Written by Paul D. Race for Family Garden Trains(tm)
, Big Indoor Trains(tm), and Creek Don't Rise(tm) |
Classic Train SongsThis page contains a sort of library of songs that I think every railfan should know and that almost every railfan already enjoys. I started out just publishing links to Amazon clips to some of my favorite versions of several songs, with the idea of coming back later and adding more songs. But the ancient folk-singer and amateur historian in me insisted I tell the story of each song as well, and provide the sheet music if it's available (and not under copyright). So instead of adding more songs, I started telling the story of the songs I've already listed, dedicating a page to each songs. A few songs don't have their own pages yet, and there are many more songs to add. But I think providing the history of the song (and in many cases, the facts behind the song) will make this feature more useful to people in the long run. For now I'm leaving a few of my favorite song clips on this page for easy access. But if you want to hear more clips, read the lyrics, learn the history, and (in some cases) see You-tube videos of famous folks performing the songs, click on the link to take you to each page. If you have a favorite train song, or a favorite performer that you'd like to see added next, please contact me and I'll try to track them down. Also, if you don't see the link for a particular song, hit refresh - it seems like Amazon can never populate all of the links at the same time. Update for 2014 - Two years after our big move to a new server, we're running into other obstacles, like links to songs we like on Amazon randomly changing to links to songs we hate. Turns out this is usually the record publisher's fault - they stop selling one "greatest hits" album and start promoting another one by the same artist, and all the product IDs change. So all the links break, and Amazon's software automatically plugs the same top-40 hit into every link. We've been able to restore many of the links, but we've changed the format of several to make them easier to maintain in the future. In some cases, the link has just moved and if you search on Amazon you can still find it. In other cases, such as Johnny Cash's rendition of Casey Jones, the mp3 has been removed not only from Amazon, but from the entire internet (you should see the Cease and Desist order). My guess is they're going to come out with an "ultimate" Johnny Cash collection, and they want to make sure nobody has access to certain tunes in the months (or years) before it comes out. Gotta Love 'em! We were looking at adding several new songs before all of this happened. As of Septermber, 2014, we've been able to plug most of the gaps and get back onto that goal. Still, if a week from now some cheesy pop track appears in a link that used to be populated by a classic artist like Charlie Daniels, Bill Monroe, or Johnny Cash, it's not my doing. If you're a fan of Americana music in general, you might be glad to know that we've added two new related features.
City of New OrleansSteve Goodman's song was inspired by a train ride he took during the ill-fated McGovern campaign of 1972. But the song wasn't heard much on the radio until Steve pitched the song to folksinger Arlo Guthrie, and the rest is history. Two great sound clips of the song are listed on this page. But there are many more sound clips and other resources on the City of New Orleans page. To learn more about the song, see the lyrics, and hear many more clips, please click here.
Wabash CannonballThe Wabash River flows through Indiana and borders Illinois. The various iterations of the Wabash Railroad reached several midwestern states, but were most concentrated in northern Illinois. So why does the song "Wasbash Cannonball" talk about the train running from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and in some versions to Santa Fe? Because it's a "tall tale of a song" written decades before any train was ever called the "Wabash Cannonball." For a more complete history, more sound clips, and links to some very powerful YouTube performances, please click here.
Orange Blossom SpecialThe Orange Blossom Special was a real train that was advertised as a quick link to the south for folks in the Northeast. It is memorialized in song, or - more precisely - songs. There are words that are seldom sung, and a fiddle solo that (like the "Wildwood Flower" guitar solo) has become better known than the original song.For a more sound clips, lyrics, history, and links to popular YouTube performances, please click here. Casey JonesThis is one of the world's most popular railroad songs, written by a black railroad worker who knew Casey and had seen him in action. It has been "covered" by serious artists, and cheezed up by folks who thought it was a kids' song, but it is still a great, historical song. For more information, more mp3 clips, and links to popular YouTube performances, please click here.
Rock Island LineSome folks propose that this song was used for bragging song about industries like factories and mines as well as railroads. Eventually, Hudy "Leadbelly" Ledbetter recorded a version that included a story about a train engineer at a toll gate, and the "Rock Island Line" became permanently attached to the tune. Pete Seeger helped bring it to the world's attention, and the song became a "staple" of the Folk Revival, recorded with and without the story by dozens of popular artists. Its influence reached across the ocean, becoming one of Skiffle artist Lonnie Donnegan's biggest hits. For a description of this song's history and links to popular YouTube performances, please click here.
This Train (Don't Carry No Gamblers)This traditional gospel song finds its way into a lot of train song collections because it is so catchy and easy to sing along to. For more clips and a free downloadable MP3 by former Byrd Roger McGuinn, click here
New for 2014! Engine, Engine Number 9This song was written in 1965 by country singer/songwriter Roger Miller, based on a children's rhyme.For more information click hereBecause this song is still under copyright, I can't legally post the whole song or the sheet music for it. However, you can sample the song and or download the whole song from Amazon. New for 2014! Freight TrainThis song was written in the early 1900s by a fourteen-year-old girl named Elizabeth Cotton. Forty years later, she happened to get a job as a domestic for the Seeger family. And several years later she picked up the guitar again and sang a song that would otherwise have been forgotten. For the whole story, and several nice versions, click here
New for 2014! Down by the StationThis children's song was around before it became rewritten as a swing hit and made popular by folks like Tommy Dorsey. Today it's hard to find many listenable versions, but it still has a lot of potential. It's also stirred up a lot of hard questions like "Is it 'puffing billies' or 'puffer bellies?" For the whole story, and several versions, click here
New for 2014! King of the RoadTechnically this song is about a hobo, not about trains, but I kept tripping over it when I was writing up Roger Miller's "Engine, Engine Number Nine" (above). This was one of Miller's best-loved songs and it is certainly the song that was most often covered well by other artists. For more information click here
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2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 by Paul D. Race. All rights reserved.
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