Choo Choo Ch'boogie
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Reminds me that the Who had a 5:15 song too, on Quadrophenia...
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.
I just remembered another one, a lullabye written by Malvina Reynolds: Morningtown Ride, most famously done by the Seekers in 1968.
Tom
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
1. Blues in The Night, Ella Fitzgerald, 1961. Uses the sound of trains to define the Blues inthe Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izSCwP_4YGU
Steel Rail blues gordon Lightfoot
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)
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
Mike F90: Sending you a P.M.
James Coffey's "Legends of the Rails"
Not accurate and kind of cheesy, but the nostolgia has always appealed to me.
"The Wreck of the Old 97" by myself at karaoke night. It is the railroad song I sing more than any other.
ACYP.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?
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.
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! ***
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. 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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
ACY Too bad Vernon Dalhart wasn't around to get paid for use of his "Old 97" melody on the MTA song.
Too bad Vernon Dalhart wasn't around to get paid for use of his "Old 97" melody on the MTA song.
. .
Johnny
"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!)
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.
Singing brakeman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbzc77Tz6PA
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."
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.
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