Hi everybody—time for another installment of Monday Morning Blues, & today’s song is a favorite of mine, “Green River Blues” by the great Charlie Patton. As per usual, my version differs somewhat from the original—I try to keep the spirit of the original, but otherwise, I do stray a bit afield.
Patton was one of the first generation of recorded Delta blues players; he was born somewhere between 1889 & 1894, & spent much of his youth around the Dockery Plantation in Sunflower County, Mississippi. A number of other well-known blues players were associated with the Dockery Plantation, among them Son House, Willie Brown, Robert Johnson & Howling Wolf. In fact, there were close connections between these musicians—Patton performed & recorded with Son House & Willie Brown, & Robert Johnson is known to have performed with the latter two musicians as well. In addition, Howling Wolf looked up to both Patton & Son House as mentors.
Patton was a popular musician & recorded over 50 sides at four different recording sessions. Tho he is not as well-known to the general public as Robert Johnson, his songs are standards of the Delta blues. “Green River Blues” is probably quite an old song—most of its lyrics follow the older pattern of repeating the same line with no variation, as opposed to the later pattern in which a line is repeated & then answered.
& of course, as a guy who always likes a good train reference in a song, “Green River Blues” is noteworthy for mentioning the intersection of the Southern & Yazoo railroads in Moorhead, Mississippi, a location that has its own historical plaque. The photo leading off the the post shows the intersection.
Happy New Year everyone! Today’s the last run for the (Blues) Christmas Train, but don’t worry—there will be plenty of blues & trains on Robert Frost’s Banjo in 2010! For today, we’ve got three great songs for you, two of which prove you can construct an amazing tune using just one chord.
When you're done here, please consider visiting Eberle's Platypuss-in-Boots blog, where yours truly is making a guest appearance, along with an even more special guest star. In the meantime, hope you enjoy these tunes!
PEAVINE BLUES: This song begins, “I thought I heard that Pea Vine when she blows,” & as explain at shows when I perform it, this doesn’t refer to an exploding vegetable—it refers to the whistle on the Peavine train line. The Peavine was a branch of the Yazoo Delta Railway that ran from Dockery Plantation to Boyle; as we learned when we were listening to Patton’s “Green River Blues” earlier in this series, the Yazoo Delta was nicknamed the Yellow Dog.
“Peavine Blues” is one of my all-time favorite train songs, tho in all honesty only the first & last verses refer to the Peavine Railroad—the rest is about a woman who’s done Charlie Patton wrong, & how he’s gotten over it—“I cried last night, ain’t gonna cry no more.” It’s closely related to his song “Banty Rooster Blues” in terms of melody & also a characteristic riff he does on the bass string involving the minor third (or blues note). In fact, when Rory Block covered “Peavine Blues,” she mixes in some of the lyrics of “Banty Rooster Blues.”
This song, & the next in this list are two of the very greatest country blues numbers ever, at least for my money! Charlie Patton:The Best of Charlie Patton (Yazoo); Rory Block:Gone Woman Blues (Rounder)
ROLLIN’ STONE 1 & 2: There’s a good chance you haven’t heard either "Rollin’ Stone" part 1 or part 2 or about its performer & composer, Robert Wilkins; I’m happy to remedy that! Some people have called this the greatest country blues song ever. Now, I’m of a non-hierarchical bent, so I’d never make that kind of claim for any song, but I’ll say this: it’s a deeply moving song, both in terms of its music & its lyrics.
It might further amaze you to learn that “Rollin’ Stone” is based harmonically on a single chord, tho Robert Wilkins does imply chord changes with his artful bass runs. The lyrics tell a tale of desertion & loneliness; the sort of emotions you associate with a train whistle in the night, or with looking down a stretch of train track. Trains signify several things in blues: the freedom to travel, the urge (sometimes, the compulsion) to move on—but behind the image there’s usually a stark loneliness, & it’s never captured any better than in this great song. Robert Wilkins:The Original Rolling Stone (Yazoo) or Memphis Blues 1928-1935 (Document)—the latter has the advantage (I think) of running the two parts consecutively on the album, whereas the Yazoo release separates them.
SMOKESTACK LIGHTNIN’: What better way to conclude this series than with this Howlin’ Wolf song? Again, we have a song constructed on a single minor chord—essentially, built on a riff. But “Smokestack Lightnin’,” with Wolf’s falsetto “boo-hoo” train whistle & driving beat is a classic.
Wolf explained the title as follows: "We used to sit out in the country and see the trains go by, watch the sparks come out of the smokestack. That was smokestack lightning." The song is based on an earlier Howlin’ Wolf song, “Crying at Daybreak,” which was itself based on Charlie Patton’s “Moon Goin’ Down.” It’s a fun song to play (& a surprisingly fun tune on the banjo), & has been covered by a slew of other musicians, including Muddy Waters, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The AnimalsThe Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, The Who, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Soundgarden, Widespread Panic, & George Thorogood. Howlin’ Wolf: The Definitive Collection (Geffen Records)
The Yuletide season is upon us, & what better way to celebrate it musically than with blues songs about trains! Now before you think this is just a crackpot idea, consider: what puts you in mind of Christmas morning more than a train set circling the tree? In fact, one of the earliest toys I remember was an HO train set that my father assembled on a sheet of plywood. I loved to watch the train go around its long loop.
Perhaps becuase of this memory, I've harbored a wish for a model train for years, but I never acted on it until a couple of weeks ago when we were visiting our dear friend & ex-Alice in Wonder Band singer Deadre Chase in her fabric shop in McCall. In addition to her beautiful hand-painted fabrics, she always has some used knick-knacks on hand, & that week, she had an N-scale model train set for a price that couldn’t be beat. As a result, I am now the proud owner of said set as an early Christmas present (Eberle also got an early present that one or both of us will write about soon).
So this month’s song series combines two loves: blues music & railroads! I’ll be going into a bit more depth on the songs, especially in terms of railroad lore suggested by the lyrics, so I’ll only write up three songs per post. The posts will come each Wednesday, as well as Friday the 11th & Christmas morning!
& there’s a bonus this week—I’ll be writing about Tommy Johnson’s “Cool Drink of Water,” on Just a Song—the post should be up by mid morning here in western US time. It's not only about trains; it’s one of the most haunting blues songs I know. But in the meantime, hope you enjoy these.
B & O BLUES: The B&O is the Baltimore & Ohio, one of the earliest U.S. lines, with the first section opening in 1830. It’s also represented in the game Monopoly (between Illinois & Atlantic Avenues), despite the fact that the B&O didn’t service Atlantic City. In fact the railroad ran from New York to St Louis, tho its headquarters were in Baltimore; the B&O also had branch lines that serviced Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland & Chicago. How a song about this rail line became so associated with Georgia blues singers is anyone’s guess; some attribute the song’s composition to the great Blind Willie McTell, who recorded it during a 1933 session in New York City; another Georgia bluesman, Buddy Moss, also recorded it in 1933; that’s the version in the accompanying video. Interstingly, there’s another song called “The B&O Blues” by yet another Georgia blues musician, Bumble Bee Slim, but this has a different melody & different lyrics. Blind Willie McTell:The Best of Blind Willie McTell (Yazoo); Buddy Moss:Complete Recordings, Vol. 2: 1933-1934 (Document)
BAD LUCK BLUES: Blind Lemon Jefferson catalogs a host of woes in “Bad Luck Blues”—he lost his money at cards, his “some joker” stole off with his “long-haired gal,” & he hasn’t seen his “sugar in three long weeks.” In the midst of this there are a couple of verses in which Blind Lemon sings about catching the Santa Fe (pronounced “Fee,” as is often the case in traditional music), while his “sugar” will catch the Katy. Of course, these are both train lines. The Santa Fe, also known as the Atcheson, Topeka & the Santa Fe (in yet another song) is another old line, with its charter dating to 1859. From the Texas shores of the Gulf of Mexico, the train worked its way up across Oklahoma & Kansas & into Colorado. The Katy is the standard slang for the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad, in the past often referred to as the K-T, & by extension, as the Katy. This train line also comes up in the great Yank Rachell song, “She Caught the Katy (& Left Me a Mule to Ride”), popularized by both Taj Mahal & the Blues Brothers. The Katy also began its ride northward from Texas’ Gulf Coast, but it turned eastward, travelling thru eastern Oklahoma & Kansas, & on to Missouri. Sounds like Blind Lemon & his sugar are going in different directions! Blind Lemon Jefferson:Blind Lemon Jefferson (Milestone)
BROKE DOWN ENGINE: We hear about driving wheels in a number of traditional songs—specifically, about locomotives that have no driving wheel. But what is the train engines driving wheel? Actually, it’s always plural, of course, since you have to have an even number of wheels with two per axle. The driving wheels are the large wheels you see on a locomotive—on old passenger trains the driving wheels could be up to 100 inches in diameter, with driving wheels on freight trains topping off at around 60 inches in diameter. According to the pithy Wikipedia definition:
On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive)….On Diesel and Electric locomotives the driving wheels may be directly driven by the traction motors.
The driving wheels are connected to the pistons by a series of roads, tho the diesel & electric locomotives often have separate motors for each driving wheel. Let’s put it this way: if the locomotive has a lost or broken driving wheel, it’s not going anywhere—& in Blind Willie’s case, to add insult to injury, he “ain't got no whistle or bell.” Blind Willie McTell:The Best of Blind Willie McTell (Yazoo)
This is it, folks—the final installment of Train Songs. If you want to see the others, check out this link to Train Songs 4, which in turn links to Train Songs 3, which links to the first & second installments. Got that? As in the case of last week’s post, I’m only providing info links for those musicians who haven’t come up in previous Train Songs’ installments.
Take the “A” Train: Duke Ellington; Bob Wills – Of course lots of people have covered this wonderful Billy Strayhorn tune, but Ellington & Wills seemed like antipodes of sorts. You really ought to know the composer, Billy Strayhorn; if you don’t, you really ought to look him up—here’s a place to start. In addition to “Take the ‘A’ Train” (the Ellington band’s theme song), Strayhorn wrote such standards as “Chelsea Bridge,” “Lush Life,” “Day Dream, & “Something to Live For.” Bob Wills, on the other hand, was the goofy but talented fiddler & bandleader of Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys, who are just about it when you talk about western swing. Although western swing & big band jazz sound different, there are actually quite a few underlying similarities—ensembles such as the Texas Playboys were modeled on the big bands, so it’s not surprising there was some crossover in repertoire. One connection: the rhythm guitar styles for both kinds are music involve straight rhythm, heavy damping, & lots of bass movement. Talkin’ Casey: Mississippi John Hurt: This song, which can be heard on Vanguard’s The Best of Mississippi John Hurt, recorded live at Oberlin College in 1966, is must listening. Hurt’s slide guitar really does talk, & become a train, & moan, etc; it’s just uncanny—also amazing call & response between singer & guitar. Texas 1947: Guy Clark – This fellow sure can write songs, & he also performs his own material really nicely. “Texas 1947” is the story of the first “fast rolling streamline” train to come thru Clark’s area in Texas when he was 6 years old. With his usual knack for detail, he tells how he “laid a nickel” on the track right before the train sped thru, & then later treasured that same nickel, now “smashed flatter than a dime by a mad-dog, runaway red-silver streamline train.” You can hear “Texas 1947 on either Clark’s 1975 Old No. 1 album or on The Essential Guy Clark. Train On the Island: Hazel & Alice – “Train on the Island” is of course, a bluegrass/old-time standard, & it’s been performed by scads of people. But I mention Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard because they’re both incredible musicians who don’t get the recognition they deserve. You can hear their take on “Train on the Island” on the Pioneering Women of Bluegrass release. In many ways, it’s the bluegrass album I like best; actually, both Eberle & I have some misgivings about the bluegrass genre as it comes down from Bill Monroe, & I think those misgivings are similar. Bluegrass is a virtuosic kind of music, & sometimes it seems perhaps too much about the virtuosity, & how many notes someone can pick, & too little about the song; another way to say this is it can be difficult to bring that sort of technical excellence & compelling emotional content to bear on a song at the same time. Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard never seem to fall into this—while they’re both highly skilled musicians, there’s always a powerful underlying emotional content informing their singing & playing. The Train That Carried My Girl From Town: Doc Watson – I only know this song from Doc’s version, which can be heard on Vanguard’s The Essential Doc Watson or on Doc Watson in Nashville: Good Deal! As he is wont to do, Doc really cooks on this upbeat song about desperate rounders. Wabash Cannonball: Carter Family; Roy Acuff - & practically everyone else who ever played any old-time country music. This is a 19th century song, which may have been written by one J.A. Roff. The fact that the song was copyrighted to A.P. Carter in the late 1920s simply had to do with RCA Victor’s practice of claiming copyright on old tunes by ascribing them to folks they had under recording contract. There is 1882 sheet music for “The Wabash Cannonball.” Although the train named in the song was fictional, the Wabash Railroad named its express run between Detroit and St. Louis the Wabash Cannonball to cash in on the tune’s popularity. Waiting For a Train: Jimmie Rogers – One of “The Singing Brakeman’s” best known songs, “Waiting for a Train” sums up the romanticized hobo life as well as any old time tune. Like a number of his songs, “Waiting for a Train” has a fun chord progression; it’s a bit “meatier” than the run of the mill 3-chord country song; & of course, as in many of “The Singing Brakeman’s” tunes, there’s good opportunity for yodeling. White House Blues: Charlie Poole - & lots of other banjo pickers, both of the clawhammer & the bluegrass sort (& assorted sorts in between). For those of you don’t know (& also for those of you who do) “The White House Blues” tells the story of the McKinley assassination, tho it’s a very upbeat song, with some rather wry lyrics (e.g., “Roosevelt’s in the White House doin’ his best, McKinley’s in the graveyard takin’ his rest”) so it makes you wonder how the original songwriter felt about McKinley. “The White House Blues” uses the same tune as another oldtime song, “The Battleship Maine”—which is also a tongue-in-cheek song about the Spanish-American War. Charlie Poole was a fantastic banjoist & singer from the real old-time days (the teens & 20’s), performing with his North Carolina Ramblers trio (guitarist was Norman Woodlief & later Roy Harvey; fiddlers included Posey Rorer, Lonnie Austin and Odell Smith). Wreck of the Old 97: Flatt & Scruggs; Lipsey Mt Spring Band – We wind it all up with another old chestnut that’s been covered by everybody & his brother, as they say. I mention Flatt & Scruggs because they do one of the best straight bluegrass versions; I mention my old pals the Lipsey Mt Spring Band because they may well have done the wackiest version ever on their Cayman Cowboy album—after playing the song at the standard fast clip, they come to a crashing (as it were) halt, & then plod at about the slowest tempo possible thru “He was going down the grade doing 90 miles an hour when the whistle broke in to a scream; they found him in the wreck with his hand on the throttle; he was scalded to death by the steam.” Then they pick it back up right thru to the finish. Also, no doubt the Lipseys were one of the few bands to feature steel drum & pennywhistle on this number.
It’s been fun for me to think about these songs; hope you’ve enjoyed it too. I’m thinking of some categories I may explore down the road; will keep you posted. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Finally, the pic just below is Jimmie Rodgers & the Carter Family.
Moving from the sublime of the historic election to a fictive railroad station filled with guitars, here’s the penultimate Train Songs list. If you’d like to see earlier lists, you can go to Train Songs #3 here, & also find links to #1 & #2. This list, as well as next week’s final list, are both a bit shorter than the first three. I’ve only included links for those musicians who haven’t appeared before in the Train Songs Series.
Enjoy, & don’t be shy about letting me know if there are train songs you like that you haven’t seen—you’ve seen almost all the list now. · People Get Ready: Curtis Mayfield – The moving R&B anthem by the great Curtis Mayfield, & always primarily associated with his band the Impressions. Mayfield was one of those real innovators who is less known widely known than he should be, both for his songwriting & his guitar playing. Most folks know Mayfield—or should—for his Super Fly soundtrack. You can hear the Impressions perform “People get Ready” on YouTube here; you can also hear a 1989 version done by Mayfield here. “People Get Ready” has been covered by everybody from Bob Dylan & Eva Cassidy to Aretha Franklin & Al Green: “People get ready, there’s a train a-comin’….” A real song of hope & redemption. It seems fitting to kick off the list with this song after yesterday’s election…. · Queen of the Rails: Utah Phillips – A wonderful tearjerker about a hobo & his dog. The melody moves along at a delightfully perk clip while the lyrics tell a tale of companionship & loneliness—maybe all stories about companionship ultimately are about loneliness. Sometimes I find the combination of upbeat melody & sad lyrics annoying; here it seems exactly right. By the by, that’s Utah in the pic below. · Ramblin' Man: Hank Williams – About as much existential angst as you can pack into a two-chord song. Hank’s tale of the drifter has a chugging rhythm, his characteristic sliding into pitches, the inimitable haunted vocal quality: there’s also some great steel guitar backing this all up. My folks used to have this on a 78, & I can remember listening to it when I was just a wee lad. · Rock Island Line: Leadbelly; Johnny Cash; Odetta & Larry – One thing these singers have in common (other than Larry, the banjoist with Odetta): they all have big voices that can send chills up your spine. Odetta actually may be the most capable of that, which is saying a lot given how the other two can sing. For those who don’t know, Odetta has been a folk singer for about 50 years, & has one of the most remarkable singing voices you will ever hear. Larry (Larry Mohr) plays some nice banjo while accompanying Odetta on Odetta & Larry (recorded live in 1954 at San Francisco’s The Tin Angel), but his voice is pretty run of the mill & suffers in comparison with hers—but then, so would most people’s voices. The song, which is about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, was first recorded by Leadbelly in the 30s. · Sentimental Journey: Les Brown – A big band standard, covered by lots of ensembles & lots of singers, notably Doris Day, for whom it was a #1 hit in 1945. If Doris’ vocal stylings don’t float your boat, you might try the more sophisticated (to my ear) Rosemary Clooney from her 2001 Sentimental Journey album. This tune is lots of fun to play, with the quick chromatic chord changes. Of course, there’s also the 1946 tearjerker film of the same name, starring Maureen O’Hara (& with this song as its theme), not to mention the completely unrelated but hilarious 18th century novel by Laurence Sterne. · She Caught the Katy: Taj Mahal – Taj Mahal is not only an extremely gifted singer & guitar player (both your standard issue & resonator—a National, natch’—& also talented on banjo, harmonica, piano, etc), he’s also a walking encyclopedia of blues & old-time music. I know his version of this song from a vinyl copy of his 1968 Natch’l Blues; it’s available on cd for you folks who came late to the party. The Katy was the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad (Kansas-Texas=Katy), founded in 1870. It figures in another blues song, Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “Bad Luck Blues,” & also lent its name to Katy, TX, a Houston suburb, & to the Katy freeway. · Shuffle Off To Buffalo: Roy Smeck; Ginger Rogers, Una Merkel et al – Great Harry Warren song from 42nd Street, with lyrics by Al Dubin that are delightfully naughty in a goofy 1930’s sort of way. Speaking of delightful (not to mention delightfully fetching) check out Ginger Rogers & Una Merkel during the big production number of this tune in the 1933 film version. Another great version of this song—not to mention a completely whacky one, is by the “Wizard of the Strings,” Roy Smeck. Smeck’s playing steel guitar, & along with his usually great solo work, he also transmogrifies the instrument into something like a hybrid of a train whistle & a wolf whistle. · Spikedriver Blues: Mississippi John Hurt; Doc Watson – Another fingerpicking classic, with top-notch versions done by both Mississippi John Hurt & Doc Watson. Hurt is what it’s all about for me when I think of that old time blues fingerpicking style. Everything about Hurt seemed relaxed—his playing, his warm, rich singing. Along with Reverend Gary Davis & a few others, Hurt really brought this style to the attention of the folkies—& we can be grateful for that, because his music is still available. He’d actually given up any thought of a recording career during the Depression; it wasn’t until the folkies traveled to Avalon, MS (they looked for him there based on his song “Avalon Blues”) & convinced Hurt they weren’t FBI agents that his career started back up in 1963, when he was around 70 years old. · Starlight on the Rails: Utah Phillips - A quiet & beautiful Utah Phillips tune from his Good Though! album. It’s another song about loneliness, about the compulsion to be on the road & apart, & the losses that entails. Utah’s gets great back-up singing on this from Jane Voss. “Each year is like some rolling freight train, & cold as starlight on the rails.”
Here’s installment three (of five) of the "Train Songs" series. If you missed them, you can find installments one & two here & here. Again, I’d love to hear about any train songs you like either in comments or by email.
· King of the Road:Roger Miller; R.E.M.– OK, this is both an obvious choice & a bit of a goofy song. But like many of Miller’s big 60s hits, it’s infectious, & fun to play. R.E.M. did a very boozy version of this on their Dead Letter Officealbum; you really do have to be at least a bit snookered to get lost in such a simple set of chord changes, but I always got a kick out of this version. This song’s been covered by lots of folks. · The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore:Jean Ritchie— (check out her own website, too, here); Michelle Shocked; Johnny Cash - From the ridiculous to the sublime—this is one of the songs Jean Ritchie wrote under the pseudonym of Than Hall. “The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore” is a moving song about a town in economic crisis as the coal mines close, & the train that used to carry the coal now just rolls past—the coal cars now are “standing rusty, rollin’ empty.” Ritchie has a great feel for the devastation that takes place when an industry leaves an area, even as she acknowledges the serious problems associated with natural resource industries (for instance, in her song “Black Water”). Both Michelle Shocked & Johnny Cash have done solid covers of this beautiful minor scale tune. · Life Is Like A Mountain Railroad:The Carter Family; Bill Monroe– The definitive country gospel train-as-metaphor-for-life song; it’s been covered by lots of folks—the Carters & Monroe are simply among the best known (& among the best musicians). The song was written in the 19th century by Charles Tillman; the lyric is by a Baptist preacher named M.E. Abbey, who wrote the words in 1890. It’s also frequently called “Life’s Railway to Heaven.” I like it best at a slow to moderate tempo, but some bluegrass folks speed it up. · Love In Vain:Robert Johnson – with all deference to the Rolling Stones, who do a credible cover of this tune, “Love in Vain” is a Robert Johnson song, period, end of sentence. Johnson's guitar playing & vocals are the very essence of delta blues. · Midnight Special:Lead Belly – An interesting figure, Lead Belly—magnificent singer, & that big-voiced 12-string.... He was associated a lot with Seeger & the Weavers, etc., but he was way bluesier & edgier than the folkies—just listen to “Poor Howard” or the “Bourgeois Blues.” When Lead Belly wrote about prison, as in “Midnight Special,” (similar in theme to “Folsom Prison Blues”) he wrote the hard way, from first-hand experience. There’s a pic of Lead Belly at the bottom of this post. · Mystery Train: Elvis Presley – OK, Elvis lovers, this is the one time the King makes it on the list. I’m actually a real fan of the rockabilly sides Presley did for Sun records, “Mystery Train” among them. · Night Train:James Brown – “The hardest working man in show business” could take a song apart every which way, make it his own, & of course get folks dancing—for my money about the greatest thing that can happen when performing music. James Brown was blessed with a powerful & exquisitely emotive voice & energy & dance moves to match; & I’m always blown away by the backing he got from his bands. If I had it all to do over again, one part of me would love to play bass or rhythm guitar in an R&B band. · Nine Pound Hammer:Merle Travis – When you have a style of guitar playing named after you, you can be pretty sure you were darned good. What goes by the name of “Travis picking” is actually a bit different than what Merle actually played, but it sure is fun; & it’s always fun & instructive to listen to Travis. This song has been done by lots of other folks, but it’s closely associated with the master country fingerpicker. · Old Buddy, Goodnight:Utah Phillips - Recorded on his Good Though! album, “Old Buddy, Goodnight” is one of my favorites among Utah’s many wonderful songs. A heart-wrenching tale of loneliness, about hobos finding a dead & unknown hobo in a boxcar; the most memorable line: “There’s some thing’s worse than dying alone; one of them’s living that way.” · On the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe:Tommy Dorsey; Johnny Mercer – a fun swing tune that’s been covered by lots of big bands, etc. Mercer could really get folksy when the lyric called for it, but always in a slyly sophisticated way—music by the great Harry Warren of 42nd Street fame. · One More Mile: Jean Ritchie – Another of Ritchie’s Than Hall songs. Ritchie has said she adopted the Than Hall pen name because she didn’t believe her compositions would be taken seriously under a woman’s name. There’s no question that Ritchie is an extremely talented composer, & it’s a shame this isn’t more widely recognized in old-time & country music circles. This song explores loneliness & isolation in married life thru the story of a railroad man who’s always abandoning his wife & child to go “one more mile.” · Orange Blossom Special: Johnny Cash; Flatt & Scruggs – This song is associated with Cash, perhaps because of his version on the At Folsom Prison album, but of course it’s a traditional bluegrass tune that’s covered by folks you’ve heard of & folks you never will, & everyone (bluegrass-wise) in between. These days it seems de rigueur to interpolate “The Flintstones Theme” into “Orange Blossom Special,” which is kind of fun. An odd jazz connection there: “The Flintstones Theme” is based on “rhythm changes,” the chord changes to Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm,” which underlie so many jazz compositions. So when “The Flintstones” make their way into “Orange Blossom Special,” this old country tune becomes a kissing cousin to bebop standards like Monk’s “Rhythm-A-Ning,” Parker’s “Moose the Mooch” (actually, a number of Parker’s tunes) & Gillespie’s “Salt Peanuts.”
Two more installments in the "Train Songs" seriesstill to come...
Last Wednesday we looked at the first dozen train songs in a list I put together. Today we’re looking at a dozen more. Hope you enjoy reading the list, & thinking about it; if you have any train song ideas, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or drop me an email.
· Engine 143:The Carter Family; Townes Van Zandt (under the title “FFV”) - the Carter Family from the Virginia hills have as much to do with the beginnings of country music as anyone, Jimmie Rodgers included. Their rugged & sincere vocals, Mother Maybelle Carter’s magnificent guitar playing (for which a whole style of guitar playing is named), the combination of musical sentimentality & stoicism all distinguish their style. Townes Van Zandt, a personal favorite did a version of this song on his 1971 Delta Mama Blues album. Steve Earle said Townes Van Zandt was “the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.” Van Zandt’s response reportedly was, “I've met Bob Dylan and his bodyguards, and I don't think Steve could get anywhere near his coffee table.” · Fireball Mail:Roy Acuff; Flatt & Scruggs – A fun up tempo number popularized by another of country’s old-time greats, Roy Acuff—also a major performer on the stage of Nashville’s Grand Ol’ Opry from the 30’s on, & a big part of its success. Everyone who’s watched The Beverly Hillbilliesknows Flatt & Scruggs (& isn’t that everyone? Pretty much the best TV show ever…); it would be near impossible to overstate their contributions to bluegrass music. Scruggs popularized what’s now known as “Scruggs picking” on the banjo, playing syncopated melodic rolls so the banjo could join the fiddle & mandolin as lead instruments; Flatt was a talented singer & a rock-solid rhythm guitar player—it’s mind boggling to think he was playing with a thumbpick & a fingerpick (like Mother Maybelle Carter) rather than with a flatpick as would be typical these days. Flatt also is credited with “the Flatt Run,” a tag or riff often used to either kick off or end bluegrass tunes. · Folsom Prison Blues: Johnny Cash – The best country songs seem to come from no specific time; they feel & sound as though they could have been written any time within the last 100 years. That’s the case with "Folsom Prison Blues," an obvious choice for the list, but one that’s impossible to overlook. I only saw “the Man in Black” live once—oddly (talking about this song), that was in Reno. Cash had as much stage presence as any performer I’ve ever seen. · Freight Train Blues: Roy Acuff; Ramblin’ Jack Elliott - Another fun number popularized by Roy Acuff. Ramblin’ Jack Elliott did a high-spirited cover of this on his Kerouac’s Last Dream album. Ramblin’ Jack is an original—for all his cowboy persona, he's a smallish guy from back east, who got his name not from hoboing, but because he has a reputation for garrulousness. Whatever—Ramblin' Jack is the real deal, a fine guitar player & an energetic singer who really knows how to live inside a song. · Freight Train:Elizabeth Cotton - & every guitar picker who’s ever tried to finger pick. It’s the first finger picking song many of us learn—few if any do it as well as Cotton. An interesting fact: Cotton was left handed, & she turned the guitar upside down so her thumb was playing the high strings & her index finger played the bass notes. It’s a bit like a style of old-time banjo playing (which often uses the thumb for melody, & Cotton also played the banjo), but then not really, since the banjo has a high-pitched drone string. Cotton was a guitar player of the first order—rags, blues, gospel, she could play them all. That's Elizabeth Cotton in the pic below. · Frisco Road:Utah Phillips – Utah could sing about trains, no doubt. His Good Though! album is as fine a collection of train songs as you’ll find. This song alternates between the exhilaration a hobo feels at riding the rails & the loneliness he feels from having no attachments. · Hear My Train a Comin': Jimi Hendrix – Waaaay back when, in my misguided & often chemically addled youth, I was a Hendrix fan. No doubt about it, the man could play the guitar, & was a much better singer than he’s given credit for. Yeah, I have a problem with the dead rock star legend stuff, I’ll admit it. But this is a hot track with great call & response between voice & guitar, & is worth a listen. · Hobo's Meditation:Jimmie Rogers – Only time Jimmie appears on this week’s list; this also was covered by Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt on the Trio album. I really like this song—a sad waltz with a chord progression that moves around just enough to make it interesting—“Will there be any freight trains in heaven” indeed…. · I Heard That Lonesome Whistle Blow: Hank Williams- When I say Hank Williams, I don’t mean Jr. or III—I mean the Hank Williams. This is one of those deceptively simple songs—fun to play & sing in a jam session, easy to follow along. Lots of folks do it: Townes Van Zandt, Johnny Cash et al. Our good pal & Spurs of the Moment bandmate Chris Leone does a nice version of this—I’ve been known to croak the song out, too. But no matter how good or bad the singer may be, I’ve never heard anyone who can make your hair stand on end singing this song like Hank could. · I’m Movin’ On:Hank Snow – This was a big hit for the “Singing Ranger” in 1950. Snow is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, though perhaps not as well known anymore as some of the other honky tonk country singers of his day. “I’m Movin’ On” has got that great “train movement” rhythm, but my personal favorite Snow song (& one of my all-time favorite country songs) is “Yellow Roses.” · If Love was a Train:Michelle Shocked – Michelle Shocked has always had a great spirit in her playing & singing, & it really comes across in this up tempo number from her Short, Sharp, Shocked album. “If Love Was a Train” was an unlikely chart hit in 1988, getting lots of play on college radio stations. · It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry: Bob Dylan – Some folk love him, some folks don’t; some musicians I really respect have little use for Bob, but I still think he’s a first-rate songwriter. This is a pseudo blues from the great Highway 61 Revisited (I say “pseudo” because it doesn’t follow a normal blues chord progression)—the lyrics, as often with the best of Dylan, exist in a world somewhere between the traditional & the surreal. Dylan himself said of the Highway 61 Revisited album, "I'm not gonna be able to make a record better than that one... Highway 61 is just too good. There's a lot of stuff on there that I would listen to." Some dynamite back-up musicians on the album, like Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper, just to name two.
Hey kids, a new series for your reading pleasure! I’ve been obsessed with train songs for years—maybe since I used to listen to my parents’ 78 of Hank Williams singing “Ramblin’ Man” as a 5-year-old; not sure that much existential angst is good for a developing mind, but anyhoo….
So I found a list of train songs on the web—it’s a loooong & fairly complete list, though oddly its compiler claims not to know most of the songs—makes you kinda wonder why he put the list together…. But I’m glad he did, because it got me thinking about the train songs I like the best, so then I compiled a list, & it also was long, but not as long as the original. So I’m dishing my list out in sections of around 10-12 songs per installment, with commentary. Please feel free to comment or drop me a line about any train songs you especially love. The lists will appear in alphabetical order, simply because that’s the way I’m wired.
Enjoy! · Ben Dewberry's Last Ride: Jimmie Rodgers – Of course you have to start off with the “Singing Brakeman,” the father of country music. Rodgers is interesting for lots of reasons, not least of which he being that his career was back in the day when the radio-ready music genres weren’t really well defined—so, for instance, Rodgers played with Louis Armstrong & Lil Hardin, while also being a “country” star. Plus, there’s occasionally uke on his records, which you don’t hear a lot in country music anymore. As far as Ben Dewberry's Last Ride goes—well, train travel isn’t 100% safe…. · Blue Railroad Train: The Delmore Brothers, Doc Watson – The Delmore Brothers (Alton & Rabon) were one of those great old duet acts like the Blue Sky Boys & the later Louvin Brothers. The Delmores often added a “bluesy” sound to their tunes—another great example of this is The Brown’s Ferry Blues, which is also great fun to play clawhammer style on the banjo. Another great fact about the Delmores: Rabon’s instrument was the tenor guitar. As far as Doc Watson goes, between singing & instrumental ability (on either guitar or banjo), he’s about the best old-time musician around. · Blue Yodel No. 5: Jimmie Rodgers – More Jimmie Rodgers, who often worked with straightforward 12-bar blues progressions, as in this tune. An interesting tidbit about Roberts: he played almost exclusively in the keys of C & G, & either capoed up or occasionally tuned down his guitar to fit his singing range. He composed several “Blue Yodels,” the most famous one being “Blue Yodel No. 1,” or “T for Texas.” As far as the “blue” part goes, these tunes were more or less 12-bar blues in their structure—as far as “yodel” goes, Jimmie loved to do it, did it well, & used it a lot as a transition point in his songs. Blue Yodel No. 5 is also intriguing for using of ending with the following statement (after singing a blues song): “Makes no diff’rence what I need, I’ll never sing the blues.” · The Brakeman’s Blues: Jimmie Rodgers – Hang in there, folks—the list isn’t all Jimmie Rodgers. The point of this tune is that all places are the same to a man who’s working on the railroad. · Cannonball Blues: A beautiful old Carter Family tune, also covered by Utah Phillips as one of those songs where he sings a verse & then launches into one of his trademark hilarious monologues on everything from the Old West to politics. When A.P. Carter sings “Baby’s gone, she’s solid gone,” there’s something heartbreaking in his matter-of-fact voice. · Chattanooga Choo Choo: Glen Miller - & you thought they were all going to be country songs. I love this tune, & Eberle & I have played it in our Five & Dime Jazz incarnation. She came up with a whacked-out melodica train whistle part, & I just change chords as fast as my fingers can go on the tenor guitar. · Choo Choo Ch’Boogie: Louis Jordan, a wild genius who could really swing, & may have invented rock & roll along the way (Chuck Berry counted Jordan as a hero & influence). His version of Choo Choo Ch’Boogie stayed on top of Billboard’s R&B charts for 18 weeks. Asleep at the Wheel did a great version of this song, too—this is quintessential hobo swing. · City of New Orleans: OK, an obvious choice, but Steve Goodman’s song is great—fun, moving, hummable. Too bad it got picked up as the theme for a morning talk show, but what can you do? The Arlo Guthrie version is great, & so’s the Willie Nelson version—but lots of folks have covered this one. · Daddy, What's a Train?: Utah Phillips - Kind of related to “City of New Orleans” in an odd way—both songs are about the “disappearing railroad blues.” Phillips’ song laments—in a very light-hearted way—how kids are no longer enchanted by trains, & by extension, how they have no cultural memory. One of Utah’s most profound insights: “The past didn’t go anywhere, did it?” · Desperadoes Waiting for a Train: Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker – What a glorious & sad song—the kid & the surrogate father; a tale of bonding & loss written by the fantastic songwriter, Guy Clark. I saw Guy Clark at Yoshi’s in Oakland (a jazz club of all places), & he said this is a true story. I love to play & sing this myself, & also to hear Clark or Jerry Jeff perform it. · Down There By the Train: Johnny Cash – Cash does a killer version of this on his first American Songs album; a haunting song about redemption, actually written by Tom Waits. I don’t believe Waits has ever recorded this. · Driver 8: R.E.M. – Yeah, there’ll be a few rockers thrown in. I was a huge R.E.M. fan back in the Charlottesville days—lots of folks (& especially many of the pretty gals) were. But R.E.M. had a great energy, & they put Athens, GA on the map. Of course, though I’ve heard this song hundreds of times (not recently, I admit), I don’t really know what it’s about, except there’s definitely a train in it—a combination of the surreal lyrics & the fact that although Michael Stipe has many strengths as a singer, enunciation is not one of them.
