Tag: Trains

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.

Pullman Porter Blues

March 16, 2020 / C R Burgan

“I feel oh, so blue
I really don’t know what to do
I got a brand new job: a tip collector
It’s some job: a car protector” – Pullman Porter Blues (Clifford Ulrich & Burton Hamilton) © Leo Feist, Inc.

On June 29, 2016, the Los Angeles Times reported that Lee Wesley Gibson, a resident of Los Angeles, had “died as he lived – calm, quiet and in control – sitting in a chair at home . . . with family members at his side”. He was 106 years old. What caught my attention in this article was that it was believed that Mr. Gibson was the oldest surviving Pullman porter.

Lee Gibson was born in Keatchie, Louisiana in 1910; married Beatrice Woods – his wife of 76 years – in 1927; and in 1935, during the height of the Great Depression, moved his family to Los Angeles, in search of greater opportunities.

In 1936, a deacon at Gibson’s church who worked for the Union Pacific Railroad as a coach attendant asked his wife Beatrice if her husband would be interested in a job with the railroad. In a 2010 interview with the Times on the occasion of his 100th birthday, Mr. Gibson recalled that this was a golden opportunity.

Mr. Gibson began working for the Union Pacific as a coach attendant, later being promoted to Pullman porter. Porters were the uniformed railway men serving the first-class passengers who travelled in the Pullman Company’s luxurious sleeping cars. It was a sought after position, allowing a certain amount of prestige for African Americans that was difficult to find in other vocations. Having steady work, Mr. Gibson was able to buy a brand-new home for his family in 1945; a home in which he lived until his death.

“It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, draft on my feet’
It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, turn on the heat’
It’s, ‘Pullman Porter’, all the live long day
‘Pullman Porter, bring me water’, that’s all they say

“It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, make up my berth’
It’s, ‘Pullman Porter’, no peace on Earth
‘Oh, Pullman Porter, won’t you shine my shoes’
I got the Pullman Porter blues” – Pullman Porter Blues (Ulrich/Hamilton)

George Pullman founded the Pullman Car Company in 1862. It is said that after spending a night sleeping upright in his seat during a train trip through New York, Mr. Pullman had the idea to design a rail car that contained sleeper berths for every passenger. Although the first cars manufactured included somewhat spartan sleeping arrangements, within a short period of time the company was turning out luxury sleeping cars which featured carpeting, draperies, upholstered chairs, libraries, and card tables. Besides the unparalleled quality of the Pullman car’s accommodations, they became known for the impeccable service provided by the company’s staff of Pullman Porters.

The Pullman Car Company not only built the eponymous rail cars, they also owned & operated them along the nation’s railways. Soon after the American Civil War, George Pullman began seeking out former slaves to staff his sleeping cars. Aware that most Americans did not have servants in their homes, Pullman understood that by allowing passengers to be served by a liveried waiter or butler, he could provide the growing middle class with something they had never before experienced.

In the mid 1920s, during its peak of operations, the Pullman Company’s fleet grew to number 9,800 sleeping cars, staffed by 12,000 porters. A porter was expected to greet passengers, carry baggage, make up the sleeping berths, serve food and drinks brought from the dining car, send & receive telegrams, shine shoes, provide valet service, and keep the cars neat and orderly.

A porter was expected to be available both day & night. The job could be demeaning, and many were subjected to discrimination and abuse. Early on many porters were obligated to answer to the name “George”, as if they were George Pullman’s personal servant; a practice that grew out of slaves often being named after their owner.

Although wages were low, in an era with limited opportunities for African American men, being a Pullman porter was one of the best jobs available. Not being offered a livable wage, porters relied heavily on the tips that they received from passengers. Walter Biggs, son of a Pullman porter, shared memories of being a Pullman porter as told to him by his father:

“One of the most remarkable stories I liked hearing about was how when Jackie Gleason would ride … all the porters wanted to be on that run. The reason why? Not only because he gave every porter $100.00, but it was just the fun, the excitement, the respect that he gave the porters. Instead of their names being George, he called everybody by their first name. He always had like a piano in the car and they sang and danced and had a great time. He was just a fun person to be around.”

In an effort to improve working conditions and wages, A. Philip Randolph began organizing the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925. Under Randolph’s leadership, the first black union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was formed. These unionizing efforts were also crucial in laying the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement, as labor organizer and former Pullman porter E. D. Nixon was instrumental in organizing the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama in 1955, and was also responsible for bailing Rosa Parks out of jail when she refused to give up her seat on the bus.

“It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, turn on the light’
It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, get me a bite’
It’s, ‘Pullman Porter’ all the whole night thru
It seems to me I’m always wrong, whatever I do

“It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, what town are we at?’
It’s, ‘Pullman Porter, brush off my hat’
‘Now look here, Porter, someone stole my booze’
I got the Pullman Porter blues” – Pullman Porter Blues (Ulrich/Hamilton)

The Pullman Company would eventually become the largest single employer of blacks in America. Many people credit porters as being significant contributors to the development of America’s black middle class. Black historian and civil-rights activist Timuel Black observed in a 2013 interview:

“[The Pullman porters] were good looking, clean and immaculate in their dress. Their style was quite manly; their language was carefully crafted, so that they had a sense of intelligence about them. They were good role models for young men. . . . [B]eing a Pullman porter was a prestigious position because it offered a steady income and an opportunity to travel across the country, which was rare for blacks at that time.”

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
Pullman Porters

Lyn Hughes, founder of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum in Chicago, which celebrates the contribution of African Americans to the nation’s labor history, states, “For African Americans, it was a middle-class job. It represented a sort of freedom, flexibility and education all in one bundle.”

Thurgood Marshall
Willie Brown
Malcolm X

Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, a former porter himself, was also a descendant of a Pullman porter, as was former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. Malcolm X and photojournalist Gordon Parks were both employed as porters.

“I make their berths up, give ‘em sheets
And put ‘em all to bed
And when they’re feeling bad
Get Bromo Seltzer for their head

“I get’em soap, I get ‘em towels
And even comb their hair
Say, when it comes to giving service
Boss, I am a bear” – Pullman Porter Blues (Ulrich/Hamilton)

Lee Gibson worked on the railroad for 38 yrs. When the Pullman Co. ceased operation of sleeping cars in 1968, Pullman porters were transferred to Union Pacific, and later Amtrak. He retired from the railroad in 1974. In his LA Times interview of 2010 he spoke of rubbing shoulders with celebrities such as bandleader Duke Ellington, jazz singer Cab Calloway, and trumpeter Louis Armstrong, who Gibson recalled was always friendly and willing to talk.

Duke Ellington
Cab Calloway
Louis Armstrong

“He (Armstrong) played Vegas and would catch my train from Vegas many times,” Gibson said. “He was quite interesting.”

Although porters sometimes had to endure humiliation and racism, Gibson says he was always treated with respect; said Gibson of his career serving others on the railroad, “It was hard, but it was fun.”

“I got the Pullman Porter blues” – Pullman Porter Blues (Ulrich/Hamilton)

Sources:

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

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

https://www.latimes.com/

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

A Train Can’t Bring Me Home

March 2, 2020 / C R Burgan

“Well I broke down in East St. Louis, on the Kansas City line
Drunk up all my money that I borrowed every time
And I fell down at the derby, the night’s black as a crow
It was a train that took me away from here
But a train can’t bring me home” – Train Song (Thomas A. Waits) © Audiam, Inc

In the late 1980s – early 1990s I was working a job in the Coachella Valley of Southern California. My place of employment was almost exactly 50 miles from my home. Having been given by a friend a homemade cassette tape that included Tom Waits’ Small Change on one side, and Swordfish Trombones on the other, I had discovered that if I began the Small Change (total length of album: 48 min, 29 sec) side of the tape just as I was departing work, the album’s final song, “I Can’t Wait to Get Off Work”, would be playing as I entered my driveway and parked in front of my garage. This soon became a weekly ritual for me; my “TGIF” celebration as I drove home, paycheck in hand, leaving my job and workweek behind for a couple of days.

Small Change was Tom Waits’ third studio album. Recorded direct to two-track stereo tape in July 1976, and released later that same year, the album’s eleven tracks featured some of Waits’ best lyrical work to date. With Waits on piano and vocals, the album included the talents of Shelly Manne on drums, Jim Hughart on bass, and some delectable tenor saxophone work from the legendary Lew Tabackin. Along with a number of brilliant string arrangements by Jerry Yester, the release has been described as “beatnik-glory-meets-Hollywood-noir”.

Even someone with only a passing familiarity with the music of Tom Waits would likely agree that he is not the easiest of artists to sing along with. I’ve learned that for me the pursuit typically results in a sore throat. So, my Friday afternoon drive time was spent listening to Tom’s philosophical ruminations of urban life’s seamier side, as I contemplated my impending weekend. It wasn’t long before my weekly immersion in Small Change, led me to wade deeper into Waits’ catalog of recordings.

Although Small Change doesn’t really include any direct references to trains, it didn’t take long for me to recognize that trains & rail travel are familiar imagery in Tom Waits’ lyrical compositions. Not only has he penned songs dealing specifically with trains (e.g., “Train Song”, “Downtown Train”, “2:19”), but many of his songs include one or more lines referring to trains and/or traveling by rail.

In fact, further sleuthing led to an internet site listing more than 40 of Waits’ songs that contain references to trains, including:

“I come into town on a night train with an arm full of boxcar/ On the wings of a magpie cross a hooligan night” – Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard (Blue Valentine)

“Just put a church key in your pocket we’ll hop that freight train in the hall / We’ll slide all the way down the drain to New Orleans in the fall” – Kentucky Avenue (Blue Valentine)

“He went down, down, down and the devil called him by name / He went down, down, down hangin’ onto the back of a train” – Down, Down, Down (Swordfish Trombones)

“And they all pretend they’re Orphans and their memory’s like a train / You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away” – Time (Rain Dogs)

“I lived on nothing but dreams and train smoke” – Pony (Mule Variations)

Trains have been featured in popular music for as long as trains have existed. Sometimes the reference is literal, but often the train is used in a metaphorical sense. Train travel can signify deliverance, or transportation to a better life. The depiction of a locomotive barreling under a full head of steam may suggest loss of control. And there is likely no confusion what the railroad term “sidetracked” implies when used as a figure of speech.

Train imagery can also indicate transience. A quick perusal of Tom Waits’ life may find evidence of a significant amount of roving, and plainly his songs are populated by vagabonds and wanderers, whether autobiographical or otherwise. Waits once stated, “I don’t like the stigma that comes with being called a poet– so I call what I’m doing an improvisational adventure or an inebriational travelogue, and all of a sudden it takes on a whole new form and meaning”.

“What made my dreams so hollow, was standing at the depot
With a steeple full of swallows that could never ring the bell
And I’ve come ten thousand miles away, not one thing to show
It was a train that took me away from here
But a train can’t bring me home” – Train Song (Waits)

“A steeple full of swallows that could never ring the bell”, is a favorite line from Waits’ “Train Song”.

The song appears on his ninth studio album, Frank’s Wild Years, which is a collection of songs written for a play of the same name, and released in 1987. Waits starred as the eponymous lead character, Frank, for a three-month period in 1985, when the play was produced by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater Company.

While I’m not absolutely clear on the play’s plot, “Train Song” appears near the end of the album’s side two, which makes the song’s final repeated line, “It was a train that took me away from here/ But a train can’t bring me home”, somewhat telling.

Many of Tom Waits’ songs – diehard fans may consider this blasphemy – often sound better when recorded by other artists. That being said, my favorite recording of “Train Song” is a live rendition by Canadian singer Holly Cole, recorded in Montreal and released on Cole’s 1996 album, It Happened One Night. Guitarist Kevin Breit uses his instrument to create train sound effects that, along with David Piltch’s throbbing bass and the spare percussion parts, lend Waits’ classic train song a haunting, ethereal quality.

Not that Tom’s version of the song doesn’t possess a haunting and ethereal quality of its own. It absolutely does, and I would not take anything away from his original recording. But as a lover of music and song, I appreciate being able to enjoy further interpretations of an artist’s work. On that subject, I believe that I will in a future blog post, shine the spotlight on another of Waits’ train songs, recorded by a number of different artists.

Until then . . .

“I remember when I left without bothering to pack
Don’t you know I up and left with just the clothes I had on my back
Now I’m sorry for what I’ve done and I’m out here on my own
It was a train that took me away from here
But a train can’t bring me home
It was a train that took me away from here
But a train can’t bring me home” – Train Song (Waits)

Sources:

http://www.tomwaitsfan.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8993

http://www.tomwaits.com/wit/

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

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Change_(Tom_Waits_album)

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

You Can’t Cheat Mother Nature

February 17, 2020 / C R Burgan

“In an era of dissension
On a bleak mid-winter morn
There stood a house divided
By righteous indignation borne” – Chunky Creek (Train Wreck of 1863) © C. R. Burgan, Jr. / BMI

The winter of 1862 – 63 saw a number of attempts by the Union army to wrest control of the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi from the Confederates. The city had become a fortress for the Confederate States, allowing the South to control the southern portion of the Mississippi River, as far as Port Hudson, in Louisiana. The city’s natural riverside defenses were perfect, earning it the nickname, “The Gibraltar of the Confederacy”. Located high on a bluff overlooking a horseshoe-shaped bend in the river, Vicksburg was almost impossible to approach by ship.

With the city of Memphis having fallen to Union forces the previous summer, the strategic importance of maintaining control of the lower Mississippi River could not be overstated. President Jefferson Davis had declared, “Vicksburg is the nail head that holds the South’s two halves together.”

Jefferson Davis
President Lincoln with troops

The Union also understood the significance that control of the Mississippi represented to the Confederacy in maintaining a supply line with their states on the western side of the river. In Washington President Abraham Lincoln had written, “Vicksburg is the key. …The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket”.

Vicksburg had been under Union attack previously, when in the spring of 1862 Admiral David Farragut traveled upriver after his capture of New Orleans. Demanding the surrender of the city, but lacking sufficient troops to force compliance, he returned to New Orleans. Likewise Union naval attacks arriving from the north had also failed due to the gunboats being unable to approach the city while remaining out of reach of Confederate gun emplacements upon the bluff.

Realizing the impregnable nature of the city’s riverside defenses, the Union soon commenced an overland campaign to attack Vicksburg from the east.

General Ulysses S Grant, US Army
General John C Pemberton, Confederate Army

Defending the city of Vicksburg, Lt. General John C. Pemberton commanded what historian John D. Winters described as “a beaten and demoralized army, fresh from the defeat at Corinth, Mississippi”. If there was any hope of holding the city against General Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee, which would eventually grow to number 75,000 men, Gen. Pemberton would need men, supplies, and currency.

“The driver gave the order
‘Stoke that fire in the belly of the beast!’
With his consignment of souls, supplies & cash
He set out from the east” – Chunky Creek © C. R. Burgan, Jr.

In the early morning hours of February 19, 1863, a train carrying Confederate soldiers and some civilians departed from Meridian, Mississippi, bound for Vicksburg. Along with the passengers the train also carried supplies and a large amount of cash. Due to the battles being waged in the Union’s campaign for control of the river port, there was a great urgency to receive the train and its manifest.

The consist was led by an American 4-4-0 type locomotive known as Hercules; the engineer was Isaiah P. Beauchamp. Prior to the war both locomotive and driver had been based in New Orleans, Louisiana. On this date Hercules was pulling a tender and four cars, with 100 passengers aboard.

For months the region had been experiencing heavy rains which had caused the Chunky River to flood repeatedly. Each successive flooding brought more debris downriver, much of it coming to rest against the wooden pilings and trestles of the Southern Rail Road bridge that spanned the waterway.

The Southern Rail Road had acquired a reputation for having one of the least well-maintained trackages in the country. The Daily Southern Crisis, a newspaper in Jackson, reported that accidents on the line were a common occurrence.

A train had crossed the Chunky bridge a day ahead of the Hercules, but only after all the passengers had been removed from the train, with the train proceeding to slowly cross over the swollen river. It is believed that this train crossing may have caused the bridge to shift, settling to as much as 6 inches out of alignment with the rails on the eastern side of the span. Efforts were made to repair the bridge, but there was not an adequate crew to perform the work before the next train was due.

Absalom F. Temple was the section master for an approximately 8 mile section of railway that included the bridge over the Chunky River. On the day preceding Hercules‘ run he had been at the bridge four separate times, attempting to clear debris. Noticing that one of the bridge’s supports had come loose, and the bridge had begun to sag downstream, he asked another railroad employee to make sure the train departing Meridian early the next morning was held up and not allowed to cross the bridge.

Temple’s account was printed in The Daily Southern Crisis:

“ . . . I told him to be sure and keep a negro there for the purpose. I then dug a hole in the middle of the track and put up a thick pole about as near as I could tell 150 yards from the bridge. This is the usual method of stopping trains when danger is ahead . . . The next morning I had the hands up before daylight, and was just going out on the road to work . . . Just as I started out I met a man running up the road with the news of the accident”.

“Scoured from the landscape
And hastened by the flood
The detritus of a region swirled and mixed
With sweat and blood

“Pilings yielded to the pressure
The Chunky’s span no longer true
And the Mississippi Southern plunged into the flow
In its effort to push on through” – Chunky Creek © C. R. Burgan, Jr.

Hercules ran off the track as it entered the bridge, becoming completely submerged in the icy cold water. The tender and trailing cars landed on top of the locomotive, with the wooden cars being nearly demolished by the impact. Barrels and boxes were later found floating downstream.

The Athens Post, a newspaper based in Athens, Tennessee printed the following report:

“A man just in from Chunkey (sic) says the engine and five cars are under water.— the conductor is hurt, but swam out.—The engineer has not been heard from. Between twenty-five and fifty persons are supposed to be lost—mostly soldiers . . . The third and fifth cars had only troops and one horse—about seventy men in the two. The engineer was forward on the engine looking out, and the conductor was on the engine.”

“With brazen disregard for self
Dark schemes to circumvent
Came brave delivering angels
Most surely heaven sent” – Chunky Creek © C. R. Burgan, Jr.

Jack Amos, of the First Battalion of Choctaw Indians

Camped near the crash site happened to be a newly formed regiment, the 1st Battalion of Choctaw Indians. Hearing the commotion the soldiers rushed to the riverside, stripped down and immediately jumped into the water and began removing bodies. Samuel G. Spann, a captain at the time later reported in a magazine article that “ninety-six bodies were brought out upon a prominent strip of land above the waterline. Twenty-two were resuscitated . . . and all the balance were crudely interred upon the railroad right of way, where they now lie in full view of the passing train

Memorial wreath laid near the crash site

“The ultimate tribute offered
The utmost price was paid
Now their silent mortal vessels
Along the right of way are laid” – Chunky Creek © C. R. Burgan, Jr.

Most of those that perished were either killed by the initial impact or trapped underwater beneath the wreckage. Of the one hundred passengers on the train, seventy-five were perished, including the engineer, who had been trapped within the locomotive. A small number of the bodies were eventually disinterred by family or friends, but some remains were unable to be located due to the crude manner in which they were originally buried. A marker has been placed at the site to commemorate those whose lives were lost in the wreck.

I came upon an accounting of this incident inadvertantly, and believing that the story of the train wreck was little known I set upon telling it in my own way. While some artistic license was taken, I hope that I have been faithful to the details, and the memory of those whose lives were lost.

“You can’t cheat Mother Nature
Of the toll that she demands
The blood will let as you place your bet
And you leave it in the devil’s hands

And where the wheel stops turning
Only the Maker knows . . .
The muddy river flows” – Chunky Creek © C. R. Burgan, Jr.

Sources:

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

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

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

https://www.nchgs.org/html/train_wreck_1863.html

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

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

Bring in the Workers and Bring Up the Rails

February 3, 2020 / C R Burgan

”There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real” – Canadian Railroad Trilogy (Lightfoot) © Warner/Chappell Music

Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. was born November 17, 1938, in Orillia, Ontario, Canada, to Gordon Lightfoot, Sr, and Jessie Vick Trill Lightfoot. Recognizing Gordon’s musical talent at an early age, his mother schooled him into a successful young singer, performing with various choral groups at local festivals. Winning a vocal competition at the age of twelve, he made his first performance at Massy Hall in Toronto.

In his teenage years Lightfoot learned piano, and taught himself how to play drums & percussion, as well as folk guitar. He has stated that a formative influence for him during this period was 19^th-century American songwriter Stephen Foster. His athletic abilities as an accomplished track-and-field competitor, as well as his scholastic aptitude, helped him earn entrance to McGill University’s Schulich School of Music and the University of Toronto, Faculty of Music.

In his early 20s Lightfoot moved to California, where he spent two years studying jazz composition and orchestration at Hollywood’s Westlake College of Music. While there he supported himself by singing on demo recordings and writing, arranging, and producing commercial jingles. But missing Canada, Lightfoot returned to Toronto in 1960.

Pete Seeger
Ian and Sylvia
The Weavers

Now influenced by the folk music of Pete Seeger, Bob Gibson, Ian and Sylvia Tyson, and The Weavers, Lightfoot began performing with various groups, soon making a name for himself on the Toronto folk music circuit.

Lightfoot traveled in Europe and the United Kingdom, where for one year he hosted BBC TV’s Country and Western Show. Returning to Canada in 1964, he began earning a reputation as a songwriter. Ian and Sylvia Tyson recorded Lightfoot’s tunes, “Early Morning Rain” and “For Lovin’ Me”; a year later both songs were recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary; other performers would eventually record one or both of these songs, including Elvis Presley, Chad & Jeremy, George Hamilton IV, The Clancy Brothers, and the Johnny Mann Singers.

In 1965 Lightfoot signed a management deal with Albert Grossman, who managed Bob Dylan, Peter Paul & Mary, as well as other notable folk acts. Also signing a recording deal with United Artists, he released his debut album, Lightfoot!, in 1966.

“For they looked in the future and what did they see
They saw an iron road runnin’ from thesea to the sea
Bringin’ the goods to a young growin’ land
All up from the seaports and into their hands” – Canadian Railroad Trilogy (Lightfoot)

To kick off the celebration of Canada’s centennial year, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation commissioned Gordon Lightfoot to write “Canadian Railroad Trilogy”, as part of a special broadcast scheduled for January 1, 1967. The song, written over a period of three days, describes the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the early 1880s.

The Canadian Pacific Railway was incorporated in 1881. It was Canada’s first transcontinental railroad. Built between 1881 and 1885, it connected eastern Canada with British Columbia. Now primarily a freight hauling railway, it was for decades the only reliable means of passenger travel to remote areas of Canada’s western provinces, and played a significant role in the development of that region.

Lightfoot’s song documents the ambitions and optimism of a young nation, eager to connect its individual provinces with a means to flourish with the anticipated prosperity of a dawning industrial age. He sings of a vast majestic and verdant land, soon to be tamed by men with steel hammers; soon to be bound by iron rails. The song was written with three distinct sections: a slow & poignant middle section, framed by more strident & faster paced sections at the beginning & end. Mimicking a locomotive as it slowly builds up a head of steam, the first section of the song gradually increases in tempo. Once again, after the measured pace of the middle section, the locomotive gains steam as it highballs toward the song’s reflective finale.

Of his now classic composition, Lightfoot has remarked: I played it for the CBC guy live at his desk before I recorded it. This was part of a two-hour special that was played on New Year’s afternoon. I got the idea to write it long from a mentor of mine named Bob Gibson, who is a major figure in the folk revival. He had written a song called “Civil War Trilogy,” which had a slow part in the middle, and I followed that pattern. Without a piece of input like that, I probably wouldn’t have been able to approach the song on that basis. The song says a lot. Canadian author Pierre Berton said to me, “You know, Gord, you said as much in that song as I said in my book [about the building of the railroad across Canada].” I appreciated the compliment.

Lightfoot has also mentioned a list of about nine of his songs which he always includes in his live performances, with “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” being among those songs.

When I asked my older brother Randy – the most avid Gordon Lightfoot fan I know – for some insights about “Trilogy”, he remarked on Gordon’s storytelling-style of songwriting. This led me to reflect on the bards of yore, whose fame originated from their tradition of oral storytelling, the ability to recount epic tales poetically in rhythm & rhyme as an intrinsic element of their societal culture. Clearly this is a songwriting style that Gordon Lightfoot has mastered, and inspired in others. Several years ago I set about writing a song to tell the story of a Civil War train wreck, and immediately I considered how Lightfoot, in his own song, had recounted the story of the shipwreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald; certainly a model worth referencing.

Gordon Lightfoot rerecorded “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” with full orchestration for his 1975 compilation album, Gord’s Gold; live versions appear on two of his live album releases. The song has been covered by John Mellencamp and George Hamilton IV, among others, with James Keelaghan performing the song on the Lightfoot tribute album, Beautiful. In an interview with The Telegraph, Lightfoot indicated that upon meeting Queen Elizabeth II, she had told how him much she enjoyed the song.

“Drivin’ ’em in and tyin’ ’em down
Away to the bunkhouse and into the town
A dollar a day and a place for my head
A drink to the livin’ and a toast to the dead” – Canadian Railroad Trilogy

While compiling material for this post I listened to “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” on YouTube numerous times. As I scrolled through the comments that had been posted there I was struck by the impact this song has had on many listeners and felt compelled to include a few:

Strapper Nick – I’m sure this tune has extra special meaning to Gordon’s fellow native Canadians, but I’m an American who loves it just as much. It’s my favorite Lightfoot song and I never tire of listening to it. It just stays in my head.

David Nyro – I’m not Canadian but the very moment I heard this song, a young man in college, it touched my soul. Yes, it’s proudly Canadian, but I think it’s universal. It touches on the mythic and the yearning of any new country.

Craig Perry – History never sounded so good and interesting until sung by Gord !

Jerry – I NEVER get tired of this incredible classic!!!

“Oh the song of the future has been sung
All the battles have been won
O’er the mountain tops, we stand
All the world at our command
We have opened up the soil
With our teardrops and our toil” – Canadian Railroad Trilogy

Sources:

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

http://gordonlightfoot.com/songbookcommentsabouthissongs.shtml

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

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

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