Engine, Engine Number 9, a Classic Train Song from Family Garden Trains^TM

Roger Miller wrote this song for his Third Time Out album. It's related to a children's poem that is often recited while jump-roping.

Engine, Engine, number 9
Going Down Chicago Line
If the train goes off the track,
Do you want your money back?

Miller's best-known song was probably "King of the Road," about a hobo who knows how to live cheap and how to get around the country free. The narrator of this song is much less confident.

Here are Miller's lyrics:

Engine, engine number nine
Coming down the railroad line
How much farther back did she get off.
Old brown suitcase that she carried.
I've looked for it ev'rywhere.
It just ain't here among the rest
And I'm a little upset, yes... tell me

Engine, engine number nine,
Coming down the railroad line,
I know she got on in Baltimore.
A hundred and ten miles ain't much distance
But it sure do make a diff'rence;
I don't think she loves me anymore.

I warned her of dangers
Don't speak to strangers
Did she find new romance
Warmer lips to kiss her,
Arms to hold her tighter,
Stirring new fires inside her,
How I wish that it was me instead
Of he that stands beside her.

Engine, engine number nine,
Coming down the railroad line,
I know she got on in Baltimore.
A hundred and ten miles ain't much distance
But it sure do make a diff'rence;
I don't think she loves me anymore.

No I don't think she loves me anymore.
I don't think she loves me...

MP3s from Amazon

The point of this section and the You-Tube Link section below is to give you a sense of how various artists attack this song. If you like one of the clips in this section, it doesn't cost that much to download it.

When I started these pages, I set up a bunch of little widgets here that would let you play clips right on the Amazon site without leaving the page. But every time a publisher changed the product number of the album they linked to, the widget would break and something silly would show up in the links instead. So I've changed things so the clips will play regardless, and if you like what you hear, the orange button should take you to that song's page on Amazon. If it doesn't you can always search the "Digital Downloads" section by the artist and song name, and chances are you'll find wherever the publisher has moved it this time. Sorry for any confusion.

Engine, Engine Number 9 - Roger Miller - the original artist.

More Sound Clips of This Song

• Rube Rubin and the Westerners - a somewhat country swing version, recorded in the early days of stereo.
• Bruce Greaves - a New Zealand country singer whose done much to keep US-style country music alive "down under."
• Jiri Grossmann - This version is by Czech playwrite, poet, and songwriter Jiri Grossmann (sorry about leaving off the little markings but they just show up as question marks on some computers). Turns out Grossman, who died in 1971, was persecuted by the Soviets for years, but still managed to produce some groundbreaking works in his time. This song is from an album whose title translates "I am Throwing my Banjo Away" and which, as far as I can tell, was published after he died. It includes many songs from his shows and a few American songs that sound just as much fun in Czech, like "I'm Going to Jackson"

You-Tube Videos of This Song

The first "video" below is actually just a sound tracks with lyrics. The second one is by Carl Perkins, who wrote "Blue Suede Shoes" and always brought something extra to the guitar parts of his songs. I HIGHLY recommend seeing it all the way through.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ3dcJZ_J3g

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHGK05JvvTI

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    - Paul Race