]

So far,just about everything mentioned has been Country or Rock. Here are a few railroad related songs mostly from the Big Band era. While I haven’t gotten into the Classical genre, there may well be some more or less modern pieces that were inspired by the sounds and rhythms of the railroad. If you know of any, please let us know. (I’d almost bet that Wagner wrote something in his later years.)

1. Blues in The Night, Ella Fitzgerald, 1961. Uses the sound of trains to define the Blues   inthe Night

            2. Casey Jones, Spike Jones, 1940. A humorous take on an old vaudeville song about a train engineer.

            3. Chattanooga Choo Choo, Glenn Miller, 1941. A song about a trip home by train.

            4. Choo Choo, Jack Payne 1931 – Instrumental, using sounds and rhythm of a steam engine

            5. Daybreak Express, Vince Giordano, ca. 1985. Instrumental song with a railroad title.

            6. Down By the Station, Tommy Dorsey, 1948. Whimsical song probably was a children’s             song. Big surprise hit.

            7. Dream Train Nat Shilkret, 1928. Instrumental with some train “sounds.”

            8. Grand Central Getaway, Jimmy Dorsey, ca 1945. Instrumental. No known reason for                            the title.

            9. Happy Go Lucky Local, Duke Ellington, 1946. Neat instrumental based on the rhythms                          of trains.

            10. Headin’ For Better Times, Ted Lewis, 1928. Uses RR imagery to make the song “        travel.”

            11. Heading East, Sammy Kaye, ca 1947. Instrumental with train sounds.

            12. Hello Montreal, The Jazz Pilots, 1928, Song about taking a train to Montreal to get a                          drink.

            13. Honky-Tonk Train, Sylvia Marlowe, 1939. Train is the song subject.

            14. Honky Tonk Train Blues, Bob Crosby, 1938, Instrumental, piano solo, using steam                               engine             rhythm

            15. I Heard That Lonesome Whistle, Johnny Cash, ca.1960. Country& Western hit.

            16. I Thought About You. Benny Goodman. 1939. Many RR references in the song.

            17. In The Middle Of The House, Vaughn Monroe, ca 1952. Big novelty hit about RR         through the house.

            18. ’ve Been Working on the Railroad, Mitch Miller, ca 1965. Old, old song from pre-      vaudeville days.

            19. Lackawanna Local, Ray Anthony, ca 1950. Instrumental using RR rhythm.

            20. Mobile Flag Stop, Johnny Messner, 1941. Instrumental with train reference in title.

            21. My Cutie’s Due at Two to Two, 1926, Billy Jones & Ernest Hare, Waiting for a train &                                     girl.

            22. Night Train, Buddy Morrow, 1939. Huge hit. Became his theme song.

            23. On The Atcheson, Topeka & Santa Fe, Judy Garland, 1941. Big production number in                          amovie, “Harvey Girls.”

            24. On The Other Side of the Tracks, Sarah Vaughn, 1967. Plaintive song about RR                                   defining society.

            25. Orange Blossom Special, Johnny Cash, ca. 1960. One of many versions; maybe the                             best.

            26. Rock Island Line, Johnny Cash, ca. 1960. Another “train song” that was a hit for                                  Johnny Cash.

            27. Sentimental Journey, Rosemary Clooney, 2001. Song about a RR trip.

            28.Shuffle Off To Buffalo, 42^nd Street Original Cast, 1980. Broadway tune from way back.

            29. Sleepy Town Train, Glenn Miller, 1943. Virtually unknown instrumental.

            30. Slow Freight, Glenn Miller, 1940. Instrumental slightly evocative of steam engine.

            31. Super Chief, Tommy Dorsey, ca 1945. Instrumental salute to a very popular train.

            32. The Cannon Ball, Guy Lombardo, 1928. Instrumental with a RR title. (Lombardo led a                                     hot band in the twenties.)

            33. The Little Train That Could, Guy Lombardo, ca. 1950. The children’s book set to                                  music.

            34. The Moonlight Special, Ray Stevens, ca. 1985. A non-comedy version by a good                                  comedian.

            35. The Railroad Song, Art Mooney, 1946. Instrumental.

            36.The Wreck Of Old 97, Johnny Cash, ca. 1960. Vaudeville song given new life by Cash.

            37. There’s a Train out for Dreamland, Nat “King” Cole Trio, 1943. Not a big hit but nice.

            38. Toot, Toot Tootsie, Al Jolson, ca 1930. Pure vaudeville song that tells a story.

            39. Waiting for the Train to Come In, Johnny Long, 1945. Title says it all.

            40. When The Midnight Choo Choo Leaves For Alabam’, Tommy Dorsey, 1938. Old                                   novelty song.

            41. Where Do You Worka, John, Fred Waring, 1926. Once very popular, but now very                              politically incorrect.

 

There are other songs that, while not directly railroad related, do involve steel wheels on steel rails, for instance:

 

            1. Take The “A” Train, Duke Ellington. A huge hit referencing a NYC subway train that                             served             Harlem.

            2. Sixth Avenue Express, Johnson & Ammons. A two piano version of a subway song.

            3. The Trolley Song, Judy Garland. Another movie production number from “Meet Me in                                     St Louis.”

 

Yes, a few of the above duplicate songs that have already been listed.

 

 

 

[greyhounds]

I'll go with another one by James Coffey.  "Ghosts of the Rails."

"Rail and machine

   Fire, smoke and steam.."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUxhhjq9_mQ

 

[ACY Tom]

I just remembered another one, a lullabye written by Malvina Reynolds:  Morningtown Ride, most famously done by the Seekers in 1968.

Tom

[wanswheel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaB5320ZftE

[Firelock76]

wanswheel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaB5320ZftE

 

Holy smoke, I looked at the timetable and it's from the old New Jersey and New York (Erie) Railroad, now New Jersey Transit's Pascack Valley Line!  All the stops are pretty much today as they were then, the differences being today's trains start in Hoboken and terminate in Spring Valley, the line beyond abandoned.

Amazing.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

You suppose the songwriters or the publisher were commuters on that line?

An addendum: There's an old movie from about 1930 or so that takes place on the Southern Pacific called "Other Men's Women," originally "The Steel Highway"  starring Grant Withers, Regis Toomey, James Cagney, Mary Astor, and Joan Blondell where some railroaders are sitting in a yard office singing "On the 5:15."  It shows up on Turner Classic Movies from time to time.

[Wizlish]

Reminds me that the Who had a 5:15 song too, on Quadrophenia...

[BaltACD]

Choo Choo Ch'boogie

 

[efftenxrfe]

Ramrod,

My admiration has no limits now. An inventory of favored tunes and lyrics, railroad oriented, vast and varied, Ya' got it.

A couple that I'd throw into the mix:

The Stanley Brother's Orange Blossom Special,

Hank Snow's The Wreck of the Old 97.

Roy Acuff's Wabash Cannonball

Hobo Bill's Last Ride, Hank Snow

and The Sons of the Pioneers' "Way Out There" and "One Last Ride."

Ernest Tubbs sang about a hobo in Texas trying to get home, "if you haven't got a nickle" said the brakeman...

The "Singing Brakeman," everything he sang evoked his era...Jimmie Rogers....the '20s to the '30s.

There are song writers and songs, so many....let's honor them...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

brakeman 

 

[ACY Tom]

I'm speechless, Chuck.

[mistersteve]

"I Thought About You" (Music by Jimmy Van Heusen, Lyrics by Johnny Mercer") (listed by ramrod)

I took a trip on a train
And I thought about you
I passed a shadowy lane
And I thought about you

Two or three cars parked under the stars
A winding stream
Moon shining down on some little town
And with each beam, same old dream

And every stop that we made, oh, I thought about you

and when I pulled down the shade then I really felt blue

I peeked through the crack and looked at the track
The one going back to you
And what did I do? I thought about you.

[CHANCE2195]

Johnny - Folsum Prison Blues

[MikeF90]

Speaking of Not Rock or Country, here's "Ain't No Brakeman" performed by the great bluesman John Mayall:

Lyrics by Fontaine Brown: http://www.lyrics.net/lyric/9916497

UPDATE: posted too soon, here's the same song covered by Coco Montoya with superior railroad related video:

UPDATE TWO: don't know if this has been posted already, but Wikipedia wants your input: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_train_songs

Could be a very long topic, this ....

[locojacket]

peter paul and mary, Freight Train, This Train (don't carry no gamblers) 1965?

[CNSF]

What? No one's nominated Liz Phair's 'Baby Got Going' yet? Can't believe it.