CASEY JONES
The New Christy Minstrels
The "brave engineer" Casey Jones was, of course, a
real-life figure. A handsome, robust Irishman, he became an engineer in his
mid-twenties. His run was on the Cannonball Express traveling between Memphis,
Tennessee and Canton, Mississippi. In the early morning of April 30, 1906, about
ten miles north of Canton, Casey and his fireman, Sim Webb, roared around an
S-curve right into the rear of another train.
NINE HUNDRED MILES
The New Christy Minstrels
Nine hundred miles or ten thousand miles, enormous distances
seemed to fascinate the originators of railroad songs. A possible explanation
is that vast expanses symbolized freedom.
FREIGHT TRAIN BLUES
Bob Dylan
A sad song, this ballad first gamed immortality in a version
recorded by Roy Acuff.
ROCK ISLAND LINE
Johnny Horton
A ballad of great power, this song is known far and wide for
its vivid imagery and rhythmic urgency.
CANNONBALL BLUES
Flatt and Scruggs
This is a moving classic by the founder of the great Carter
family of folk music performers, A. P. Carter.
THIS TRAIN
Percy Faith
Ever since the first locomotive whistle sounded in the air of
the South and the awesome engine thundered down the rails snorting steam and
fire, the righteous have often pictured the vehicle to Heaven to be in the form
of a Glory Train.
I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THE RAILROAD
Pete Seeger
At one time this nineteenth-century ditty had been "I've
Been Working on the Levee."
NIGHT TRAIN TO MEMPHIS
"Little" Jimmy Dickens
A great train-moving center, Memphis figures prominently in
many songs of the golden age of railroading.
JOHN HENRY
Flatt and Scruggs
This is one of the most celebrated of all songs. A steel-driver
in West Virginia nearly a hundred years ago, John Henry one day pitted his own
sweat and muscle against the newer, faster steam drill. He won, but the exertion
cost him his life.
WABASH CANNON BALL
The Carter Family, with special guest Johnny Cash
This is a so-called hobo ballad. It concerns the fantastic size,
fabulous speed and legendary fate of an imaginary train. A hobo's "dream
train," in fact.
WRECK OF THE OLD '97
Johnny Cash
This version of the beloved ballad concludes with the sobering
moral: "Never speak harsh words to your true-lovin' husband; he may leave
you and never return."
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL
The Skifflers
This is a train that goes through eastern Texas, close by the
prison farms at Sugarland. It stands, of course, for any train that runs near
any prison farm.