Train Songs (query)
David Albert
about trains, or with trains featuring prominently. Here's the list I've
come up with so far (and it should give you an idea of what I'm looking for);
I'd appreciate any others people can think of. Mail to me to avoid too much
traffic, and I'll summarize to the net if anyone asks me to.
City of New Orleans; Freight Train; Daddy What's a Train; Casey Jones;
The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore; This Train is Bound for Glory;
Who's Gonna Shoe Her Pretty Little Foot; Hobo's Lullabye; 500 Miles;
The Wabash Cannonball; The Canadien's Final Run; The Rock Island Line;
I've Been Working on the Railroad; Morningtown Ride; Blue Railroad Train.
Thanks in advance,
----------------------------------------------__------------------------------
David Albert | / ) /
UUCP: ...!harvard!albert | / / __. , ___o __/
INTERNET: alb...@harvard.edu |/__/__(_/|__\/ <___(_/_
aldridge andrea
>I'm trying to compile a list of folk songs (traditional or topical) either
>about trains, or with trains featuring prominently. Here's the list I've
>come up with so far (and it should give you an idea of what I'm looking for);
>I'd appreciate any others people can think of.
I'd suggest (on the net, because others may be interested) a most excellent
collection that is *in print* (came out in 1990), entitled _Scalded By The
Steam_. It's a big floppy paperback, with songs written and puublished over
the last century about train wrecks, primarily in the eastern and southeast
parts of the U.S., with copious historical information on the pertinent
accidents. It includes "The Wreck of the Old 97" and many others. I got it at
Powell's Bookstore in Portland.
--
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<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Sullivan
alb...@endor.uucp (David Albert) writes:
>City of New Orleans; Freight Train; Daddy What's a Train; Casey Jones;
>The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore; This Train is Bound for Glory;
>Who's Gonna Shoe Her Pretty Little Foot; Hobo's Lullabye; 500 Miles;
>The Wabash Cannonball; The Canadien's Final Run; The Rock Island Line;
>I've Been Working on the Railroad; Morningtown Ride; Blue Railroad Train.
add:
Orange Blossom Special, Folsom Prison Blues, John Henry, Blue Water
Line
Toby . Hughes
ADD: Canadian Railroad Trilogy, Railroad Lady, Choo-choo (Please Do), Night
Train to Memphis, Golden Rocket, I'm Movin' On, Texas 1947, Waitin' For a
Train (All Around the Water Tank), Jimmy Did You Know (We Were All Gonna Ride
the Train), Ticket to Ride, Steel Rail Blues, Six-Wheel Driver, Fast Freight,
Desperados Waiting For A Train.
More to come.
Steven Silverstein
Grateful Dead do a song called "Big Railroad Blues" which may be traditional, as
I know nothing more about it. "Mystery Train" could be viewed as traditional,
when traced back far enough.
-Steve
Bruce Tindall
WUNC-FM radio (address: Swain Hall, University of N.C., Chapel
Hill, N.C. 27599) broadcasts a special edition of its "Back
Porch Music" (traditional music show) dedicated to train songs.
You might want to write to them and ask for playlists from the
previous few years.
--
Bruce Tindall, Core Testing Manager, SAS Institute Inc., Cary NC 27513
Dani Zweig
Let me tell you 'bout Old 49
The fastest engine on the Santa Fe line
On the fourteenth of April
She made a desperate dash...
And she got there on time and she did not crash.
-----
Dani Zweig
da...@netcom.com
Roses red and violets blew
and all the sweetest flowres that in the forrest grew -- Edmund Spenser
Jerry Dallal
>I'm trying to compile a list of folk songs (traditional or topical) either
>about trains, or with trains featuring prominently.
There have been lots of good pointers to books and radio shows (although
I don't believe anyone mentioned Bruce Phillip's first Philo album,
"Good Though") so let me mention two favorites.
"Bill Mason" by Charlie Poole, a song of sabatoge (There where three drunken
rascals/That came down by the ridge/They came down by the railroad/And
tore up the rail from the bridge) and true love.
And "The Trusty Lariat" and soung and recorded by Sam Hinton and sung (since
the early 80's?) by David Jones (this is a hazy remembrance).
Major spoiler ahead (if you don't know the song) . . .
"Though he killed 300 passengers/Thank God he saved the child."
Steve Carnes
Well, if there was no crash, and the engineer didn't die a ghastly
death in the steam, and the fireman's daughter didn't warn him because
of a dream she'd had, then maybe it doesn't properly qualify as a train
song. "Successful transportation" song, perhaps... :->
--
Steve Carnes car...@ico.isc.com uucp: {ncar,nbires}!ico!carnes
"I prefer a rude vigor to a polished banality." - Utah Philips
Christopher Holoman
>Don't forget "The Wreck of Old 49"!
>
> Let me tell you 'bout Old 49
> The fastest engine on the Santa Fe line
> On the fourteenth of April
> She made a desperate dash...
>
> And she got there on time and she did not crash.
>
>-----
>Dani Zweig
>da...@netcom.com
>
On a similar note, I recall hearing folk singer Andrew Calhoun (whatever
happened to him, anyway?) sing a song from which I only remember a
couple of lines and the chorus
"First they sing a song about a train
Then they sing another song about a train
..
Boring, boring, boring, so boring
Nobody comes to the coffeehouse
Folk singers are boring."
Smileys all around
Chris
wayne greene
> I'm trying to compile a list of folk songs (traditional or topical) either
> about trains, or with trains featuring prominently. Here's the list I've
> come up with so far (and it should give you an idea of what I'm looking for);
> I'd appreciate any others people can think of. Mail to me to avoid too much
> traffic, and I'll summarize to the net if anyone asks me to.
>
> City of New Orleans; Freight Train; Daddy What's a Train; Casey Jones;
> The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore; This Train is Bound for Glory;
> Who's Gonna Shoe Her Pretty Little Foot; Hobo's Lullabye; 500 Miles;
> The Wabash Cannonball; The Canadien's Final Run; The Rock Island Line;
> I've Been Working on the Railroad; Morningtown Ride; Blue Railroad Train.
>
How about The Phoebe Snow, Panama Limited
Wayne G.
--
wgr...@sal.lonestar.org
TurboCit Salamandria -- (214) 238-5539
allen lutins
>alb...@endor.uucp (David Albert) writes:
>
>> I'm trying to compile a list of folk songs (traditional or topical) either
>> about trains, or with trains featuring prominently.
>How about The Phoebe Snow, Panama Limited
>
...isn't that originally a Tom Rush song?
--
***************************************************************************
Don't like my sig? Dial (800)NULL-DEV | allen h. lutins
| vu0...@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu
"Individualists of the world, Unite!" | VY8...@bingvaxa.bitnet
Don Coolidge
Tom Rush,"Panama Limited" (same song?)
Bill Morrissey, "Up On The CP Line"
Burl Ives, "The Little Engine That Could"
(well, my two-year-old loves it :^)
Gordon Lightfoot, "Canadian Railroad Trilogy"
- Don Coolidge
cool...@speaker.wpd.sgi.com
Melissa R. Landers
How about Charlie and the MTA? Do subways qualify?
wayne greene
> >How about The Phoebe Snow, Panama Limited
> >
>
> ...isn't that originally a Tom Rush song?
> --
Tom Rush did record Panama Limited, which is the name of a Bukka
White song. Rush's Panama LImited was composed of verses from
a number of Bukka White train songs.
Carl P. Zwanzig
Also look for a book called _The_Long_Steel_Rail_, it's got all sorts of
good stuff.
BTW, did anyone ping on Wabash Cannonball ??
z!
Carl Zwanzig
Jan Skurzynski
collaborated on called "Jenny Dreamed of Trains".
Written about Vince's daughter Jenny who (so he says) displayed an
early fascination with trains despite never having seen one. It's
the kind of song I loved from the moment I heard it...
Jan Skurzynski
Garry Wiegand
>I'm trying to compile a list of folk songs (traditional or topical) either
>about trains, or with trains featuring prominently.
Your topic is daunting! I've added some subtopics. Kindly post a summary
when this dies down.
Trains, proper:
The MTA Song / Wreck of the Old '97
(Chattanooga Choo-choo)
Working on Trains:
John Henry
Paddy on the Railway (a.k.a. Filly-me-oo-a-re-ay)
Drill Ye Tarriers Drill
(Mole in the Ground)
(Dink's Song (a.k.a. Nora's Dove))
He-Bang, She-Bang (a.k.a. Old Moke Pickin' on the Banjo)
Run, Let the Bulgine Run
Clear the Track, Let the Bulgine Run
(Paradise)
Riding the Rails:
Homeward Bound
Here's to You Rounders
Starlight on the Rails
(Last Thing On My Mind)
Metaphorical Railways:
This Train
Gospel Train
And a question: besides the MTA Song and Last Thing O.M.M., what other
subway songs are there? I don't think the Rice-a-Roni jingle qualifies...
is there a BART song yet?
Garry Wiegand --- ga...@ithaca.com --- Ithaca Software, Alameda, California
Gary Martin
And a question: besides the MTA Song and Last Thing O.M.M., what other
subway songs are there? I don't think the Rice-a-Roni jingle qualifies...
is there a BART song yet?
Dave van Ronk recorded a song long ago called, I think, 'Georgie and the
IRT', about someone who meets his demise in gruesome fashion on the
NY subway. And Michael McNevin, formerly of NJ, now living in the
Bay area, I think, has a song about getting arrested for jumping a
turnstile in the PATH train. And Dylan's 'Talkin' New York', says,
"After a rockin', reelin', rollin' ride, I landed up on the Downtown
side, Greenwich Village."
And then there's what Andrew Calhoun has to say about the topic:
First they sing a song about a train,
Then they sing a song about a train,
Then they sing a song about a train,
Folksingers are boring.
Boring,
Boring,
Boring,
So boring,
Nobody comes to the coffeehouse,
Folksingers are boring.
--
Gary A. Martin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, UMass Dartmouth
Mar...@cis.umassd.edu
Roger Vanderveen
I haven't seen anyone mention Orangeblossom Special.
Bill Pringle
My question - when and where did the "Wreck of the Old 97" occur?
The song "The Wreck of the Old 97" has come up several times during
this discussion, a song which I learned many years ago from my father.
(BTW - This was the first song to ever sell a million records. The
flip side - "The Prisoner Song" was the third)
The song contains the line:
It's a mighty long road from Lynchburg to Danville,
and it lies on a four(?) mile grade.
There are a number of states that have a Lynchburg and Danvile,
but I haven't yet found anyone who knows if they are the ones
mentioned in the song?
Any insights would be appreciated. If you e-mail me I will post a
summary of the comments.
Thanks in advance,
============================================================================
Bill Pringle Software Tools
Paramax Corporation Voice: (215)443-7500 X4023
Internet: w...@ivy.unisys.com UUCP: ...!uunet!mimsy!widener!gvls1!wrp%ivy
John Fereira
>In article <1992May11....@ithaca.com> ga...@ithaca.com (Garry Wiegand) writes:
>
>>
>> Gospel Train
>
>And don't forget "Soul Train" !
And you can forget the theme from "Petticoat Junction"?
--
+=============================================================================+
| John Fereira Al Bundy for President
| jo...@auspex.com "He's as good as the next guy" |
+=============================================================================+
Greg Bullough
>In article <12...@borg.cs.unc.edu> ber...@glycine.cs.unc.edu (Larry Bergman) writes:
>>In article <1992May11....@ithaca.com> ga...@ithaca.com (Garry Wiegand) writes:
>>
>>> Metaphorical Railways:
>>>
>>> Gospel Train
>>
>>And don't forget "Soul Train" !
>
>And you can forget the theme from "Petticoat Junction"?
>
commercials?
Greg
Wayne Schneider
"They do the song about the train
and the song about the train
and the song about the train
and the song about the train
Folk music is boring."
-- Andrew Calhoun
(heard him play this Saturday at the Charleston in Chicago)
-wayne
-------------------------------------------------------------
Wayne A. Schneider w...@nwu.edu
Institute for the Learning Sciences WA...@NUACC.BITNET
"O Koenigin, das Leben ist doch schoen!" --Schiller
Theron Friedman
|> In article <1992May11....@ithaca.com> ga...@ithaca.com (Garry Wiegand) writes:
|>
|>
|> And a question: besides the MTA Song and Last Thing O.M.M., what other
|> subway songs are there? I don't think the Rice-a-Roni jingle qualifies...
|> is there a BART song yet?
|>
Don't forget Duke Ellington's "((You must) Take the) A-Train". Do jazz
standards of long enough standing start counting as folk? .... anyhoo,
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross long ago put words to it, which are now
gratefully forgotten by one & all.
Larry Bergman
> Metaphorical Railways:
>
> Gospel Train
And don't forget "Soul Train" !
Larry Bergman
Steven Silverstein
"I Often Dream of Trains".
-Steve
Dennis Davis
>I'm trying to compile a list of folk songs (traditional or topical) either
>come up with so far (and it should give you an idea of what I'm looking for);
>I'd appreciate any others people can think of. Mail to me to avoid too much
>traffic, and I'll summarize to the net if anyone asks me to.
>
>The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore; This Train is Bound for Glory;
>Who's Gonna Shoe Her Pretty Little Foot; Hobo's Lullabye; 500 Miles;
>The Wabash Cannonball; The Canadien's Final Run; The Rock Island Line;
>I've Been Working on the Railroad; Morningtown Ride; Blue Railroad Train.
Here is a few I can think of that don't appear to have been
mentioned so far by others posting in this chain:
(1) Trains feature in a couple of of Robert Johnson's songs. These
are "Rambling on my Mind" and "Love in Vain".
(2) Jane Siberry includes a track "Something about Trains" on the
CD "Bound by the Beauty".
(3) The Notting Hillbillies have "Railroad Worksong" as the opening
track on their CD "Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time".
This is credited as being a traditional song.
(4) The song "3.10 to Yuma" is sung by Sandy Denny on the CD "The
Original Sandy Denny". This probably fits into the category of
Metaphysical Trains referred to by another poster.
Straying slightly from the original topic, "The Ballad of John
Axon" was the first of Ewan MacColl's eight Radio Ballads which
were broadcast between 1958 and 1964. This was a documentary about
a railway incident expressed in words and music. The Radio Ballads
were a much-praised series. The song "The Shoals of Herring" from
the 1960 Radio Ballad "Singing the Fishing" has become a folk
classic. I listened to a rather scratchy and abridged version of
"The Ballad of John Axon" a few days ago. It is well worth hearing
if you get the chance.
Straying even further from the original topic, the ASV record label
has nearly forty cassettes plus one CD of steam train sound
effects. These are mainly of British engines, but a few foreign
ones are also present. I don't have any, but I'd guess they might
prove a useful source of background noise while you are mainlining
on nostalgia and playing with your Hornby trainset.
--
Dennis Davis, BUCS, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom
D.H....@bath.ac.uk ...!uunet!mcsun!ukc!gdr!D.H.Davis
Jerry Dallal
>"500 Miles" (traditional)
There are similar traditional songs, but "500 Miles" isn't. It was
written by Hedy West.
Richard Marshall
>In article <1992May7.1...@das.harvard.edu> alb...@endor.uucp (David Albert) writes:
>
>Straying slightly from the original topic, "The Ballad of John
>Axon" was the first of Ewan MacColl's eight Radio Ballads which
>were broadcast between 1958 and 1964. This was a documentary about
>a railway incident expressed in words and music. The Radio Ballads
>were a much-praised series. The song "The Shoals of Herring" from
>the 1960 Radio Ballad "Singing the Fishing" has become a folk
>classic. I listened to a rather scratchy and abridged version of
>"The Ballad of John Axon" a few days ago. It is well worth hearing
>if you get the chance.
At risk of straying far enough away from the topic to be flamed, didn't
John Axon have the initials G.C. after his name? What did they stand for?
>Straying even further from the original topic, the ASV record label
>has nearly forty cassettes plus one CD of steam train sound
>effects. These are mainly of British engines, but a few foreign
>ones are also present. I don't have any, but I'd guess they might
>prove a useful source of background noise while you are mainlining
>on nostalgia and playing with your Hornby trainset.
Speaking from experience of helping my dad at model railway exhibitions
they can come in very useful. However, sometimes unexpected results can
occur such as the wrong sound being made for the wrong locomotive at the
wrong time. Thank goodness not everybody is pedantic!
--
lah...@cck.cov.ac.uk | Crewe Alex FC | Disclaimer: I want to 'ave 'er
----------------------^-----------------^---------------------------------
R.J.Marshall | Year 2, Modern Languages | Flat 2, 48 Middleborough Road
aka Tortoise | (French and German) | Radford, Coventry CV1 4DE
Ian Dickinson
>At risk of straying far enough away from the topic to be flamed,
Ditto.
>didn't John Axon have the initials G.C. after his name?
>What did they stand for?
Yes he did.
He was posthumously awarded the George Cross (the highest award for valour
given to individuals not in the services in the UK). He saved the lived of
a large number of passengers in a train accident and died shortly after.
A good topic for a song if ever I heard one!
Cheers,
--
\/ato - Ian Dickinson - NIC handle: ID17 Tax cuts don't help
va...@csv.warwick.ac.uk ...!mcsun!uknet!warwick!vato those without an
/I=I/S=Dickinson/OU=CSV/O=Warwick/PRMD=UK.AC/ADMD= /C=GB/ income
@c=GB@o=University of Warwick@ou=Computing Services@cn=Ian Dickinson
Jacob Mattison
Gonna lay my head down on that lonesome railroad line
let the 2:19 ease my troubled mind
and, diametrically opposed
Gonna lay my head down on that railroad track
when the train comes along, gonna pull my head right back
Somebody mentioned Robert Johnson- maybe these are his, but I've heard them
sung in so many different songs that I assumed they were traditional.
Jacob
--
Jacob Mattison |There's a land that I see
jmat...@cc.swarthmore.edu |Where the children are free
ja...@cs.swarthmore.edu |And I say it ain't far
love me,love me,love me,I'm a liberal |To this land from where we are
Paul M. Wexelblat
Is it true that Engineers wear Training Pants?
--
Nothing happens here
...Wex
wayne greene
> A couple more include "500 Miles" (traditional) and Robyn Hitchcock's very fo
> "I Often Dream of Trains".
>
> -Steve
Also, "Choo-Choo-Choo Boogie".
MYRON A LIEBERMAN
500 Miles
MYRON A LIEBERMAN
but I don't recall the author.
je...@ginger.hnrc.tufts.edu
|>
|>
|> And a question: besides the MTA Song and Last Thing O.M.M., what other
|> subway songs are there? I don't think the Rice-a-Roni jingle qualifies...
|> is there a BART song yet?
|>
Woody Guthrie's "Talking Subway Blues"
Larry A. Clifford
|>
|>
|> And a question: besides the MTA Song and Last Thing O.M.M., what other
|> subway songs are there? I don't think the Rice-a-Roni jingle qualifies...
|> is there a BART song yet?
|>
There is a great subway song by the Washington Squares called "D Train"
(or something very similar) -- on their first album, "The Washington Squares."
Get up each morning at the crack of eight
Take a train in a hole to a job I hate
Ridin' on the D Train, D Train line...
Never gonna be on time!
Or something like that. Folk-rock like a cross between the best early
PP&M and Timbuk 3 or World Party. I like the whole album a lot.
Larry
Art Duncan
"Are you right there Michael, are you right?"
by Percy French. It was about a particular railway in Ireland
(I forget which) that was so slow that you might as well forget
trying to get anywhere on it.
The story goes that Percy French was sued for libel by the railway.
He showed up several hours late for the hearing in court and was about
to be cited for contempt. In defense, he pointed out that he had taken
that particular railway to get to the hearing and that, had the train run
according to schedule, he would have arrived with plenty of time to spare.
At this point the court threw out the suit.
Another song that mentions trains is "Liza Jane," which has the words
"She died on the train."
Cheers,
- Art Duncan
dun...@crd.ge.com
Judy Miller
Did anyone mention the CD Transit yet on the Windham Hill label by
Russel/Stein I believe.
Judy
Bruce Reid
-- Sorry, I saw that in another post and couldn't resist.
--
Disclaimer: all opinions expressed here are mine, not those of my employer
UUCP: {hplabs|nosc|hpfcla|ucsd}!hp-sdd!reid CSNET: reid%hp-...@hplabs.csnet
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W. Bruce Reid, 16399 W. Bernardo Dr., San Diego, Ca. 92127
Bruce Reid
>
>Don't forget Duke Ellington's "((You must) Take the) A-Train". Do jazz
>standards of long enough standing start counting as folk? .... anyhoo,
>Lambert, Hendricks & Ross long ago put words to it, which are now
>gratefully forgotten by one & all.
I don't know about LH&R, but there's a recording (and also a film) of
the Delta Rhythm Boys singing it, and their words are good enough to
remember for a long time. Great arrangement. And, yes, I'd include
this as folk.
standards of long standing
Bruce Reid
>
>There are similar traditional songs, but "500 Miles" isn't. It was
>written by Hedy West.
Is that really so? I'm curious because there are several variants of
"Rueben's Train" and such fiddle tune/songs in the Round Peak tradition
that seem to have many of the same lines: "lord I'm one, two, three, lord
I'm four; I'm 500 hundred miles from home" and "if you miss the train
I'm on, then you'll know that I am gone".
wi...@dranet.dra.com
John Fereira
|In article <16...@optima.cs.arizona.edu> t...@csl.biosci.arizona.edu writes:
|>
|>Don't forget Duke Ellington's "((You must) Take the) A-Train". Do jazz
|>standards of long enough standing start counting as folk? .... anyhoo,
|>Lambert, Hendricks & Ross long ago put words to it, which are now
|>gratefully forgotten by one & all.
|
|I don't know about LH&R, but there's a recording (and also a film) of
|the Delta Rhythm Boys singing it, and their words are good enough to
|remember for a long time. Great arrangement. And, yes, I'd include
|this as folk.
I ran the sound system for a band a few years ago at a show by a group
called "Superstrings". Superstrings was three violin players, a viola
player and a jazz rythym section. They took standard jazz charts and
the violins and viola provided the horn parts. The rythym section was
excellent. Two of the violin players were Darol Anger and David Balkrishnan.
My old roommate, Joe Weed, organized the whole deal. Among other things
they played a great arrangement of Take the A Train.
Craig Smith
MYRON A LIEBERMAN
starts out "Please tell me if you can, what time do the trains roll in?"
McKuen also has recorded "The Art of Catching Trains" and "To Watch the
Trains". These are included on his Lonesomne Cities and Carnegie Hall
albums. He was rather prolific as a songwriter and poet in the sixties
and seventies (even earlier but not as well known in the fifties) but
I haven't seen much in the way of new recordings in quite a while.
Jerry Dallal
>In article <12MAY199...@pearl.tufts.edu> gda...@pearl.tufts.edu (Jerry Dallal) writes:
>>
>>There are similar traditional songs, but "500 Miles" isn't. It was
>>written by Hedy West.
>
>Is that really so?
Perhaps I shouldn't have opened this can of worms . . .
The version of "500 Miles" that most of us know and love
(through the singing of Peter, Paul, and Mary and the Kingston
Trio) is attributed to Hedy West. I have never seen it on
record or in print with any other attribution. (I have not
found it in Sing Out itself, but it appears in Rise Up
Singing--a Sing Out publication--which attributes it to Hedy
West and gives a 1961 copyright by Atzal Music, Inc.)
Hedy West was born and raised in northern Georgia. While
she is a formally trained musician, many of her songs are
traditional songs learned from members of her family. Perhaps
it would have been safer to say that "500 Miles" is a song
that Hedy West derived from traditional sources. But this
raises the question of when such a derivation ceases to be
"traditional".
John Altinbay
--
alti...@alc.com -- John Altinbay -- MIH -- alti...@netcom.com
===============================================================
There's a spirit that guides me, a light that shines for me
My life is worth the living, I don't need to see the end.
da...@yang.earlham.edu
Actually, "500 Miles" was written by Hedy West.
Dan Schatz
"Folking my way to the top"
Jerry Dallal
>>
>>There are similar traditional songs, but "500 Miles" isn't. It was
>>written by Hedy West.
>
>Is that really so?
Upon further reflection, I'm tempted to recant and say
that "500 Miles" IS a traditional song. Instead, I'll have to
claim incompetence (in the legal sense! My training is not in
musicology or folklore) and leave it to the folklorists.
As I stated in my last posting, Hedy West was born and
raised in northern Georgia and many of the songs she sings are
traditional songs learned from members of her family. It is
safe to assume that virtually every song in the oral tradition
was customized by the singers through which it passed. Thus,
it seems inconsistent to deny a song the traditional label
simply because we can point to the person in the tradition who
customized the version popularized by folk interpreters.
It is true that Hedy West copyrighted "500 Miles".
However, she copyrighted all of the songs on her first album,
including her version of the Child ballad, "The Brown Girl."
The liner notes are unclear about the origins of "500 Miles":
"500 Miles" took a trip last year through the pop
and country-music markets. So that you can hear it
without its traveling clothes on, I've sung it in its
original form.
Much has been written about the copyrighting of
traditional tunes. On the one hand, there is the copyrighting
of songs exactly as they were found in the tradition.
Someone--was it Pete Seeger?--who advised singers to copyright
traditional songs lest the record companies do it and keep the
revenues for themselves. On the other hand, there is the
copyrighting of traditional songs after they have been adapted
and modified by the artist. I'm not a lawyer either, but my
intuition says that this is appropriate for derivative works.
For virtually every other song on the album, Hedy refers to
"my modification of a song" or something similar. In any
case, the copyrighting of a song is not grounds for calling it
nontraditional.
Do any folklorists monitor this newsgroup? Your comments
would be appreciated.
da...@yang.earlham.edu
Adding to the general confusion, Townes Van Zandt begins his DELTA
MOMMA BLUES album with a traditional train wreck song called "FFV". An amazing
tune! Also, it bears mentioning that the best version of "Casey Jones" that
I ever heard (after all, there are millions of them) is done by Joe
Hickerson on his DRIVE DULL CARE AWAY (vol. 1) album. And by the way--
has anyone mentioned Junior Parker's "Mystery Train?"
Dan Schatz
"Dan, Dan, the Autoharp Man"
Toby . Hughes
David Allen Coe has a cut on one of his albums about a head-on collision of
two trains outside of Memphis. Can't remember the title, but there is a
line in the song something like "My God! Two trains, one track!"
TH
Art Urban (PROFS)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to Art for posting this plug.
=========================================================
The First Annual Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival will be
held in Boulder, Colorado July 30, 31 and August 1, 1992.
Featured performers for the event are Ann Fennessey, Frank
French, Glenn Jenks, Scott Kirby, David Thomas Roberts,
Jack Rummel and Ian and Regina Whitcomb.
Thursday night starts the festival off with a Ragtime Ball
hosted by dance masters Jim X. Borzym and Susan Frontczak
with the Mont Alto Ragtime Orchestra. Because of the size
of the hall, there will only be 100 tickets available for
the ball. For those not attending the Ball, there will be
an extended Bohemia Ragtime Society meeting at the Boulder
Theater where anyone who wants to play can sign up and do
so. This is a free event which we expect to go on longer
than the Ball so Ball attendees will be able to make both.
Friday and Saturday will feature Ragtime around downtown
Boulder and the featured performances both nights at The
Boulder Theater. There will also be "After Hours at The
Boulder Theater" where music, stories and good times can
be enjoyed until 2:00am both nights.
Prices:
Festival Packages (Thursday Ball, Friday & Saturday shows)
$35.00 per person
Concert Packages (Friday & Saturday shows)
$28.00 per person
Ragtime Ball Tickets (limited to 100)
$10.00 per person
Individual Concert Tickets (Friday or Saturday shows)
$15.00 per person
Tickets can be ordered by calling or writing:
The Boulder Theater
P.O. Box 1739
Boulder, CO 80306
(303) 444-3601
For more information, please write:
Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival
890 Yale Road
Boulder, CO 80303
We can supply you with info about accommodations,
additional things to see and do and many other things
about the festival, Boulder and Colorado. We hope to
see you this summer.
========================================================
One additonal piece of information. We are currently trying to get Max Morath
to appear at the festival. Max is a Colorado native and will be performing
in the Cripple Creek/Victor area a few weeks before the festival. Right now
we don't know whether he can make the festival or not, but as soon as I know,
one way or the other, I'll get Sue to post the results. Keep your fingers
crossed and thanks.
Glenn Blauvelt
--
Art Urban ur...@stout.atd.ucar.edu
===============================================================================
"I didn't know the Death Ray *had* two settings." - Tom Servo MST3K
===============================================================================
James Braunsdorf
and do not recall seeing in previous lists is called
BLACK SMOKE TRAIN and is on a new album by the
Red Clay Ramblers according to the DJ.
--
James Braunsdorf
The Gator
219-289-0777/317-251-7391
internet: old...@gator.rn.com
uucp: ..!uunet!trauma!olddad
Flip Breskin
soviet astronaut stranded in space by the dissolution of the USSR).
It's pretty funny, and available from Fred in Boston, on the flip side
of "Hot Frogs On The Loose" - radioactive frogs heading our way.
Fl!p
Craig Flower
Spike Driver Blues (John Hurt (or traditional?))
East Texas Red (Woody Guthrie)
Craig
Carl P. Zwanzig
ride the NY subway. He gets as far as the door, which then closes on
him and cuts of his head. Which continues to ride the train.
If people want, I'll post the lyrics.
Carl Zwanzig
zb...@access.digex.com
nora gayle rivkis
-Nora
--
"And though my hands may bleed and burn, I'll hold my broken world to me,
until her ugly scars have healed, and peace may reign again."
- T. J. Burnside
Jon Crowcroft
>Don't think anyone's mentioned "To Morrow" or "Hobo's Lullaby".
and maybe the blooze...
"trouble in mind"
(includes the line
...gonna lay ma head, on that lonesome railroad li-ine...)
jon