Tag: Train Songs

Will I See You Tonight?

May 11, 2020 / C R Burgan

“Outside another yellow moon
Has punched a hole in the nighttime, yes
I climb through the window and down to the street
I’m shining like a new dime” – Downtown Train (Tom Waits) © Audiam, Inc

Thomas Alan Waits was born December 7, 1949, in Pomona, California. He has one older sister and one younger sister. Tom’s mother was a housewife and attended church regularly; his father taught Spanish at a local school and was an alcoholic. He spent his early life in Whittier, California, where he learned to play bugle and guitar. His father taught him to play the ukulele.

During summer school breaks young Tom would spend time with his maternal grandparents in Northern California. Later he would credit his uncle’s raspy, gravelly voice for inspiring what has become his trademark singing style.

When Tom was 10 years old, his parents separated with his father moving away from the family; his mother soon moved with the children to Chula Vista, a suburb of San Diego. It was here that Tom began exploring music to a greater degree. Before long he was fronting bands, imitating the soul and R&B artists of the day, while also showing interest in country music and roots rock ‘n’ roll. Later Bob Dylan would become a big influence with Tom studying the folk icon’s lyrics by writing them on his bedroom wall.

During his high school years Tom would later describe himself as “kind of an amateur juvenile delinquent”, dabbling in “malicious mischief”. He claims he was a “rebel against the rebels”, as he could not subscribe to the philosophies of the hippie subculture that was emerging across the country. Having acquired instead an affinity for the writings of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, he felt a much stronger kinship to the Beat generation of the 1950s.

At the age of 18 Tom dropped out of high school.

“The downtown trains are full
Full of all those Brooklyn girls
They try so hard to break out of their little worlds” – Downtown Train (Tom Waits)

Waits worked for a time at Napoleone’s pizza restaurant in National City, California; a job that he referenced in his song, “I Can’t Wait to Get Off Work”, and as a solo artist he was soon playing local folk venues and coffeehouses, eventually supporting acts such as Tim Buckley, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and his friend Jack Tempchin. But knowing that playing in San Diego would only ever take him so far, he began driving up the coast to Los Angeles, to play at the Troubadour.

It was while playing at the Troubadour that Tom would first sign a publishing deal, and later would meet David Geffen, who gave Tom a contract with his Asylum Records label.

David Geffen © Joel Bernstein
Asylum Records

“Well, you wave your hand and they scatter like crows
They have nothing that will ever capture your heart
They’re just thorns without the rose
Be careful of them in the dark” – Downtown Train (Tom Waits)

The first time I saw Tom Waits perform, or ever even heard of him for that matter, was on The Mike Douglas Show. Mike Douglas was a former singer who had sung for the Kay Kyser big band during the swing era, and was also the singing voice of Prince Charming in Walt Disney’s Cinderella. He went on to host his own syndicated afternoon variety show. At its peak The Mike Douglas Show was broadcast in 171 markets, with an estimated six million viewers.

Waits appeared on Douglas’ show on November 19, 1976. His appearance was to promote his album, Small Change, which had been released several months earlier. After being introduced by the host, Waits played “Eggs & Sausage” from his previous album, Night Hawks at the Diner, accompanied by a small combo. He then took a seat next to Douglas, with additional guests Glenda Jackson and Marvin Hamlisch looking on.

After telling his guest that he “project(s) a very strange image”, Douglas asks Waits how he would describe himself. Among other things Waits offers, “I’m an unemployed service station attendant most of the time. I’m just lucky. I’m a living, breathing example of success without college, is what it boils down to.” Further along in the interview Douglas asks Waits whether he likes to be classified as a poet or singer, to which he replies, “I’m a Methodist deep down inside. It’s hard to say”.

Later in the show, Waits performs the title track from Small Change accompanied by a saxophone. If you’ve never heard this “song” I suggest you look it up. It will help you understand how jarring this performance was to my early teen Top 40 sensibilities.

“I know your window and I know it’s late
I know your stairs and your doorway
I walk down your street and past your gate
I stand by the light at the four-way” – Downtown Train (Tom Waits)

To say that Tom Waits’ voice and music are an acquired taste is probably somewhat of an understatement. Many people will never get that far. It wasn’t until more than a decade after my initial exposure that I came to appreciate his talents as a songwriter, if not as a bona vox.

Although Waits rarely gives interviews, when he does sit with a writer it’s typically questionable whether you’re getting the man or his carefully crafted shtick. Because I admire Tom Waits’ songwriting ability, I’ve always been curious how he feels about other artists recording his compositions. It’s easy to say that many of Tom’s songs would be improved when rendered by a friendlier voice, although that may seem blasphemous to Waits purists.

Surely the exposure that he has received from having his songs recorded by others has not hurt his career any. Using as an example “Ol’ ’55”, the first track from his debut album Closing Time, which was subsequently recorded by The Eagles: Waits version of his song was released as a single, but neither the song, nor the album charted; while The Eagles album On the Border, which contained their version of Waits’ song, reached #17 on the Billboard 200 chart, and was certified double platinum, with sales of 2 million units.

When asked about The Eagles recording of “Ol’ ’55” Waits commented that he was “not that particularly crazy about (their) rendition of it … I thought their version was a little antiseptic”.

Later he would remark, “I don’t like the Eagles. They’re about as exciting as watching paint dry. Their albums are good for keeping the dust off your turntable and that’s about all.”

Tom is certainly entitled to his opinion, but there is no doubt that other artists – respected by him, or otherwise – have generated a significant amount of income for the prolific songwriter.

“You watch them as the fall
Oh baby, they all have heart attacks
They stay at the carnival
But they’ll never win you back” – Downtown Train (Tom Waits)

“Downtown Train” is a song from Waits’ 1985 album release Rain Dogs. The album was written and recorded while he was making his home in NYC, and there is no denying the New York grittiness inherent in each of the album’s selections. The lyrics of the song conjure a damp, shadowy urban nightscape, punctuated by the glare and roar of a night train, where the narrator waits to have his desperate desire and longing fulfilled by a perception that may be nothing more than an implausible apparition. But still he waits and asks the same question over and over.

“Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
Every night it’s just the same
You leave me lonely, now” – Downtown Train (Tom Waits)

“Downtown Train” soon drew the attention of other artists. Patty Smyth was the first to record the song, releasing her version in 1987. While Tom Waits had never had one of his own recordings crack the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Smyth’s cover rose to #95. Mary Chapin Carpenter included a version on her debut album, also released in 1987.

Patty Smyth
Mary Chapin Carpenter

Rod Stewart included the song as a last minute addition to his Storyteller anthology, a 4-disc boxed set with recordings spanning his entire career to that point. Stewart’s version of “Downtown Train” reached #3 on the Hot 100, with the anthology reaching #54 on the album charts, and being certified double platinum. It was a number-one single on the album rock and adult contemporary charts, went to number one in Canada and made the top ten on the UK Singles Chart in 1990. Stewart received a Grammy nomination for the song in the category Best Male Pop Vocal performance.

Rod Stewart
Bob Seger

Bob Seger recorded his own version of the song in 1989, but decided against releasing it after Stewart’s version hit the market. He would later include the track on his 2011 compilation Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets.

I know that some are not necessarily fond of Rod Stewart’s cover of “Downtown Train”. It’s been criticized for being too pop; too overblown. I happen to be a fan of Rod’s version, particularly for the over-the-top production from Trevor Horn. It satisfies my pop sweet tooth, with a nod to Phil Spector’s “wall of sound” in the bridge. Being a fan of Rod’s voice, I can identify with the longing he portrays in the final chorus, as strains of the instrumental “train” fade away down the track.

But don’t let it be said that I am not a fan of Tom’s version. Nobody does stripped-down, urban angst as he does, playing the eccentric vagrant as no one can; and being a fan of film noir I love the imagery of Tom’s accompanying video (featuring a cameo from the Raging Bull himself, Jake LaMotta). The fact that other artists have covered the song with their own versions speaks to its ability to convey emotion, and being relatable to a wide and varied audience.

And there is no doubt that – good, bad, or indifferent – these various covers of Tom’s original songs have brought the song writer a considerable amount scratch!

“Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
All of my dreams just fall like rain
On a downtown train” – Downtown Train (Tom Waits) © Audiam, Inc

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Train

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/rod-stewart/downtown-train

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Waits

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author.

Railway Time

April 13, 2020 / C R Burgan

“Well I woke up this morning
And the sun refused to shine
I knew I’d leave my baby
With a troublin’ mind
It rains every morning
And evening is the same
And it’s gonna be a long time
‘Til I hear the 2:10 train” – 2:10 Train (Albertano / Campbell)

Ever since the dawn of human life on this planet brilliant minds have devised methods by which to measure the passage of time: tracking the sun, and other celestial bodies; counting the flow of sand through a narrow neck of glass; water clocks, candle clocks, and time sticks. But all of these practices left room for great variation, and time, or the measure of, was far from uniform.

Iron framed clock at Salisbury Cathedral, UK. Believed to be oldest mechanical clock in the world. From about 1386

Not until the early 14th century did mechanical time keepers appear; followed several hundred years later by the pendulum clock, and with the invention of the mainspring, portable clocks soon evolved into pocket watches.

But even as the more reliable timekeeping mechanisms of the Industrial Age allowed for the increasingly more accurate measure of time, there was still plenty of room for fluctuation from place to place, and the coming of the railroad introduced an immediate need for time standardization.

“Inside outside, leave me alone
Inside outside, nowhere is home
Inside outside, where have I been?
Out of my brain on the 5:15” – 5:15 (Pete Townshend)

In England, a standardized system known as Railway Time was first adopted by the Great Western Railway in November 1840. This was the first occasion in which local mean times were synchronized to a single standard time. Over the next several years Railway Time was progressively adopted by all the railway companies in Great Britain, and by 1855 the electric telegraph allowed for all stations along all railway lines throughout the country to be synchronized to Greenwich Mean Time.

Prior to the adoption of Railway Time, each town in England would synchronize their local time according to a public clock, usually located in the town square, courthouse, or church. Until the latter part of the 18th century these clocks were set by solar time, using a sundial. Understandably this left room for significant variance in time from town to town.

As travel in that period was often undertaken by foot, by horse, or by carriage, there were plenty of opportunities to make corrections during a journey, which could take many hours, or even days. As the onset of the railways considerably decreased the duration of travel to one’s destination, there was clearly a need to bring local times in line with each other.

While it may be easy for us today to see the sound judgment in having uniform time throughout a country, the railway companies initially encountered resistance in many towns, where it was not uncommon to find two different times displayed and in use. A railway station clock would often show a time that could differ by several minutes from other clocks in town. In spite of the early reluctance, Railway Time was soon adopted by the entire country, although the government did not legislate a single Standard Time and single time zone for Great Britain until 1880.

“I lost everything I had in the ’29 flood
The barn was buried ‘neath a mile of mud
Now I’ve got nothing but the whistle and the steam
My baby’s leaving town on the 2:19” – 2:19 (Brennan/Waits)

In New England, in August of 1853, two trains collided resulting in the death of 14 passengers. The trains were travelling towards each other on the same track, with the collision resulting from the individual train guards having different times set on their watches. Soon railway schedules were coordinated throughout New England, but numerous other accidents led to the need to set up a General Time Convention, which was a committee comprised of railway companies to agree on scheduling.

“I want to ride again
On the 3:10 to Yuma
That’s where I saw my love
The girl with the golden hair” – 3.10 to Yuma (Washington/ Dunning)

At Promontory Point in Utah, on May 10, 1869, a crowd had gathered to witness the driving of the final, ceremonial golden spike, which would join the Union Pacific & Central Pacific Railroads into what would become known as the transcontinental railroad. Telegraph wires had been attached to both the spike, and the maul that would be used to drive it. When the maul struck the spike, that exact moment in time would be transmitted along telegraph lines to those awaiting the news in cities throughout the US.

Gathering at noon, the crowd waited 45 minutes for Leland Stanford to raise the silver maul, and drive the golden spike. The moment was recorded as 12:45 p.m. at Promontory Point, 12:30 p.m. in Virginia City, both 11:44 and 11:46 a.m. in San Francisco, and 2:47 p.m. in Washington D.C.

At the time that the two railroads were joined to form the transcontinental railroad, more than 8,000 towns were using their own local time over 53,000 miles of track that had been laid across the United States.

“Eight-oh-five
I guess you’re leaving soon
I can’t go on without you
Its useless to try

Eight-oh-five
I guess you’re leaving…goodbye” – 8:05 (Laura Anne Stevenson)

In the mid-19th century US, three types of time measurements were used: natural time, local time, and railroad time. Natural time was measured by tracking the movement of the sun throughout the day; local time used synchronized astronomical time, based on the meridian of a specific location; railroad time was kept in the city where the line originated. As railroads expanded and distances increased this practice became cumbersome and difficult to calculate. In the 1860s eighty different timetables were in use in the US, creating a burdensome task for passengers needing to connect between various rail lines.

Cleveland Abbe, who in 1871 was appointed chief meteorologist at the United States Weather Bureau, subsequently divided the continental United States into four standard time zones, in order to institute a time-keeping system that was consistent between the nation’s weather stations. In 1879 he published a paper titled Report on Standard Time, and in 1883 was successful in convincing the General Time Convention and North American railroad companies to adopt his time-zone system, replacing the 50 different railway times that were then in use.

Surely it would seem the wisdom of this standardized system is self-evident, but there were many smaller towns and cities that were opposed to the adoption of Railway Time. An 1883 report in the Indianapolis Daily Sentinel complained that people would have to “eat, sleep, work … and marry by railroad time”. However, with the support of nearly all railway companies, most cities, and nationally influential scientific institutions, Standard Railway Time was introduced in the United States at noon on November 18, 1883.

Through the ensuing decades Railway Time became a trusted standard, generally accepted as being highly reliable and accurate; departure and arrival times became an embodiment of train lore as much as any other aspect of railroading. Why even bother writing a song about it if you were not fairly certain that your train would be on time?

“5:15, I’m changing trains
This little town, let me down
This foreign rain brings me down

“5:15, train overdue
Angels have gone, no ticket
I’m jumping tracks, I’m changing time” – 5:15 (The Angels Have Gone) David Bowie

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_time

https://railroad.lindahall.org/essays/time-standardization.html

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author.

That’s Why I’m Ridin’ the Rails

March 30, 2020 / C R Burgan

“Hoboin’ is my game
B & O’s my middle name
I’m goin’ where that whistle wails
And that’s why I’m ridin’ the rails” – Ridin’ the Rails (N. Claflin/ A. Paley) © Sire Records

So goes the opening verse of “Ridin’ the Rails”, a song included in the 1990 Warren Beatty directed film, Dick Tracy. Based on the comic strip of the same name which made its debut in the Detroit Mirror in October 1931, the movie is likewise set in the 1930s. Most of the songs included in the film’s soundtrack are styled after the music of that era.

k. d. lang
Take 6

Though “Ridin’ the Rails” is essentially a novelty tune, and doesn’t appear prominently in the film, I happen to be a fan of the recording and its jazzy tone. I’ve always admired the mellow voice of k. d. lang and the harmonies of Take 6 are impeccable. The video, featuring lang and the vocal group, is highly stylized, with the vocalists’ performances interspersed with clips from the Beatty film.

“Hoboken, New York, PA
60 seconds is all I’ll stay
Keeps me outta county jails
And that’s why I’m ridin’ the rails” – Ridin’ the Rails (N. Claflin/ A. Paley)

hobos hopping onto a boxcar illustration

Popular culture has greatly romanticized the vagabond tradition of “hopping a freight” to get from one place to another. Although this mode of travel has always been illegal, and inherently dangerous, there remains no shortage of practitioners, even today, when video surveillance, and tightened rail yard security have made surreptitiously climbing aboard a freight train all the more difficult.

Back in the day, when hoboes first began “catching out” on a freight train, there were no other means of transport that offered the chance to travel great distances in short periods of time. Many made the choice to ride the rails out of necessity, while others may have been drawn by the allure of something forbidden, or just as a means of escaping the drudgery of routine life.

“Oh, leave Kentucky
Or the fields of Alabam’
Roomin’ with a box of nails
Or peanuts and yams
Got no next of kin
And there’s no one in my will
Only thing I’m scared of
Is standin’ still” – Ridin’ the Rails (N. Claflin/ A. Paley)

Louis L’Amour
George Orwell
Woody Guthrie

Many notable figures of popular culture spent time riding the rails while engaging in the hobo way of life. This list includes Louis L’Amour, George Orwell, Carl Sandburg, Woody Guthrie, Robert Mitchum, and Jack Kerouac, to name a few. Jack London, who spent 30 days in jail in New York for vagrancy, and accompanied Kelly’s Army across the country, wrote about his hobo experiences in his short memoir, The Road.

As to his reasons for choosing to pursue the transient lifestyle of the bindle-stiff, or “stiff”, as London calls them, he writes in The Road:

“Every once in a while, in newspapers, magazines, and biographical dictionaries, I run upon sketches of my life, wherein, delicately phrased, I learn that it was in order to study sociology that I became a tramp. This is very nice and thoughtful of the biographers, but it is inaccurate. I became a tramp – well, because of the life that was in me, of the wanderlust in my blood that would not let me rest. Sociology was merely incidental; it came afterward, in the same manner, that a wet skin follows a ducking. I went on ‘The Road’ because I couldn’t keep away from it; because I hadn’t the price of the railroad fare in my jeans; because I was so made that I couldn’t work all my life on ‘one same shift’; because – well, just because it was easier to than not to.”

London is clear in expressing that just getting from one place to another is not always the primary inducement to riding the rails.

“I’ll ride ’til I’m dead
Boxcar’s my only bed
That’s home when all else fails
That’s why I’m ridin’ the rails” – Ridin’ the Rails (N. Claflin/ A. Paley)

Riding Toward Everywhere, by William T. Vollman (book cover)

Author, William T. Vollman, in his train-hopping paean, Riding Toward Everywhere, details his experiences with “catching out”, sometimes alone, sometimes with his more experienced friend, Steve. His is a modern commentary on the hobo traditions, where security is tighter, and the trains move considerably faster than in days of old. Some notable quotes from Vollman’s book:

“Freight train rides are parables”

“On the iron horse, I can experience the state of unlimited expansion”

“I saw it, and then it was gone”

“ . . . we clickety-clacked away into our dreams”

“More hours went by, as empty as the tracks themselves”

“’Someone’s hiding’, he chuckled, like a wicked giant in a fairy tale” (while hiding in the darkness from a yard “bull”)

“I am free and for some indefinite period, which while it lasts is as good as forever, my own sad life, with its rules, necessities and railroad bulls, will not be able to catch me”

“When we reached the head locomotive we saw that it was dark; the engineer must have gone home long since; our decision to leave this cold train was thus proven to be in the same spirit of prudence which is manifested by the lice that leave a corpse. What proud parasites we were!”

Vollman also laments that riding the rails is not as easy as it once was – “The technology is changing, so there are fewer boxcars and more container cars,” he says. “Everything is ridable to an expert, but . . . there are no experts.”

“Brushfire Billy
And his buddies, Ned and Slim
Nine years back in Provo
Was the last I saw of him
Brakeman, leave me be
Let this hobo rest his bones
Sleep will overtake me
When that diesel moans” – Ridin’ the Rails (N. Claflin/ A. Paley)

Eddy Joe Cotton (real name Zebu Recchia) is an author, hobo poet, and ringleader of the Yard Dogs Road Show. As a nineteen-year-old, he set out tramping from his father’s home in Denver, Colorado. He details his freight hopping experiences in his bestselling book, Hobo: A Young Man’s Thoughts on Trains and Tramping in America. Though the world of tramps & hoboes is most often dirty, seedy & coarse, all of which is reflected in his memoir, Cotton renders his tales in a decidedly poetic tone:

“In the silence between trains, you can hear your toes wiggle in your boots. I had gone a thousand miles on one pair of socks. There was a turkey vulture up in the air, looking for ghosts. On the hills where the tracks disappeared a cold rain fell like needles and the hidden sun glowed silver through the broken clouds. I lay back on my bedroll and closed my eyes”

“Black diesel billowed up from the head end of the train. There were four monster locomotives up there, pulling boxcars like sled dogs and coughing smoke out of their big diesel smoke-stacks. The bark of those diesel engines held the cry of a million pistons and cracked the silence in the Wyoming prairie apart”

“I rolled up in my poncho, lay down on the floor of the car, and watched rusty paint flakes dance in the corner. I daydreamed of carefree America: casino coffee . . . white motel sheets, showers with soap, and shingled roofs. I knew that when those foothills ate the sun our boxcar would freeze solid again, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it”

“In this business of tramping, it’s impossible to hold onto anybody or anything, and as a result, I have become a lonely man”

“That country’s long and wide
The Santa Fe’s my bride
I’ll hop her when she sails
That’s why I’m ridin’ the rails” – Ridin’ the Rails (N. Claflin/ A. Paley)

Pete Aadland, executive director of the rail safety charity California Operation Lifeline that promotes safety on the rails, dismisses the notion that train hopping today provides an authentically American experience or any real connection with the spirit of the 1930s.

“There was no work, there was no food, so tens of thousands of men would use the railroads to get to where they could, maybe find a job,” he says.

“That lure, I think, probably remains today. But I would say that it’s not romantic, it’s illegal and it’s dangerous.

“Losing limbs is very common,” he says. “Loads can shift when you’re inside of a car. Doors can close and lock – you starve and die of thirst.”

And yet, as long as there are trains rollin’ down a track to some destination somewhere, and as long as there are dreamers longing for an adventure, surely there will be hoboes & tramps riding the rails to . . . . .

Wherever

hobo with guitar case, climbing from a boxcar

“I’m ridin’, I’m slidin’
I won’t last too long
Got a bandana and a whistle for a song
There ain’t no wheels on the floor of a jail
That’s why I’m ridin’ the rails” – Ridin’ the Rails (N. Claflin/ A. Paley) © Sire Records

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20756990

The Road, by Jack London

Riding Toward Everywhere, by William T. Vollman

Hobo, by Eddy Joe Cotton

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author.

You Don’t Need No Ticket

December 9, 2019 / C R Burgan

“People get ready
For the train to Jordan
Picking up passengers
From coast to coast” – People Get Ready (Mayfield) © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music

“In the slave period here, one of the things that was prominent was the song – how the songs extolled the glory of God . . . You know that. They needed it. Some people were so low that they had to look up to see the ground. Where were they living? On the other side of the tracks. But what will God do? God will build a bridge over the tracks for me to get across”. – Rev Earnest Palmer – Deep South, by Paul Theroux

Curtis Mayfield was born on June 3, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. One of five children, Mayfield’s father left the family when Curtis was five. His mother (and maternal grandmother) moved the family into several Chicago public housing projects before settling into Cabrini–Green during his teen years. His mother taught him to play piano, and he was encouraged by his mother and grandmother to embrace gospel music. One of his earliest experiences performing was with the Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers at this aunt’s church.

In 1956, Mayfield joined his high school friend Jerry Butler’s group, The Roosters, to which he contributed his own original compositions. Two years later the group became The Impressions. With a varying lineup of members, The Impressions had a number of hits in the early 1960s, including their recording of “Amen”, an updated version of the old gospel tune, which was included on the soundtrack of the Sidney Poitier film, Lilies of the Field. The Impressions would reach the height of their popularity in the mid–to- late 60s with a string of Mayfield compositions that included “Keep On Pushing”, “It’s All Right”, the up-tempo “Talking about My Baby”, “Woman’s Got Soul” and “People Get Ready”.

“People, get ready
There’s a train a-coming
You don’t need no baggage
You just get on board” – People Get Ready (Mayfield)

“People Get Ready”, the title track of The Impressions’ album, People Get Ready, eventually became the group’s biggest hit. Released in 1965, it peaked at number 3 on the Billboard R&B Chart and number 14 on the Billboard Pop Chart. Mayfield said he originally wrote the song in response to both the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the deadly church bombing of Bloody Sunday in Birmingham. Martin Luther King Jr. chose “People Get Ready” as the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights Movement and often used the song to get people marching or to calm and comfort them.

Robert F. Darden, a contributor to the Dallas News, comments about Mayfield’s song: “The allusion to the railroad is no accident. It immediately resonates not just with the spirituals, but with older blues songs as well, where references to trains quickly show up in the lyrics. A host of writers have noted, during the Civil War and Reconstruction, railroads still evoked awe and wonder among African Americans in the South. The unofficial pathways to freedom in the North were called the Underground Railroad, where passengers were summoned by the spiritual ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’. And when freedom did come, those still-magical vehicles enabled the formerly enslaved people to join in the Great Migration north”.

“All you need is faith
To hear the diesels humming
Don’t need no ticket
You just thank the Lord” – People Get Ready (Mayfield)

According to Curtis Mayfield’s son Todd, their ancestors had been enslaved in Louisiana and carried their stories with them on the Illinois Central Railroad to the South Side projects of Chicago. Mayfield’s grandmother, Annie Bell, was a devoutly religious woman and encouraged her grandson’s love of music, especially gospel. Mayfield himself says that “People Get Ready” probably came from the subconscious “preachings of my grandmothers and most ministers when they reflect from the Bible.”

Social commentator Juan Williams has been quoted as saying, “The train that is coming in the song speaks to a chance for redemption – the long sought chance to rise above racism, to stand apart from despair and any desire for retaliation – an end to the cycle of pain.”

Music critic Stanley Crouch wrote, “by saying, ‘There’s a train a-comin’, get ready,’ that was like saying, OK, so regardless of what happens, get yourself together for this because you are going to get a chance. Your chance is coming.”

“Faith is the key
Open the doors and board them
There’s hope for all
Among those loved the most” – People Get Ready (Mayfield)

Robert F. Darden also writes, “’People Get Ready’ has been interpreted as both an allusion to the religious apocalypse known as the second coming in many Christian denominations and as a warning to those who oppose equality and civil rights in the modern day. And, as is the case with the best songwriters, both interpretations can be right”.

“There ain’t no room
For the hopeless sinner
Who would hurt all mankind
Just to save his own

“Have pity on those
Whose chances are thinner
‘Cause there’s no hiding place
From the kingdom’s throne” – People Get Ready (Mayfield)

Curtis Mayfield’s song has stood the test of time. In 2000 it was chosen by a panel of 20 songwriters – including Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson – as among the top 10 songs of all time. They ranked it at number nine. In 2004, Rolling Stone placed it at number 24 in its 500 greatest hits of all time, and also placed it at number 20 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. The song was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. “People Get Ready” was named as one of the Top 10 Best Songs of All Time by Mojo music magazine, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2016, the song was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry due to its “cultural, historic, or artistic significance”. It has been recorded and performed by dozens of artists.

Singer Curtis Mayfield (L) poses with the first annual Soul Train Quincy Jones Award for outstanding career achievement. /Photo by Fred Prouser REUTERS REUTERS

In August 1990, Curtis Mayfield was injured when lighting equipment fell on him during an outdoor concert in Brooklyn. Paralyzed from the neck down, and no longer able to play the guitar, he continued composing, singing and recording music. He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995 and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in of March 1999. He died from complications of type 2 diabetes on December 26, 1999.

Todd Mayfield, who is his father’s biographer, writes, “Though he isn’t here, my father is still part of that fight. His music speaks as powerfully to the times we live in as it did to his own. His songs remain vital, uncompromising, and true. His message endures — a message he refused to abandon even in the darkest of times. If he were alive today, he’d urge us to keep on pushing, to never give up, to get ready for something better. He wouldn’t be able to help himself.”

“So people get ready
For the train a-comin‘
You don’t need no ticket
You just get on board” – People Get Ready (Mayfield) © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Mayfield

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Get_Ready

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_(music)

https://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/brown/folkexpression.htm –

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2015/08/folklore-of-trains-in-usa-part-two/

https://www.hopechannel.com/au/read/people-get-ready

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author.

The Quickest Way to Harlem

November 25, 2019 / C R Burgan

“You must take the ‘A’ train
To go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem” – Take the “A” Train (Strayhorn) © EMI Music Publishing

Formally organized as a village in 1658 by Dutch immigrants, Harlem is now a neighborhood that occupies the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Named for the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands, its history has been defined by a number of socio-economic cycles that have each brought a significant shift in population.

During the American Revolution, the British burned Harlem to the ground. It was slowly rebuilt through the late eighteenth & early nineteenth centuries but experienced a boom shortly following the Civil War, as middle & upper-middle-class families sought to escape the increasing congestion found in lower Manhattan neighborhoods.

In the late nineteenth century, the middle-class Anglo families continued migrating northward as greater numbers of Italian and Jewish immigrants moved into Harlem; while the area’s economic growth was spurred by the New York and Harlem Railroad, the Interborough Rapid Transit and elevated railway lines, which connected Harlem to lower and midtown Manhattan.

The industrialization of the early twentieth century drew people in ever-growing numbers away from rural areas and into cities, lured by the promise of steady work and a better quality of life. Prior to the Civil War, the majority of African-Americans had been enslaved and lived in the south, but as traditional farm work there became increasingly more mechanized, blacks moved north in ever greater numbers to secure jobs and to escape the racism & segregation prevalent in southern states.

World War I brought even greater opportunities for black laborers, as the draft pulled young men into the war in Europe, leaving many industries thinly staffed. Harlem became a destination for migrants from around the country, attracting both people from the South in search of jobs, and an educated class who made the area a center of culture, in turn creating a “Negro” middle class. In 1910, Harlem was about 10% black; by 1930, it had reached 70%.

During the “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s, one area of the neighborhood – its highest point – became a particularly desirable place of residence for wealthy African Americans. Known as Sugar Hill for being reflective of the “sweet life”, the immaculate row houses there were occupied by the likes of W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Cab Calloway and perhaps the greatest icon of 20th-century American music: Duke Ellington.

Edward Kennedy Ellington was born on April 29, 1899, to James Edward Ellington and Daisy (Kennedy) Ellington in Washington, D.C. Both parents were pianists, with Daisy (the daughter of a former American slave) primarily playing parlor songs and James preferring operatic arias. Edward began piano lessons at the age of seven, and Daisy always strove to surround her son with dignified people to help reinforce his manners, and teach him to live elegantly. His childhood friends, conscious of his refined mien, easy grace, and dapper style of dress, which lent him the bearing of a young nobleman, began referring to him as “Duke”.

In the summer of 1914 Ellington took a job working as a soda jerk at the Poodle Dog Café. It was there that he composed his first tune, “Soda Fountain Rag”. Not yet having learned to read & write music, he created the tune by ear, and would play it as a one-step, two-step, waltz, tango and fox trot. Ellington recalled, “Listeners never knew it was the same piece. I was established as having my own repertoire”. Later in his teens he would begin assembling groups to play for dances, and in 1919 he met drummer Sonny Greer, who encouraged Ellington’s ambition to be a professional musician.

When Sonny Greer was offered a prestigious gig in New York City, Ellington chose to leave Washington, D. C. and followed Greer north. Settling in Harlem, Ellington was soon playing all the major clubs, including the Exclusive Club, the Hollywood Club, the Kentucky Club, and in 1927, after King Oliver turned down an extended booking at the Cotton Club, Ellington was recommended for the spot. With trumpeter Bubber Miley in his band, it was during this period that Ellington & his group would begin experimenting with different sounds – including Miley’s “growling” trumpet – that led contemporaries to refer to their music as “Jungle Style”. A month after accepting the Cotton club engagement Ellington and Orchestra, now eleven pieces, recorded several tunes, one of which, “Creole Love Call”, became a worldwide hit.

Not only had Duke Ellington proved to be an integral figure in the black “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s, but after embarking on several European tours with his orchestra during the 1930s, he had become a world-class musical artist, as well. Later in the decade, though, competition was heating up as swing bands began receiving popular attention. While Ellington’s band could certainly swing, it had become known more for its compositional styling. Not one to shrink from a challenge, Ellington remarked, “Jazz is music, swing is business”.

Duke Ellington and the Cotton Club Orchestra

Billy Strayhorn, initially hired as a lyricist in 1939, soon became an indispensable member of the Ellington organization. A classically trained musician, Strayhorn was soon contributing original lyrics & music, as well as arranging & polishing Ellington’s compositions. Ellington would speak glowingly of his collaborative working relationship with Strayhorn, saying, “my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine”. After an ASCAP ruling in 1940 made it prohibitive for Ellington to play his old tunes for radio broadcast, he turned to Billy Strayhorn, and his son Mercer Ellington, both associated with licensing organization BMI, to write a whole new book for the band.

Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn — Duke with Billy Strayhorn (l)

One of the many compositions Strayhorn contributed to the new Ellington Orchestra repertoire was “Take the ‘A’ Train”. It was Mercer who discovered a discarded draft of the tune in a wastebasket, where Strayhorn had tossed it, believing it sounded too much like a Fletcher Henderson arrangement. Before long “Take the ‘A’ Train” would become the band’s theme song, replacing “East St. Louis Toodle-oo”. Originally the song had no lyrics, but a young woman from Detroit named Joya Sherrill wrote out words while she listened to the song on the radio. When her words were brought to the attention of Ellington, he adopted her lyrics for the song and offered her a job as vocalist in his band.

“Hurry, get on, now it`s coming
Listen to those rails a-thrumming” – Take the “A” Train (Strayhorn)

The title of the song refers to the “A” subway line that connects Brooklyn to Harlem. When Billy Strayhorn was offered a job by Duke Ellington in 1939, Ellington sent him travel expenses, plus directions to reach his home by subway once he arrived in Manhattan from his home in Philadelphia. The directions began: “Take the ‘A’ Train”. The most well-known version of the song was recorded by the Ellington Orchestra in 1941, with Ray Nance’s trumpet solo becoming so identifiable, that it is often copied note for note when performed by other artists. In 1999, National Public Radio included “Take the ‘A’ Train” in the NPR 100, in which NPR’s music editors sought to compile the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century. The song has been recorded and performed by numerous artists.

Duke Ellington died in 1974, shortly after his 75th birthday, from lung cancer & pneumonia. His list of awards & honors is extensive, including 14 Grammy Awards (24 nominations), Pulitzer Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom (highest US civilian award), Legion of Honor (highest French civilian award), Honorary Ph.D. from Berklee College of Music, as well as numerous others. In 1986 he was honored with a US Postage stamp bearing his likeness, and in 2009 a US quarter was issued honoring Mr. Ellington, making him the first African American to appear by himself on a circulating US coin.

Duke Ellington on US Postal Service 22 cent stamp

In 1989, historian and author, Gunther Schuller wrote:
Ellington composed incessantly to the very last days of his life. Music was indeed his mistress; it was his total life and his commitment to it was incomparable and unalterable. In jazz, he was a giant among giants. And in twentieth-century music, he may yet one day be recognized as one of the half-dozen greatest masters of our time.

“If you miss the ‘A’ train
You`ll find you missed the quickest way to Harlem” – Take the “A” Train (Strayhorn) © EMI Music Publishing

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_the_%22A%22_Train

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Strayhorn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Hill,_Manhattan

https://www.elegran.com/blog/2013/07/in-the-heart-of-harlems-renaissance-sugar-hill

All photos were sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author.

Good Mornin’ America

November 11, 2019 / C R Burgan

“Riding on the city of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday morning rail
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
Three conductors, twenty-five sacks of mail” – City of New Orleans (Steve Goodman) © Sony/ATV Music

The story goes that in 1970 Arlo Guthrie was doing five shows a night at the Quiet Knight bar in Chicago when he was approached by an unknown songwriter who asked if Guthrie would listen to his songs. Guthrie replied that if the man would buy him a beer he would listen just as long as it took him to finish that beer. The song that caught his attention that night was about a train.

When Arlo admitted that he liked the tune, the author begged him to, “give that one to Johnny Cash for me.” But claiming that Cash wasn’t interested in it, Guthrie went on to record “City of New Orleans” for himself in 1972 and peaking at #4 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart and #18 on the Hot 100 chart, it would prove to be Guthrie’s only top-40 hit.

“All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out at Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms, and fields” – City of New Orleans (Goodman)

“City Of New Orleans” was composed by Chicago singer-songwriter Steve Goodman in 1970. While traveling to visit his wife’s grandmother, he noted the things that he saw outside his carriage window, jotting down notes as his wife slept during the journey. Everything that he described in the song’s lyrics actually happened during the train ride.

City of New Orleans - Illinois Central Railroad

When he returned home he learned that the eponymous train on which he had ridden, operated by Illinois Central Railroad, was scheduled to be decommissioned due to lack of riders. Feeling encouraged to use his song in an effort to save the train, he polished the tune and recorded it for his debut album in 1971.

City of New Orleans, by Steve Goodman. Buddah Records label.

“Passin’ trains that have no names
Freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles” – City of New Orleans (Goodman)

City of New Orleans train route map. — City of New Orleans route

Illinois Central Railroad had begun operating the City of New Orleans in April 1947. The overnight train had the longest regularly scheduled route in the country for a time; carrying passengers from Chicago, Illinois, through the heartland of the country, and down to New Orleans, Louisiana. With declining ridership due to competition from automobile and airplane travel, the route soon went the way of so many famed lines of the 20^th Century. In May 1971, Amtrak assumed operation of US train passenger service. The City of New Orleans was then converted to a nighttime route and renamed the Panama Limited.

“Good morning America how are you?
Don’t you know me I’m your native son
I’m the train they call The City of New Orleans
I’ll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done” – City of New Orleans (Goodman)

While Goodman’s recording of his own song found moderate success, it was Guthrie’s version that popularized the refrain, “Good Morning America, how are ya?” When ABC television launched a new morning show in 1975, they called it: Good Morning America, and due to the popularity of the song during the 1970s, Amtrak chose to capitalize on the recognition, renaming the route City of New Orleans in 1981.

City of New Orleans, by Arlo Guthrie. Reprise Records label.

Steve Goodman died on September 20, 1984, at the age of 36 after a long battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Also that year Willie Nelson covered “City of New Orleans”, making it the title track of his album. Nelson’s version was a #1 Country hit and won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song. Being a songwriting category, the Grammy was posthumously awarded to Goodman.

“And the sons of Pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their father’s magic carpet made of steel
Mothers with their babes asleep
Rockin’ to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel” – City of New Orleans (Goodman)

A number of years ago I had the opportunity to work security at an Arlo Guthrie show being presented at Peninsula Temple Beth El, in San Mateo, California. This was a small, intimate setting for Arlo & his band, which was largely comprised of his family members. They performed within the sanctuary to a packed house. Although my main responsibility was to keep watch around the property’s perimeter, and parking area, I tried to at least be inside for a portion of the show.

Arlo Guthrie picture as an older man. — Arlo Guthrie

I couldn’t claim to have a vast knowledge of Guthrie’s music, nor had I ever seen him perform previously, but “City of New Orleans”, and specifically his recording of the song, had long been a favorite train song of mine; probably my favorite train song.

Knowing that this song would likely be performed towards the end of the show I took an opportunity to quietly steal in through a rear entrance. I couldn’t see much, but I could hear. And what I heard was rapt silence, as the singer and consummate performer held the audience in the palm of his hand. He prefaced the song he had made famous – his sole top-40 hit – by saying that he had once been admonished that every great folk singer needs a train song in his repertoire and this one he had adopted as his. The song was well received by the audience who responded with thunderous applause, as I returned to perimeter duty, having witnessed a seasoned song man & story-teller deliver a rousing rendition of a song with which he had become indelibly connected, and that he had truly made his own.

“Goodnight, America . . .

This train’s got the disappearing railroad blues” – City of New Orleans (Goodman)

City of New Orleans, by Arlo Guthrie; 45 rpm sleeve — Arlo Guthrie 45 rpm sleeve

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_New_Orleans_(song)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_New_Orleans_(train)

https://www.arloguthrie.com/about

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlo_Guthrie

http://www.stevegoodman.net/bio.html

All photos sourced through internet searches, none belong to the author

I Hear the Train A-Comin’

October 14, 2019 / C R Burgan

“I hear the train a-comin’, it’s rolling ’round the bend
And I ain’t been kissed lord since I don’t know when
The boys in Crescent City don’t seem to know I’m here
That lonesome whistle seems to tell me, Sue, disappear” – Crescent City Blues (Gordon Jenkins)

“Folsom Prison Blues”, is surely one of the best known train songs of the modern era. If not the most popular song in singer Johnny Cash’s catalog, it certainly ranks in the top five. The song’s distinctive boom-chicka-boom rhythm fairly set the tone for what would become Cash’s signature sound, with even the most casual music fan capable of identifying the song after just a couple notes of that unmistakable electric guitar intro played by Luther Perkins. And what I know as a working musician is that playing “Folsom” is a surefire way to fill the dance floor, with folks immediately deserting their chairs after those first telltale notes ring out. What I didn’t know until just a few years ago, is that this song that has become so identifiable with its author, really isn’t Johnny’s song at all.

“When I was just a baby my mama told me, Sue
When you’re grown up I want that you should go and see and do
But I’m stuck in Crescent City just watching life mosey by
When I hear that whistle blowin’, I hang my head and cry” – Crescent City Blues (Jenkins)

“Crescent City Blues”, is a song written by composer/arranger Gordon Jenkins. In 1953 the song was included on an album entitled Seven Dreams, released by Decca Records, where Jenkins was the label’s musical director. As the title implies, the experimental concept album consisted of seven radioplay-style musical segments named for their protagonists, where the characters have embarked on a train trip from New York to New Orleans. The “Second Dream” was entitled “The Conductor”, and featured the voice-over work of bassist Bill Lee (Spike Lee’s father), and Thurl Ravenscroft (Tony the Tiger). On the track, as the train makes an unscheduled stop, the title character steps off the train for “a breath of middle-western air”. He then describes how as he lit a cigarette he “heard a voice from the shack across the way”.

“I see the rich folks eatin’ in that fancy dining car
They’re probably having pheasant breast and eastern caviar
Now I ain’t crying envy and I ain’t crying me
It’s just that they get to see things that I’ve never seen” – Crescent City Blues (Jenkins)

The song, with a melody inspired by the 1930s instrumental, “Crescent City Blues”, by Little Brother Montgomery, is sung by Beverly Mahr. Mahr was Jenkins second wife, and mother of their son, Bruce (San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist). Styled as a torch song, the lyrics are delivered in a sultry manner, bearing a strong resemblance to Johnny Mercer’s “Blues in the Night”. It begins with bluesy guitar licks accompanying the vocals, with later verses punctuated by big band horn arrangements. Certainly Jenkins composition would never be mistaken for Cash’s up-tempo rockabilly anthem, but there is absolutely no question as to the genesis of Johnny’s tune.

“If I owned that lonesome whistle, if that railroad train was mine
I bet I’d find a man a little farther down the line
Far from Crescent City is where I’d like to stay
And I’d let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away” – Crescent City Blues (Jenkins)

Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” was released on Sam Phillips’ Sun Records label in December of 1955. Johnny Cash is the only songwriter credited on the release. He claims that he heard “Crescent City Blues” on the radio during his stint in Germany, serving with the US Air Force, and adapted it for his own purposes. In a 1990s interview Cash stated, “At the time, I really had no idea I would be a professional recording artist; I wasn’t trying to rip anybody off”. According to Cash’s manager Lou Robin, Cash had acknowledged the influence of Jenkins’s song, but was reassured by Sam Phillips that he had no reason to fear a plagiarism suit.

In 1968, a live version of the song, from the album At Folsom Prison, was released and the song once again hit the charts, eventually reaching #1 on the country singles chart, and #32 on the Hot 100. It was then that Gordon Jenkins decided to sue for royalties. Reportedly Cash paid Jenkins a cash settlement with some sources naming the amount of $75,000, while others mention $100K. In an interview Cash was quoted as saying, “So when I later went to Sun to record the song, I told Sam Phillips that I rewrote an old song to make my song, and that was that. Sometime later I met up with Gordon Jenkins and we talked about what had happened, and everything was right”.

Sources have stated that Cash & Jenkins agreed to share songwriting credits for the song, but on the Walk the Line soundtrack from the 2005 biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix, Johnny Cash is the sole songwriter credited for “Folsom Prison Blues”. As of May, 2006 the soundtrack was certified platinum by the RIAA with over one million copies sold. That same release went on to win the Grammy award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album.

For years Johnny Cash would open his concerts with “Folsom Prison Blues”, following his trademark introduction of, “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash”. Clearly this is the song by which Cash wished to be identified. The song has been recorded by numerous other artists, many of which were likely unaware of its origins. In June 2014, Rolling Stone ranked “Folsom” No. 51 on its list of the 100 greatest country songs of all time, with no mention of Gordon Jenkins. Which may only serve to reinforce the words of the great composer Igor Stravinsky, who said,” Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal”.

Decide for yourself:

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescent_City_Blues

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/12/15/johnny-cash-gordon-jenkins-dispute-folsom-prison-blues

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folsom_Prison_Blues

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/12/15/johnny-cash-gordon-jenkins-dispute-folsom-prison-blues

All photos sourced from internet searches, none belong to the author.

The Singing Brakeman

October 10, 2019 / C R Burgan

“All around the water tank
Waiting for a train
A thousand miles away from home
Sleeping in the rain” – Waiting for a Train (Jimmie Rodgers) © Peermusic Publishing

Born on September 8, 1897, in Meridian, Mississippi, James Charles Rodgers has become known as “The Father of Country Music”. While he certainly didn’t invent the musical form, Rodgers, along with his contemporaries The Carter Family popularized the genre during the early days of radio and phonograph recordings. Though he also dabbled in folk, blues and jazz, it is for his accomplishments in bringing the traditional, nostalgic music of rural white people in the American South to the attention of a nation that would prove to have a huge appetite for this common strain of musical communication.

Rodgers’ mother died when he was six or seven, and he subsequently spent much of his youth living with various extended family in rural Mississippi & Alabama. Destined to be an entertainer, he had by the age of thirteen already spent time on the road organizing and performing in traveling shows, only to be tracked down and brought home by his father, Aaron Rodgers, a maintenance-of-way foreman on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.

His father found young Jimmie his first job working on the railroad as a water boy. It was during this period that he was taught guitar technique by other rail workers and hoboes that he encountered on the job. As a water boy he would also have been exposed to the work chants of black gandy dancers. A few years later, through his older brother, Walter, he became a brakeman on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad.

“I walked up to a brakeman gave him a line of talk
He said if you’ve got money boy I’ll see that you don’t walk
I haven’t got a nickel, not a penny can I show
Get off, get off you railroad bum and he slammed the boxcar door” – Waiting for a Train (Rodgers)

In 1924, at age 27, Rodgers was diagnosed with tuberculosis. After a period the disease would cause him to give up working for the railroad, and he eventually returned to entertaining.

By 1927 Rodgers had returned to Meridian, MS, where he settled in with his wife Carrie and daughter Anita. April of that year found him in Asheville, North Carolina, where he performed on that city’s first radio station, WWNC, which would eventually lead to a weekly radio show for him and a band that he had cobbled together. In July of ’27 Rodgers would make his first recordings for Ralph Peer, a representative of the Victor Talking Machine Company, in Camden, New Jersey. Though success from those initial recordings was modest, he would return to New Jersey in November, armed with original songs co-written with his sister-in-law, Elsie Williams, who would eventually become his most frequent collaborator, writing or co-writing 40 songs for Rodgers.

One of the sides cut during this second series of sessions was “Blue Yodel”, also known as “T for Texas”. Over the next two years it would sell nearly half a million copies, cementing his place as one of the top recording stars of that era.

The next few years found Rodgers continuing to cut new records. He made a movie short for Columbia Pictures, The Singing Brakeman, toured the Midwest with Will Rogers, even made a recording of “Blue Yodel No. 9”, accompanied by Louis Armstrong on trumpet, and his wife, Lil Harden Armstrong on piano.

“He put me off in Texas a state I dearly love
The wide-open spaces all around me the moon and stars up above
Nobody seems to want me or to lend me a helping hand
I’m on my way from Frisco going back to Dixie Land” – Waiting for a Train (Rodgers)

Rodgers died May 26, 1933, at the age of 35, from a pulmonary hemorrhage. At the time of his death his recordings accounted for fully 10% of RCA Victor’s sales, in a market that had been severely impacted by the Great Depression. When the Country Music Hall of Fame was established in 1961, Rodgers was one of the first three inductees, along with music publisher/songwriter Fred Rose and singer/songwriter Hank Williams. Rodgers was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 as an early influence, and inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2013. Merle Haggard recorded a tribute album, Same Train, A Different Time: Merle Haggard Sings The Great Songs of Jimmie Rodgers, while Lynyrd Skynyrd named both Haggard and Rodgers in their song “Railroad Song” (“I’m going to ride this train, Lord, until I find out, what Jimmie Rodgers and the Hag was all about”).

On Haggard’s album, Same Train, A Different Time, in a spoken introduction, the singer refers to Rodgers as “the most important man, who ever sang a country song”.

On May 24, 1978, the United States Postal Service issued a 13-cent commemorative stamp honoring Rodgers, the first in its long-running Performing Arts Series. The stamp depicted him in brakeman’s outfit and guitar, giving his “two thumbs up” (as in one of the famous photos of him), along with a locomotive in silhouette in the background.

Chester Arthur Burnett, better known as Howlin’ Wolf, tried to emulate Rodgers’s yodel, but found that his efforts sounded more like a growl or a howl. “I couldn’t do no yodelin’,” Barry Gifford quoted him as saying in Rolling Stone, “so I turned to howlin’. And it’s done me just fine.”

Bob Dylan wrote in the liner notes to a 1997 tribute album: “Jimmie Rodgers, of course, is one of the guiding lights of the twentieth century, whose way with song has always been an inspiration to those of us who have followed the path. … He was a performer of force without precedent with a sound as lonesome and mystical as it was dynamic. He gives hope to the vanquished and humility to the mighty.”

The professional recording & performing career for which Jimmie Rodgers is remembered and revered lasted barely six years, and yet his influence is still felt nearly a century later by those who remain inspired by his musical legacy, and feel driven to pay tribute to the “Singing Brakeman” in their own personal way.

“Though my pocketbook is empty
And my heart is full of pain
I’m a thousand miles away from home
Just a-waiting for a train” – Waiting for a Train (Jimmie Rodgers) © Peermusic Publishing

Sources:

http://www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/articles/39/jimmie-rodgers-the-father-of-country-music

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Jimmie+Rodgers+%28country+singer%29+%E2%80%93+Wikipedia

All photos sourced through internet searches, unless otherwise noted