![]() | |||
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | |
![]() | ![]() | ||
![]() | ![]() | ||
![]() | ![]() | ||
![]() | ![]() |
Written by Paul D. Race for Family Garden Trains(tm)
![]() Big Indoor Trains(tm) ![]() ![]() |
Rock Island Line, a Classic Train Song from Family Garden TrainsTMThe Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific railroad connected Chicago to most of the midwestern states west of the Mississippi, as well Louisiana, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. For over a century, the "Rock Island" competed successfully with other railroads that covered essentially the same ground. But in the 1960s and 1970s, rail traffic fell off in general, and offering essentially the same services as two or three other railroads wasn't enough to keep "The Rock" in the black. The railroad fell behind in payments to creditors and even further behind in maintaining its own infrastructure. After garnering national attention, political support from President Carter, and many attempts at mergers or refinancing, the Rock finally closed down for good in 1980. Most of its assets were divided among competitors, but the old Rock Island connections between Chicago and Joliet survive as the "Rock Island District" of the Metra commuter rail service. The Song - The song "Rock Island Line" has been around for the better part of a century. Pete Seeger and others have hypothesized that it started out a a work song, and the name may have been changed depending on who was paying you to pound steel or break rocks. It was first "collected" by folk song scholar John Lomax, in a 1934 visit to an Arkansas state prison. Not long after, folk singer Hudie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, rearranged and recorded his version in the 1940s. The English Connection - In a strange twist, English singer Lonnie Donegan claimed authorship in Britain, after his 1955 recording of Leadbelly's arrangement became a huge hit there. In fact Donegan's recording of "Rock Island Line" is often given credit for starting the "skiffle" music movement in Britain, the analogue to the folk movement in the U.S., eclipsing Rock and Roll for several years on the radio. If you want to draw an even stranger connection, you should know that Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison first started working together in a skiffle band. So just think - if Lomax hadn't recorded the song, Leadbelly hadn't rearranged it, and Donegan hadn't "borrowed" it, the Beatles might never have existed. The Song's Evolution - In Leadbelly's version of the song, the guitar imitates a train whistle that is presumably signalling to a toll gate operator that he is hauling only livestock, which should pass for free. In some later versions, the engineer actually talks to the toll agent. In still later versions, the story part of the song disappears altogether. In the 1960s, I recall folks singing this song just to draw attention to the then-struggling railroad's plight. If you have a favorite train song, or a favorite performer that I've left out, please contact me and I'll try to track it down. Also, if you don't see the link for a particular song in the lists below, click the refresh button on your browser. It seems like Amazon can never populate all of the links at the same time. On the other hand, sometimes publishers move things around and the links get broken permanently. If you see some cheezy top-40 hit on this page, that's Amazon's not very clever choice of a replacement.
[Spoken verse] Now this here's a story about the Rock Island Line. Well the Rock Island Line she runs down into New Orleans. There's a big tollgate down there and you know. If you got certain things on board when you go through the tollgate. Well you don't have to pay the man no toll. Well a train driver he pulled up to the tollgate, And a man hollered and asked him what all he had on board and said: I got livestock. [accompaniment plays a lick I got livestock. that is supposed to represent I got cows. a train whistle giving a series of I got pigs. short toots, presumably I got sheep. indicating livestock cargo.] I got mules. I got all live stock. [Sung Chorus] Oh, the Rock Island line is a might good road Oh the Rock Island line is the road to ride The Rock Island line is a mighty good road If you want to ride, you gotta ride it like you find it Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island line ![]() [Spoken verse] Well he said you're alright boy you don't have to pay no toll. You can just go right on through so he went on through the tollgate. And as he went through he started pickin' up a little bit of speed. Pickin' up a little bit of steam. He got on through, then he turned and looked back at the man he said. Well I fooled you. [accompaniment plays a lick I fooled you. that is supposed to represent I got pig iron. a heavier cargo.] I got pig iron. I got all pig iron. [Sung Chorus]
Roll Your Own![]() Oh, the Miami Valley Club is a mighty good club,
MP3 clips from Amazon
More Great Sound Clips of This SongYou-Tube Videos of This SongWhen I first posted this page, I "embedded" the videos so you could see them without leaving this page. Unfortunately You-Tube videos go up and down and move around for a wide range of reasons, so after a year or so, all I had was a big row of black boxes that you could click on and get a warning message that you were violating copyright or something. Gotta love publishers whose "cease and desist" threats to YouTube and others protect viewers from encountering performances that the publishers don't even own the copyright to or that aren't available commercially anywhere.Although this site doesn't get all that much traffic, you'd swear that they are monitoring us, because a lot of links that have been up for months or years are withdrawn because of "copyright violation" or some such within a week after I post them here. In the meantime, I've gone to just listing the links I like that I can find on the day I go link-hunting. A week from now, they may all be gone. But once you're on You-Tube, if you search on the artist and song name, you may come across a similar video someone else has posted.
There is now a Train Songs section on our Creek Don't Rise Forum Page. Here's where we post information about updates and information that doesn't really fit anywhere on the Classic Train Songs site(yet). |
|
All material, illustrations, and content of this web site is copyrighted ? 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 by Paul D. Race. All rights reserved.
Classic Train Songs(tm) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
For questions, comments, suggestions, trouble reports, etc. about this page or this site, please contact us.
Visit related pages and affiliated sites: | |||||
- Music - | |||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
- Trains and Hobbies - | |||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
- Christmas Memories and Collectibles - | |||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
- Family Activities and Crafts - | |||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |