"Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep"
"For What It's Worth"
Buffalo Springfield
It's gonna kill the concert business.
The good news? Many tickets are sold a year out, maybe more, especially to the most lucrative tours.
The bad news? Will promoters have to give all that money back when ticketholders are too scared to attend?
This will be a giant public relations problem, never mind the outright cancellation of shows.
Traditionally, shows are rain or shine, if the act can play, you're SOL if you don't show. Especially Broadway. But will the public put up with this?
The public is scared.
And disinformation is making people even more afraid. Especially in a world where facts take a back seat to emotions, where facts are fungible anyway.
I've got a compromised immune system. I didn't think twice about it until all the nitwits in California decided not to vaccinate their children. They too are relying on bogus science, but it's how they feel that counts, and they feel that only they matter, that they and their children are inviolate, living in a bubble, and the rest of society does not count. In other words, no herd immunity. This didn't worry me until my doctor refused to give me the vaccine, since it is live. So if I go to Disneyland, if I go to your pre-school, I too could get infected and die.
But it doesn't have to be this way.
So, should we buy masks or not? Instinct says to, the surgeon general says not to, he says they're useless for the uninfected. But you want insurance, you want to wear one anyway, what difference does it make. And do you trust him? Or is he just trying to stop panic.
But panic is happening.
I just flew out of LAX. Masks were rampant. People got on the plane and immediately wiped down the armrests and tray tables, and during the flight the first person in the U.S. died, after Trump said no one would.
Let's make it about Trump. Not his re-election, which is what Fox and Limbaugh are talking about, but the lies. We now live in a land where the law doesn't matter, especially if you're wealthy, and science is out the window, and you wonder why people are getting behind Bernie Sanders.
And at least Bernie Sanders is promising a better future, whereas all the rest of the candidates, and Trump himself, want us to jet back to the past.
And I live in California, which Trump abhors. If Newsom takes action independently, Trump/the government will sue the state, just like with auto emissions. And the car companies didn't know which side to take. Because they wanted clarity, they wanted to establish a roadmap for the future, and now that was up for grabs.
I could envision dying in a car accident, getting cancer, skiing into a tree, but I never thought of dying by pandemic. And it's not how I want to go.
But I grew up with a mother who didn't believe in illness. So I'm not curtailing my activity, but how long until public places start shutting down, before concerts are canceled?
But it gets worse. There's a cascade down the drain.
All those venues have employees, who are suddenly laid off, so they have no money and they cannot buy anything, certainly not luxuries. And the economy runs on consumer spending, and when people have no money, it crashes. Billionaires and the rest of the rich can only buy so many cars, can only go to so many concerts.
And the music business has completely flipped. Used to be the tour was the advertisement for the record, now the record is the advertisement for the tour. In other words, most acts make their money on the road...but there might not be a road.
So they won't be able to meet expenses. Not only will they not tour, they'll lay off their band, their crew, there will be no stage construction, no tour buses needed.
And with no shows, the promoters lay off people. Maybe not at first, but if the crisis sustains...
And we have no idea what will happen. One thing's for sure, it's not going away very soon, like Trump said.
And like me, no one wants to die of disease, something they have no control over.
So people start hoarding supplies, like masks, because it's every person for themselves in America today. And then there are not enough supplies to service the sick.
And we've heard since Reagan that government is the problem, and costs have been cut because the free market reigns... The government is unprepared and the free market will make it so that companies will upcharge, like the Uber surcharge when traffic is heavy.
It was a distant story.
First it was in China.
Then overseas, Italy and Korea.
We heard stories but it couldn't happen here, because we're the United States and we're immune, and we can conquer any problem immediately. Like spam? It's been twenty five years and your inbox is still cluttered with junk.
Which reminds me of the environment. Do we turn a blind eye figuring science will have a solution, or try to solve the problem now, or be like Trump and say there is no problem, and that if we can just get the stock market back up everything will be groovy.
But most people have no savings. So, soon they will not be able to pay their mortgage/rent, food will become a priority. And the homeless problem will increase. And uncovered medical costs are gonna shoot through the roof, because of the uninsured and the underinsured. Who's gonna pay? You! Yup, that's where your tax money is gonna go. But you think you're entitled to 100% of your income, because the government wastes money. Or that you could distribute it better. Are you gonna kill the coronavirus single-handedly?
Somehow, all the talking points of the last four years, of the last four decades, have come alive with the coronavirus. It's your worst nightmare. And the rich are not immune. They're part of society just like the rest of us.
So everybody stops flying. They're already holding sporting events in empty venues.
Or maybe you believe you're immune, that it can't happen to you, that you can't go bankrupt because of medical bills. And then, just like with AIDS, someone you know dies. And you could solve that problem by refusing to have sex. But at least there's pleasure in sex. Now you can just be going about your business and lose your life.
So, you stay at home.
But food still has to be delivered. Were those people infected?
I have no idea where reality is on this. Whether a few thousand people get infected and only a handful die or whether millions pass away. We just don't know.
But we do know everybody is afraid, paranoid.
Isn't that what all the Democratic candidates other than Bernie are preaching? If you don't elect them, bad things will happen, only they can solve the problem.
But now we don't even trust the vote, never mind empty promises.
And suddenly, it's the educated elite who will save us, the ones the people on the right despise.
This is why Trump is afraid, this is why Fox and Limbaugh are getting out ahead of the story. Unlike the disorganized Democrats, the Republicans get on the same page and spin a story as it happens, before it happens. They control the dialogue. They blame the left to neuter it. And then the left cries amongst itself, whining that it's unfair as the right rolls right over it.
We no longer have faith in facts. And science. And government. And we believe that capitalism can solve all problems. What if this isn't true?
This is the trickle down effect. The corporations did not rain money down to the hoi polloi, but the inept government that Grover Norquist believes should be drowned in the bathtub exacerbated the coronavirus problem.
So, once again, you're on your own.
Going broke is one thing.
Dying is quite another.
No one can calm you down. You trust no one. And the news is contrary. So you're freaking out. Especially now that people are dying.
There will be economic consequences.
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Saturday 29 February 2020
Friday 28 February 2020
Final Train Songs
"I'll tell you a story of Jimmie the kid
He's a brake man you all know.
He was born in Mississippi, a way down south and he flagged on the T&N.O
He yodeled to fame on the Boston - Maine, the Wabash and the TP
From the old Grand Trunk to the Cotton Belt, he yodeled on the MK&T
On the Lehigh Valley, he yodeled a while, then he went to the Nickel Plate
From the old Lake Shore and the Erie Line, he yodels to a Cadillac 8.
He yodeled he way to the C&A, the Lackawanna and IC (Illinois Central)
He rode a rattler called the Cannonball, then he yodeled on the M K & T (Missouri , Kansas & Pacific")
These are the lyrics to "Jimmie the Kid," an autobiographical song written and recorded
by "The Singing Brakeman, Jimmie Rodgers in the late 1920's. Although, not as popular as his other Blue Yodels like "T For Texas" for example, it is still my favorite.
Jimmie Rodgers was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, as an early influence at the very first induction dinner. Hank Williams was inducted in year two.
Johnny Cash was inducted several years later, but not many Country artists of late.
It is important to note that Elvis Presley's first six singles, all recorded and released by Sun Records in Memphis were big country hits. Sam Philips realizing that Sun did not have the financial capital to break Presley, sold his contract , including those six singles to RCA for $16,000. When Sun artist Carl Perkins hit the Billboard charts with "Blue Suede Shoes" ahead of Presley's "Heartbreak Hôtel," RCA head, Steve Sholes called Paul Ackerman, music editor of Billboard, to check that they had not picked the wrong artist to sign from Sun.
There are few Country artists in the R&R HofF, Marty Robbins and Jim Reeves to name just two who I feel belong. "El Paso" what a classic.
Agree with many choices of Train songs from your readers. The train opened up America. Earlier songs like "Atchison, Topeka and the Sante Fe" and Chattanooga Choo Choo" still hold up pretty well.
The train was of great importance; opening up the west and connecting the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
That said, Jimmie Rodgers' songs reman most iconic to me because they were written and sung from the heart.
All the best,
Seymour Stein
Greetings Bob,
I didn't mention these on the phone but, a few more great train songs:
The Log Train and Pan American both by Hank Williams
I'm Moving On by Hank Snow
Johnny Cash had Train Of Love, Blue Train, and the live version of Orange Blossom Special (from the Folsom Prison album).
Regards,
Joel Smith
The Wreck of the Old '97.... Hank Snow, Johnny Cash and dozens of others...
John Mucha
A-Train Lady by Mink Deville
Tino Perez
Los Lobos - That Train Don't Stop Here
Jimmie Rodgers - Waiting for a Train, Train Whistle Blues
Junior Parker - Mystery Train
Rolling Stones - Love In Vain
James Brown - Night Train
Caroline Spence - Trains Cry
Dennis Brown - Westbound Train
Guy Clark or Jerry Jeff Walker - Desperados Waiting for a Train
Joni Mitchell - Just Like This Train
Elizabeth Cotton - Freight Train
Chuck Berry - Downbound Train
Los Lobos - Train Train Don't Stop Here
Delmore Brothers - Freight Train Boogie
O'Jays - Love Train
Cameron Dilley
Did anyone mention?
Genesis - Driving the last spike
Phish - Back on the train
Hugh Hillman
I was reading about train songs. I'm in the band Cocktail Slippers from Oslo, Norway. We are actually releasing our new song NIGHT TRAIN on Wicked Cool Records today.
It was premiered on Little Stevens Underground Garage earlier (Sirius FM) earlier today. Will definitely check out the ones mentioned here that I didn't know from before.
Thanks for your letters, they are truly enlightening, entertaining and inspiring.
Cheers, Hope from The Cocktail Slippers
One of my faves: "Hobos in the Roundhouse" by Bill Isles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liEZwapBgJg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v-S9U_-s7M
Russ Paris
I'm a Train Albert Hammond (maybe not cool to like this amazing songwriter)
Like This Train by The Mutton Birds (arguably the most neglected band ever)
Keep up the good work Bob
Mike Howard
Here's a couple more great train songs...
"Kundalini Express" by Love And Rockets "All aboard the express Kundalini!"
https://open.spotify.com/track/3tBECC9RQKsh8LJ2AVNN6w?si=vv753Ik7QJCj_tPdC4F8Lg
And this gem by Michael McDermott/The Westies... "Trains"
https://youtu.be/6xJniQCzjsI
Best,
Randy Miller
zootsnakes is right about Porcupine Tree "Trains" - great track
Also "Driving Wheels" by Barnes (Neil Schon on guitar?) the film clip is based on trucking but album artwork for Freight Train Heart has locomotive wheels in it?
Evan Linwood
Truckin' Off Across the Sky... The Guess Who
Ted Decker
https://youtu.be/KGbtHsEp8yc
Did you ever hear this cd? Two man band two?
James Lee Stanley
Kansas City Southern, by Gene Clark, get mentioned yet?
Cheers,
Brian Rashap
Does Charlie on
MTA count as a train song?
wlmorris
Still catching up on the train discussion, but you should definitely check out this excellent cover of Van Morrison's "Fast Train" by the late great Solomon Burke if you haven't heard it...
https://open.spotify.com/track/3691NKQMCy4TQTcdDMVeWL?si=NlAe5TDGQpmWTPygtQ5u0g
Barry M. Donohue
I was glad to see Blackfoot recognized, by some folks - great guys.
Another great train song is one that's a bit different by Steps Ahead -Trains
Hard to beat Michael Brecker and the boys. The sax work is world class, and the use of the EWI shows what a pioneer Mike truly was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j7DrcYTwmA
Enjoy
Menzie Pittman
How about "Ride This Train" by Johnny Cash, and "Engine Engine Number 9" by Roger Miller.
Steve Teasley
Hitchcock Railway / Who trivia. Chris Stainton (of Grease Band fame) played the piano parts on Quadrophenia, including "5:15." But he also played piano on "Drowned" employing a rollicking barrelhouse piano riff. Funny thing is, he'd used the SAME riff four years earlier (at a slightly different tempo) on Joe Cocker's "Hitchcock Railway." It makes for a fun segue… (Drowned): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_NM8387dDQ (H. Railway): https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hitchcock+railway+joe+cocker
One of my favorite train tracks: "Morning Train" by Jonathan Edwards from his great album Honky Tonk Stardust Cowboy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaTAr4vqQE4
Carry on. Bill F
Do you remember this….
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=lord+buckley+the+train
J.B. Brenner
I haven't anything from her lately that I like, but I find this older Neko Case song beautiful. First song I think of for train lyrics.
https://open.spotify.com/track/52hoRFOSSh7eqOGYmyP2rh?si=_p_DXxc9RJSC1BX3E-awJA
- Brett C
Too late for Silver Train/Stones? Jeff
Hear My Train A Comin'
Jimi Hendrix
Railroad Song
Lynyrd Skynyrd...from Nuthin' Fancy
Tom Clark
Maybe I missed it on your list, but another of my faves is the Chambers Brothers version of People Get Ready.
Great tune off their great Time Has Come lp.
Marty J.
See the Sky About To Rain.
Neil Young
Diane Gentile
The Lark, Harvey Mandel and Charlie Musselwhite's instrumental ode to trains. https://open.spotify.com/track/6OAfgUrt4W0gXYARicfdFc?si=XXXUVp5sTRKBLxol13Dn4Q
Cheers!
David Scott Carlick
Late to this but didn't see Procol Harum's Whiskey Train or CSN's Marrakesh Express
Gene.
Anyone mention 8:05 by Moby Grape? Ably covered by Dave Alvin and Christy McWilson.
https://youtu.be/VVoL0XM_rRg
Don Lorimer
I don't think anybody has mentioned The Blue Nile, "From A Late Night Train":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVNfv_4HAxk
Or Imogen Heap, "First Train Home":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-zBVF0GvXU
And did I miss Love & Rockets "Kundalini Express"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mnx8jnsYfc
Great fun. I'm only bummed that numerous readers beat me to listing one of the great hard rock bands of all time, the mighty Blackfoot ("Train, Train").
Chris Meindl
Joey Ramone - "Waiting For That Railroad"
https://youtu.be/Ei2wuyP-XPE
Jeff Feuerzeig
How about Love in Vain, by Robert Johnson; and covered by the Rolling Stones. And Fast Train, by Van Morrison, from his Down the Road album.
-Sheldon Lazarovitz
Robert Johnson. Love in Vain.
A woman, a man, a train.
Also covered on Sticky Fingers.
Tim Trummer
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_L%26N_Don%27t_Stop_Here_Anymore
sky songs
Junior Parker, then Elvis Presley's - Mystery Train
Rob Fraboni
How about Sweet Melissa by the Allman Brothers Band!
"Freight train, each car looks the same.. all the same
And no one knows the Gypsy's name"
X
Melissa Evans
Silver Train - Rolling Stones
Alex Walsh
Bruce " train song"
https://youtu.be/F30vQWUsfbs
Mitchell Greenbaum
"This Train" from Peter, Paul & Mary's first album
Steven Mandel
You're probably getting a deluge of train song recommendations now, but here's one more for you, if no one has mentioned it yet - "Last Train" by Allen Toussaint. Complete with "choo choo" background vox.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN_NBDz48m0
Tucker Page
I went to college with Steve Goodman. Lake Forest, north of Chicago. I saw him at The Earl of Old Towne. I always said the Class of '69 went in as freshmen (1965) dressed like the Kingston Trio, but left four years later dressed like long-haired hippies…proudly.
Then, I shot him at Telagi's in Boulder, CO in 1972. He joined John Prine onstage for a song or two.
And, then Save at Club Passim in Harvard Square in October 1972.
Love your emails.
Best,
Ron Pownall
Has anyone mentioned this pair from Los Lobos?
The Train Don't Stop Here
Everybody Loves A Train
Dave Logan
Here are a few more. Some may have already been mentioned.
This Train Don't Stop There Anymore - Elton John
No One Takes The Train Anymore - Holly Dunn
One After 909 - The Beatles
Nobody Takes The Train - Anita Cochran
Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull
Runaway Train - Soul Asylum
Wabash Cannonball - Roy Acuff
Fast Movin' Train - Restless Heart
Duane Duck
Ontario, Canada
Al Green - Back Up Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1vfVNGL5Wk
Levon Helm - Move Along Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG2YR9mMBLU
The Rainmakers - Frustration Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeAC2vPFlqY
Randy Cale
Hard Rock Tulsa
How bout ZYDECAJUN TRAIN by Wayne Toups & Zydecajun (Blast From the Bayou- Polygram) 1989
Sir Richard Lagneaux
I probably missed it but have to mention "New Delhi Freight Train" by Little Feat.
Written by Terry Allen
Feat forever. Thx Bob.
Michael Lille
Hear my train a coming
Hendrix ?
Rock island line
Raised on the weavers version
Jonathan Howard
Steve Winwood "Night Train" (all 7:51 of it) on Arc of a Diver
PAUL FLATTERY
How. How was Vashti Bunyan's "Train Song"
Left out???
Adam Samuels
Your train thing may never end....but, one more? Pretty Please:
Moby Grape's "805". Great simple tune with marvelous harmonies.
Cheers,
Jeff Douglas
The little train that could – burl ives
Jon Levin
Agree 100% on the "Downbound Train" call
Check out one of my other favorite artist's (Kurt Vile) take. Have you heard of him?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B7q-M1tZcg
Greg Goldstein
The distant echo
Of faraway voices boarding faraway trains
To take them home to
The ones that they love and who love them forever.
The Jam, Paul Weller.
1978 UK anthem.
Martin O'Donnell.
Glad to see this whole thread, and to see that a couple folks mentioned Fred Eaglesmith's "I Like Trains," but they left out his (Wish I Was A) "Freight Train" and also "Some Roads" ( There are some roads I wish I'd travelled
There are some trains I wish that I had rode
There are some bridges I wish I'd burned, Lord
There are some women I wish I'd never known)
Bob Voges
Arlington, MA
Taking Care of Business
Bachman Turner Overdrive
Scott Simons
Bruce Springsteen & The E' Street Band - Night Train & Fire (live Atlant...
Nobody mentioned this so I will. Night Train (the James Brown cover) sped up , and I think even better than James.
https://youtu.be/0A85VvUHSiQ
Dave Murray
Ghost Train - Marc Cohen
Just like a Train - Joni Mitchell
Move Along Train - Staple Singers
Peace Train - Cat Stevens
Southbound Train - Nanci Griffen
Anne Fennessy
I saw a reader respond that he loves Between Trains by Robbie Robertson from the King Of Comedy. When I was in A&R at Java/Capitol I got Doyle Bramhall to demo a beautiful version of the song for the Hope Floats soundtrack but it didn't make the cut unfortunately.
Gregg Simon
Bob ... did anyone ask ....
Pardon me, boy. Is that the Chattanooga Choo-choo?
breeves780
As a bona fide train geek, I must give my two cents.
"All Down The Line" (Rolling Stones)
"Silver Train" (Rolling Stones)
"Love In Vain" (Robert Johnson)
"Hey Porter" (Johnny Cash)
"I'm Movin' On" (Hank Snow; then Ray Charles)
"Everybody Loves A Train" (Los Lobos)
"Freight Train Blues" (Dylan)
"The Midnight Special" (The Delmore Brothers)
Cheers,
John Joran
Draw Your Brakes by Scotty
Phil Brown
I also love the 10,000 Maniacs cover of Cat Stevens "Peace Train".
Bryant Brow
One more Train song.
"Trains I've missed" by the great Walt Wilkins
Best,
Jeff Howe
My baby thinks she's a train - Asleep at the Wheel and Last Train Home- Patti Griffith
Anne Fennessy
'Back On The Train' (Phish). Epic.
'Monkey & The Engineer' (The Dead). Quite Enjoyable.
SMR
RED STREAMLINER by Little Feat — is that a train song?
Werner Balzert
Jerry Garcia and David Grishman did a nice version of Freight Train (Elizabeth Cotton) on their kids' album.
Hobo's Lullaby (written by ?), Woody G's favorite song.
Folkie: Starlight on the Rails (U. Utah Phillips)
Canadian Folk Trilogy, Gordon Lightfoot
Kingston Trio's song -- Fast Freight
New Riders of the Purple Sage: Somebody Robbed the Glendale Train
A Rainy Night in Georgia, sung by Brook Benton
Wabash Cannonball (I remember Dizzy Dean singing this on the "Game of the Week" in the 50s)
Tom Ayres
Now I know why I've been walking around with Dionne Warwick singing "Trains and Boats and Planes" and bits of "Downtown Train" by Rod Stewart running through my head.
Karen Gordon
I'm a bit late here but I'm surprised I didn't see Vashti Bunyan's hauntingly beautiful Train Song mentioned.
Everybody came to know it from True Detective season one thanks to T Bone Burnett.
It's become one of my all time favorite tracks.
https://youtu.be/6A6N4dunDxU
Chris Stein
My Baby Thinks He's a Train - Roseanne Cash
Brian Siberell
Sting's "Twenty-Five To Midnight"... it even has the "train rhythm" but in 7/4.
Armak
My fav. Midnight Train To Georgia, was originally written to be Midnight Plane To Houston, per Jim Weatherly , author. Label found it to be not soulful enough hence the change.
Barry Pollack
BTO take the 8:15 into the city to be Takin Care Of Business
Sidney Cooke
No one mentioned Novo Combo's City Bound - (E Train).
All the best,
Bob Musso
BTW I recorded Tom Waits' Downtown Train
Awesome thread.
It looks like "Tons of Steel" by the Grateful Dead hasn't been mentioned yet. There weren't enough Brent songs and this was a great one.
Thanks,
Rich Waters
Mandolin Orange - Train Song
https://open.spotify.com/track/51kGiM5b38qp1CKJqfR3ng?si=VYQDGjDyTSuU4iD1lQ6LGA
Todd Snider - Play a Train Song
https://open.spotify.com/track/63qYdOxVE0qmWALQuzU7ZP?si=2TAYVYH9ThG-uLU_CL7s5w
Chad Mountain
Guess Who - Pain Train
Gov't Mule - Railroad Boy
Jeff Griffin
Isn't it amazing that NRBQ is never listed on any list?
Train song? Next Stop Brattleboro -
Thanks
djkonk
Hi Bob:
Let's not forget SeaTrain's instrumental version
of Orange blossom special. I played it endlessly.
Peter
Texas Eagle by Steve Earle. Romanticizing the bygone era of trains..."nowadays they don't make no trains just them piggy back freighters and them Amtrak things..."
Tim Pringle
"From A Late Night Train", by The Blue Nile.
Robert Bond
Not sure if you got this one but if not, it's a great one from the last and perhaps the most agile "Jeff Beck Group"
Jeff Beck Group - New Ways/Train Train
Train Train starts at 3:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drawgbKsMng
George Gilbert
Homeward Bound?
It was written at a train station!
Alan Pell
I meant to reply as soon as I saw your original post. oh well.
I made this "mix tape" (cassette) of train songs in 1990 and recently updated it on Spotify.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4x2WnnDnCOIWMjcS7Nl81c?si=cMsvRfqwSSKqCwXqkRHF8w
Bobby Houck
Big railroad blues?
Don Strasburg
Has anyone mentioned "When You Need A Train It Never Comes" by Amanda Shires?
https://youtu.be/N53rN5J24Tg
Carrie Carroll
I'm late for the fun and may have over looked a previous mention, but... Al Green "Back Up Train" ... his debut single (and album)
They spelled his last name Greene for that release
Ed Brown
This one is certainly worth a listen...
"Train" - Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise
https://youtu.be/yK__-fGo_Ew
Enjoy!
Chad Randau
Don't forget LONG TWIN SILVER LINE by Bob Seger from the album AGAINST THE WIND
Steve Gerardi
Train in Vain- The Clash
Love in Vain- Robert Johnson/ The Rolling Stones
Blues In The Night- Bobby Blue Bland
Long Black Train- Lee Hazlewood
Different Trains- Steve Reich
Daniel Smith
"That train don't stop here" - East LA's Los Lobos
"Train called Rock n Roll" - Canadian rockabilly Band The Bopcats
"Midnight Train" - Canadian Jeffrey Hatcher
Bill Tibbs
Here's a couple more good train songs which I believe no one above has mentioned:
Darden Smith "Clatter & Roll"
Ray Wylie Hubbard "Last Train To Amsterdam"
Both of the above Dallas, TX natives.
Rosanne Cash "My Baby Thinks He's A Train"
This has been fun reading.
I'm really looking forward to creating a Spotify "Train Songs" playlist out of all these great suggestions.
- Allen Hare
Driving around the Gulf Coast of Texas on a beautiful day today I came up with some more……after many hours!
Silver Train—The Rolling Stones
Cheap Day Return—Jethro Tull
Love Train—O'Jays
Stop That Train—Bob Marley
The Midnight Special—Odetta/Johnny Cash/CCW
Bob Jameson
Surprised that no one mentioned my favorite, "Lost My Driving Wheel" or sometimes just "Driving Wheel." Originally by David Whiffen from mid-70's, his version was a bit lost in the sauce, but covers by Tom Rush, Cowboy Junkies, The Jayhawks, and Chris Robinson, all do honor to this beautiful piece of songwriting.
Michael Phelan
Leonia, NJ
Freight Train
Elizabeth Cotton
Runaway Train
Roseanne Cash
Love your posts, Bob
Jim Mullen
As The Crow Flies / Tony Joe White (& Rory Gallagher's 1974 definitive live version!)
Jd Dworkow
Westport, CT
Currently 29˚
Rudy as in Rudys on the train to nowhere and he's halfway down the line.....Supertramp
Authentic and true to rhythm and the feel of taking the train anywhere in Europe. Seamless & continuous rail not too mention the meaning of the song.....
M1
Johnny B. Goode, Chuck Berry
Bound for Glory, Woody Guthrie
My Baby Thinks He's a Train, Rosanne Cash
Peter Knobler
This deep cut is one of my personal favorites:
Fleetwood Mac's That's Alright off the Mirage album.
Love Stevie's vocal on it and it's interestingly got a little bit of a country vibe to it.
ANITA
I thought you were done, so I don't think I saw Slow Train Coming by Dylan.
Doug Gillis
Maybe I missed it on all of your train song lists but a big favorite of ours for this lyric ...
I wish I was a headlight on a north-bound train. I'd shine my light through the cool Colorado rain.
Song: I Know You Rider
Grateful Dead
Wendy Brickman
My favorite train song by a country mile is Last Train by Allen Toussaint https://open.spotify.com/track/1zFkWtm4zmjB4O3qAokRBX?si=8ewH97cQQmWYEJQ_6l6xbQ.
My apologies if someone already mentioned it.
David Weitzman
Partner
Primary Wave
Well, I'm late but what about the amazing New Ways/Train Train by Jeff Beck (The Jeff Beck Group). 1970. The Rough and Ready album
"Please, please, please go down the line
Never never never been on time
Take me down to the pit of dispear
Anywhere but away from here
Train, train, train you're doing fine
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Rollin' down on that dusty train
Hope we found what we have no yet
You will see time goes by
Many have been this way"
Steve Aliment
Love the 14 year-old with the Locomotive Breath reminder!
And…quite possibly the saddest and most tragic rock song I've ever heard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFmLVtSqQo0 (Stereophonics, Graffiti on the Train)
If you ever are on the verge of crying and can't quite get it out…this works.
(insert smiley face?)
Connie
P.S. Fastest way to remember the song you don't think you'll remember…is to hit "send"…
One of my fave songs of 1988(ish), Breit Brothers "Slow Train": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh1DtFw8mfI
A doorway smash of a train song was "M.T.A" from The Kingston Trio..that some of us remember as a campfire sing-a-long from the annual 2 week summertime, tick-infected parental escape. And Steve Goodman?…a never to be forgotten (and gone way too soon) master. I still frequently re-visit "Jesse's Jig and Other Favorites", a magnificent Steve Goodman collection.
In our loving community of Nashville, we're blessed to live among and see regularly the likes of Steve's long time friend and label mate John Prine and his amazing activist wife Fiona.
Come visit and get on board, start a love train.
Skip Bishop
Studio2Bee Entertainment
Nashville
"Freight Train, Freight Train.... Run so fast" ... Elizabeth Cotton .
A classic.
Norman Dolph
Click Clack Howlin Wolf
Jeffrey Roy
"Texas 1947": Click Clack Howlin Wolf
Mark McLaughlin
I gotta add one more
Train of Glory - Jonathon Edward's
Great Harp
Your friend
Dave Frantz
I don't think these 2 were mentioned:
Whiskey Train -Procol Harum
Station Man - Fleetwood Man
Jonathan NYC
It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry—but!
Such fun! Going to go roots—Elizabeth Cotten, Freight Train (got to see her in a church basement when I was a kid), and the original version of Night Train by Jimmy Forrest. Original versions of Train Kept a Rollin' should get a shout out (Paul Burleson, guitar!) and so should Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner, who Bob Ezrin called in for the Aerosmith solos ((Beck/Page Yardbirds still my favorite).
Thanks, Bob. This stuff keeps us all engaged with each other. Important now more than ever, regardless of what stripe of the flag one claims.
Mark Daterman,
NYC
'Driver 8' - REM. Fables Of The Reconstruction '85
Barry Privett
Too late chiming in on this but perhaps the greatest of all is Bob Marley and The Wailers 'Stop That Train'
(Catch A Fire, 1973)
https://open.spotify.com/track/3zyiIZPvHvZypLqQiN9zey?si=0TOx_lqDQ6Kqwpob3PUUlQ
Derek Hess
This is fun! Has anyone chipped in with Lynard Skynard's "Tuesday's Gone"? Metallica cover works too. Tim, NYC
Timothy Pistell
Great column the trains keep rolling!
Someone may have mentioned if so I missed them:
Albert King singing Match Box Blues:
"Cause if she flags my train buddy I am bound to let her ride"
Stevie Ray Vaughn and Albert did the song…
Billy Joe Shaver: Fast Train to Georgia
Numerous songs by The Byrds, Dylan, Marty Stuart and many others..
Watt Casey
Fuck by The Leaving Trains
Johnny Palazzotto
Solomon Burke: "Fast Train"
Alan Swyer
Fun list. A few personal favorites:
Can't Stop A Train - The Derailers
Amtrak Crescent - Scott Miller
Everybody Loves A Train - Los Lobos
Train - Uncle Tupelo
The Next Thing Smokin' - Tom Russell
Emperor of the North - Rick Shea
On The Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe - Johnny Mercer and many others
Jack Powers
She Caught the Katy has got to be on there, no? Pick a version.
Jeff Chesman
One more.
Rufus Thomas - Memphis Train
(Also coveted by Buddy Miles)
Dave Logan
People Got to be Free - Rascals
The Letter - Box Tops
You Never Even Called Me by My Name - David Alan Coe
Hear my Train A'Comin - Hendrix
Love in Vain - Stones
Mark Town
Catch a Train, by Free.
Christopher Palmer
Peace Train by Cat Stevens
Michael Solomon
Did I miss the meta answer: Todd Snider's Play a Train Song. "Play a train song, pour me one more round/Make 'em leave my boots on when they lay me into the ground/ I am a runaway locomotive, out of my one track mind/And I'm a-lookin' for any kinda trouble that I can find"
Mark Pelavin
Fast train - Solomon Burke
Ghost Train - Counting Crows
Chris Goerlitz
Bob Seger - long twin silver line.
zakkcar
First one that popped in my mind is Bob Dylan's "Duquesne Whistle."
https://youtu.be/mns9VeRguys
My friend Scott Litt and I recorded and mixed. Opening song on the album "Tempest". Beautiful song.
Great video too! Never saw it till right now. Bernie Sanders has a great cameo too as a flower salesman at 2:05 ??
Hugs,
Dana Nielsen
"Train Round the Bend" by the Velvet Underground. The most optimistic train song ever!
Thanks Bob!
Greg Remillard
Had to add "Are You Lonely For Me Baby" Freddie Scott
Joe Selinsky
Train Train by Blackfoot
Kundalini Express by Love and Rockets
Hot Rails To Hell by Blue Oyster Cult
Long Train Runnin' by the Doobies (I probably missed that already in the list).
Alex Terapane
You might let your readers know that Omnivore has been reissuing some of Steve Goodman's albums with bonus tracks:
http://omnivorerecordings.com/steve-goodman/
hyperboium
"Last Train to Lhasa" by Banco de Gaia.
From the electronic world music genre.
ANTHONY RHODES
Bob Dylan—Duquesne Whistle
Tiny Bradshaw—The Train Kept A-Rollin' (the original)
Tarheel Slim—Number Nine Train
John Fogerty—Southern Streamline & Big Train From Memphis
John Hiatt—Train To Birmingham
Rosanne Cash—My Baby Thinks He's A Train & Runaway Train
Interboro Rhythm Team—Watch The Closing Doors
—not to mention "I've Been Working On The Railroad"
Gregg Geller
"Click Clack"
1958
Dickie do and the don'ts
Swan records.
The lead singer was Gerry Granahan, who did a bunch of other stuff too.
https://youtu.be/fvyfHVai0Qs
Petticoat Junction...
Cover of Jimmie Rogers - Boz Scaggs and Duane Allman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OXlpgZoS2c
Does the list ever end?
Lou Judson
Tan Mahal- She Caught The Katy
Terry Micalizio
Monkey and the Engineer
Casey Jones
Both by the Grateful Dead
John Panzarella
Best Train Song Ever: The Midnight Special by Leadbelly
Victoria Joyce
Of course, Soul Asylum's hit "Runaway Train" but way lesser known:
https://open.spotify.com/track/3VLKARX7hcRSbr9KZ4KkRH?si=RP_8WlabS4qyl1JKqzJYQQ
Joe Perry's "rockin' train."
Alice Cooper's 'a runaway train"
https://open.spotify.com/track/1vgkzkJmHH3LaMFeiJruXF?si=F4bHRoTISP67kZGdejnCyg
Katherine Turman
Koerner Ray & Glover :: Southbound Train
The guitar riff that leads it off was also used by The Doors on "Love Me Two Times," probably thanks to Paul Rothchild, who produced both groups.
No videos of Koerner Ray & Glover doing this exist on YouTube, but this is from their Wikipedia page :::
Spider John Koerner and Tony Little Sun Glover met one spring day over 40 years ago, in Dave Ray's Greenwich Village apartment. Over the next three years Koerner, Ray & Glover would record five seminal folk-blues albums for Elektra Records, play at the Newport and Philadelphia Folk Festivals and inspire musicians yet to come. (Dylan wrote of Koerner's impact on his early days in Dinkytown, The Doors "borrowed" Koerner & Glover's recording of Johns "Southbound Train" as the basis for their hit "Love Me Two Times".)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsP6EKAzEjI
Muddy Waters :: Southbound Train
Different song, different train.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D5-qsfEk4w
Mink DeVille : A Train Lady
David Forman's beautiful tale of love on the subway. From Return To Magenta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFcrbTVSGO4
Keith & Tex:: Stop That Train
Are there trains in Jamaica? I lie awake nights thinking about this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnQTGNcNpI4
Bob Scaggs wi/Duane Allman :: Waiting On A Train
From Box Scaggs' first album after leaving The Steve Miller Band. Duane Allman sitting in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OXlpgZoS2c
Lord Buckley :: The Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3vbxeBvaU0
Randy Newman w/ Ry Cooder :: Gone Dead Train
From PERFORMANCE. Written by Jack Nitzsche & Russ Titelman. Perfect in every way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug1XU-XvjBI
The Valentines :: Woo Woo Train
"Bye bye baby, move on down the line…."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QivUvScv2wM
Tom T Hall :: I Miss A Lot Of Trains
"I used to lie awake like you, calling out your name…now I sleep good, and I miss a lot of trains."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8SoNxdBZP4
Iris Dement's version is definitive, but I need them both.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aBOrOGvmnU
Serpent Power ::: Endless Tunnel
Sounds like Country Joe & The Fish in grad school. In a good way. And a bad way.
David Meltzer's long, shaggy dog story : "Mr conductor tell me where are we going…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2ct-E8EgzI
Brian Cullman
Weirdly, I don't think anybody mentioned "No Expectations" by the Rolling Stones. Even weirder, I didn't mention it as it's a song a play often at my gigs.
Here's even more from searching my hard drive with the word "train".
"Railroad Train Runnin' Up My Back" by producer John Simon on his obscure solo record. He produced the Band's eponymous LP. An acquired taste.
"Blue Railroad Train" by Doc Watson.
"Southbound Train" by Mountain (on the Woodstock box).
"Freedom Train" Lenny Kravitz
"I Got the Train Sittin' Waitin' " by Waylon Jennings
"I'll Take The Train" by REM
"Jumping On Someone Else's Train" by the Cure
"Keep This Train Rollin' " by the Doobie Brothers
"Midnight Train" by Vince Gill
"Night Train To Memphis" Dolly Parton
"St. Agnes and the Burning Train" by Sting
"Stop That Train" Bob Marley
"This Train Don't Stop Here Anymore" Elton John
"Train Carried My Girl From Town" Kelly Joe Phelps
"Woody And Dutch On The Slow Train To Peking" Rickie Lee Jones
"Yesterday's Train" by the Byrds on their excellent "Untitled" album.
It's kinda crazy how many train songs there are, that I actually know of, but never think about. And some so worth remembering.
Thanks, Mr. Lefsetz for kickstarting this.
Scott Sechman
Glad another mentioned Savoy Brown's Hellbound Train. I actually used it in one of my posts attacking an earlier iteration of Congestion Pricing in NYC. Another time I used It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry.
Also happy that John Hartman mentioned Poco's Legend (with the link!)
I would add to that Poco's Running Horse (from the LP of same name) and from same CD, Paul's Cotton's Every Time I Hear That Train which I also used for another one of my posts v. the "Congestion Tax".
Cotton also penned Ride The Country from the A Good Feelin' to Know LP (Live version also worth a listen.).
Surprised no one mentioned the New Riders'Glendale Train
and of course Orange Blossom Special, a fave of country and blue grass artists covered by many county rock acts of our era including Seatrain, Old and In The Way and later iterations of the (Rick Robert fronted) Burritos, and southern rocker Charlie Daniels.
Also (double checking my Apple Music)
Dead's Big Railroad Blues
Cat Steven's Peace Train
Laura Nyro's Poverty Train
(Not sure this counts) Difford & Tilbrook's Wagon Train
Poco (Paul Cotton) Railroad Days
Creedence Graveyard Train
Because the early senders did not include links and I'll have some fun developing a train playlist (on youtube and Apple Music of my fave such songs:
Free's Catch A Train
Joni Mitchell's Just Like This Train
It'll be fun.
Thx for the idea. Need a diversion from my day job that often extends to the eve and of course the politics world.
Corey B. Bearak, Esq.
Bob,
Did anybody add "Train in Vain' by The Clash..
Or one that I mixed 'Trains' by Porcupine Tree??
Cheers,
Tim Palmer
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He's a brake man you all know.
He was born in Mississippi, a way down south and he flagged on the T&N.O
He yodeled to fame on the Boston - Maine, the Wabash and the TP
From the old Grand Trunk to the Cotton Belt, he yodeled on the MK&T
On the Lehigh Valley, he yodeled a while, then he went to the Nickel Plate
From the old Lake Shore and the Erie Line, he yodels to a Cadillac 8.
He yodeled he way to the C&A, the Lackawanna and IC (Illinois Central)
He rode a rattler called the Cannonball, then he yodeled on the M K & T (Missouri , Kansas & Pacific")
These are the lyrics to "Jimmie the Kid," an autobiographical song written and recorded
by "The Singing Brakeman, Jimmie Rodgers in the late 1920's. Although, not as popular as his other Blue Yodels like "T For Texas" for example, it is still my favorite.
Jimmie Rodgers was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, as an early influence at the very first induction dinner. Hank Williams was inducted in year two.
Johnny Cash was inducted several years later, but not many Country artists of late.
It is important to note that Elvis Presley's first six singles, all recorded and released by Sun Records in Memphis were big country hits. Sam Philips realizing that Sun did not have the financial capital to break Presley, sold his contract , including those six singles to RCA for $16,000. When Sun artist Carl Perkins hit the Billboard charts with "Blue Suede Shoes" ahead of Presley's "Heartbreak Hôtel," RCA head, Steve Sholes called Paul Ackerman, music editor of Billboard, to check that they had not picked the wrong artist to sign from Sun.
There are few Country artists in the R&R HofF, Marty Robbins and Jim Reeves to name just two who I feel belong. "El Paso" what a classic.
Agree with many choices of Train songs from your readers. The train opened up America. Earlier songs like "Atchison, Topeka and the Sante Fe" and Chattanooga Choo Choo" still hold up pretty well.
The train was of great importance; opening up the west and connecting the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
That said, Jimmie Rodgers' songs reman most iconic to me because they were written and sung from the heart.
All the best,
Seymour Stein
Greetings Bob,
I didn't mention these on the phone but, a few more great train songs:
The Log Train and Pan American both by Hank Williams
I'm Moving On by Hank Snow
Johnny Cash had Train Of Love, Blue Train, and the live version of Orange Blossom Special (from the Folsom Prison album).
Regards,
Joel Smith
The Wreck of the Old '97.... Hank Snow, Johnny Cash and dozens of others...
John Mucha
A-Train Lady by Mink Deville
Tino Perez
Los Lobos - That Train Don't Stop Here
Jimmie Rodgers - Waiting for a Train, Train Whistle Blues
Junior Parker - Mystery Train
Rolling Stones - Love In Vain
James Brown - Night Train
Caroline Spence - Trains Cry
Dennis Brown - Westbound Train
Guy Clark or Jerry Jeff Walker - Desperados Waiting for a Train
Joni Mitchell - Just Like This Train
Elizabeth Cotton - Freight Train
Chuck Berry - Downbound Train
Los Lobos - Train Train Don't Stop Here
Delmore Brothers - Freight Train Boogie
O'Jays - Love Train
Cameron Dilley
Did anyone mention?
Genesis - Driving the last spike
Phish - Back on the train
Hugh Hillman
I was reading about train songs. I'm in the band Cocktail Slippers from Oslo, Norway. We are actually releasing our new song NIGHT TRAIN on Wicked Cool Records today.
It was premiered on Little Stevens Underground Garage earlier (Sirius FM) earlier today. Will definitely check out the ones mentioned here that I didn't know from before.
Thanks for your letters, they are truly enlightening, entertaining and inspiring.
Cheers, Hope from The Cocktail Slippers
One of my faves: "Hobos in the Roundhouse" by Bill Isles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liEZwapBgJg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v-S9U_-s7M
Russ Paris
I'm a Train Albert Hammond (maybe not cool to like this amazing songwriter)
Like This Train by The Mutton Birds (arguably the most neglected band ever)
Keep up the good work Bob
Mike Howard
Here's a couple more great train songs...
"Kundalini Express" by Love And Rockets "All aboard the express Kundalini!"
https://open.spotify.com/track/3tBECC9RQKsh8LJ2AVNN6w?si=vv753Ik7QJCj_tPdC4F8Lg
And this gem by Michael McDermott/The Westies... "Trains"
https://youtu.be/6xJniQCzjsI
Best,
Randy Miller
zootsnakes is right about Porcupine Tree "Trains" - great track
Also "Driving Wheels" by Barnes (Neil Schon on guitar?) the film clip is based on trucking but album artwork for Freight Train Heart has locomotive wheels in it?
Evan Linwood
Truckin' Off Across the Sky... The Guess Who
Ted Decker
https://youtu.be/KGbtHsEp8yc
Did you ever hear this cd? Two man band two?
James Lee Stanley
Kansas City Southern, by Gene Clark, get mentioned yet?
Cheers,
Brian Rashap
Does Charlie on
MTA count as a train song?
wlmorris
Still catching up on the train discussion, but you should definitely check out this excellent cover of Van Morrison's "Fast Train" by the late great Solomon Burke if you haven't heard it...
https://open.spotify.com/track/3691NKQMCy4TQTcdDMVeWL?si=NlAe5TDGQpmWTPygtQ5u0g
Barry M. Donohue
I was glad to see Blackfoot recognized, by some folks - great guys.
Another great train song is one that's a bit different by Steps Ahead -Trains
Hard to beat Michael Brecker and the boys. The sax work is world class, and the use of the EWI shows what a pioneer Mike truly was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j7DrcYTwmA
Enjoy
Menzie Pittman
How about "Ride This Train" by Johnny Cash, and "Engine Engine Number 9" by Roger Miller.
Steve Teasley
Hitchcock Railway / Who trivia. Chris Stainton (of Grease Band fame) played the piano parts on Quadrophenia, including "5:15." But he also played piano on "Drowned" employing a rollicking barrelhouse piano riff. Funny thing is, he'd used the SAME riff four years earlier (at a slightly different tempo) on Joe Cocker's "Hitchcock Railway." It makes for a fun segue… (Drowned): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_NM8387dDQ (H. Railway): https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hitchcock+railway+joe+cocker
One of my favorite train tracks: "Morning Train" by Jonathan Edwards from his great album Honky Tonk Stardust Cowboy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaTAr4vqQE4
Carry on. Bill F
Do you remember this….
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=lord+buckley+the+train
J.B. Brenner
I haven't anything from her lately that I like, but I find this older Neko Case song beautiful. First song I think of for train lyrics.
https://open.spotify.com/track/52hoRFOSSh7eqOGYmyP2rh?si=_p_DXxc9RJSC1BX3E-awJA
- Brett C
Too late for Silver Train/Stones? Jeff
Hear My Train A Comin'
Jimi Hendrix
Railroad Song
Lynyrd Skynyrd...from Nuthin' Fancy
Tom Clark
Maybe I missed it on your list, but another of my faves is the Chambers Brothers version of People Get Ready.
Great tune off their great Time Has Come lp.
Marty J.
See the Sky About To Rain.
Neil Young
Diane Gentile
The Lark, Harvey Mandel and Charlie Musselwhite's instrumental ode to trains. https://open.spotify.com/track/6OAfgUrt4W0gXYARicfdFc?si=XXXUVp5sTRKBLxol13Dn4Q
Cheers!
David Scott Carlick
Late to this but didn't see Procol Harum's Whiskey Train or CSN's Marrakesh Express
Gene.
Anyone mention 8:05 by Moby Grape? Ably covered by Dave Alvin and Christy McWilson.
https://youtu.be/VVoL0XM_rRg
Don Lorimer
I don't think anybody has mentioned The Blue Nile, "From A Late Night Train":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVNfv_4HAxk
Or Imogen Heap, "First Train Home":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-zBVF0GvXU
And did I miss Love & Rockets "Kundalini Express"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mnx8jnsYfc
Great fun. I'm only bummed that numerous readers beat me to listing one of the great hard rock bands of all time, the mighty Blackfoot ("Train, Train").
Chris Meindl
Joey Ramone - "Waiting For That Railroad"
https://youtu.be/Ei2wuyP-XPE
Jeff Feuerzeig
How about Love in Vain, by Robert Johnson; and covered by the Rolling Stones. And Fast Train, by Van Morrison, from his Down the Road album.
-Sheldon Lazarovitz
Robert Johnson. Love in Vain.
A woman, a man, a train.
Also covered on Sticky Fingers.
Tim Trummer
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_L%26N_Don%27t_Stop_Here_Anymore
sky songs
Junior Parker, then Elvis Presley's - Mystery Train
Rob Fraboni
How about Sweet Melissa by the Allman Brothers Band!
"Freight train, each car looks the same.. all the same
And no one knows the Gypsy's name"
X
Melissa Evans
Silver Train - Rolling Stones
Alex Walsh
Bruce " train song"
https://youtu.be/F30vQWUsfbs
Mitchell Greenbaum
"This Train" from Peter, Paul & Mary's first album
Steven Mandel
You're probably getting a deluge of train song recommendations now, but here's one more for you, if no one has mentioned it yet - "Last Train" by Allen Toussaint. Complete with "choo choo" background vox.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN_NBDz48m0
Tucker Page
I went to college with Steve Goodman. Lake Forest, north of Chicago. I saw him at The Earl of Old Towne. I always said the Class of '69 went in as freshmen (1965) dressed like the Kingston Trio, but left four years later dressed like long-haired hippies…proudly.
Then, I shot him at Telagi's in Boulder, CO in 1972. He joined John Prine onstage for a song or two.
And, then Save at Club Passim in Harvard Square in October 1972.
Love your emails.
Best,
Ron Pownall
Has anyone mentioned this pair from Los Lobos?
The Train Don't Stop Here
Everybody Loves A Train
Dave Logan
Here are a few more. Some may have already been mentioned.
This Train Don't Stop There Anymore - Elton John
No One Takes The Train Anymore - Holly Dunn
One After 909 - The Beatles
Nobody Takes The Train - Anita Cochran
Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull
Runaway Train - Soul Asylum
Wabash Cannonball - Roy Acuff
Fast Movin' Train - Restless Heart
Duane Duck
Ontario, Canada
Al Green - Back Up Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1vfVNGL5Wk
Levon Helm - Move Along Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG2YR9mMBLU
The Rainmakers - Frustration Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeAC2vPFlqY
Randy Cale
Hard Rock Tulsa
How bout ZYDECAJUN TRAIN by Wayne Toups & Zydecajun (Blast From the Bayou- Polygram) 1989
Sir Richard Lagneaux
I probably missed it but have to mention "New Delhi Freight Train" by Little Feat.
Written by Terry Allen
Feat forever. Thx Bob.
Michael Lille
Hear my train a coming
Hendrix ?
Rock island line
Raised on the weavers version
Jonathan Howard
Steve Winwood "Night Train" (all 7:51 of it) on Arc of a Diver
PAUL FLATTERY
How. How was Vashti Bunyan's "Train Song"
Left out???
Adam Samuels
Your train thing may never end....but, one more? Pretty Please:
Moby Grape's "805". Great simple tune with marvelous harmonies.
Cheers,
Jeff Douglas
The little train that could – burl ives
Jon Levin
Agree 100% on the "Downbound Train" call
Check out one of my other favorite artist's (Kurt Vile) take. Have you heard of him?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B7q-M1tZcg
Greg Goldstein
The distant echo
Of faraway voices boarding faraway trains
To take them home to
The ones that they love and who love them forever.
The Jam, Paul Weller.
1978 UK anthem.
Martin O'Donnell.
Glad to see this whole thread, and to see that a couple folks mentioned Fred Eaglesmith's "I Like Trains," but they left out his (Wish I Was A) "Freight Train" and also "Some Roads" ( There are some roads I wish I'd travelled
There are some trains I wish that I had rode
There are some bridges I wish I'd burned, Lord
There are some women I wish I'd never known)
Bob Voges
Arlington, MA
Taking Care of Business
Bachman Turner Overdrive
Scott Simons
Bruce Springsteen & The E' Street Band - Night Train & Fire (live Atlant...
Nobody mentioned this so I will. Night Train (the James Brown cover) sped up , and I think even better than James.
https://youtu.be/0A85VvUHSiQ
Dave Murray
Ghost Train - Marc Cohen
Just like a Train - Joni Mitchell
Move Along Train - Staple Singers
Peace Train - Cat Stevens
Southbound Train - Nanci Griffen
Anne Fennessy
I saw a reader respond that he loves Between Trains by Robbie Robertson from the King Of Comedy. When I was in A&R at Java/Capitol I got Doyle Bramhall to demo a beautiful version of the song for the Hope Floats soundtrack but it didn't make the cut unfortunately.
Gregg Simon
Bob ... did anyone ask ....
Pardon me, boy. Is that the Chattanooga Choo-choo?
breeves780
As a bona fide train geek, I must give my two cents.
"All Down The Line" (Rolling Stones)
"Silver Train" (Rolling Stones)
"Love In Vain" (Robert Johnson)
"Hey Porter" (Johnny Cash)
"I'm Movin' On" (Hank Snow; then Ray Charles)
"Everybody Loves A Train" (Los Lobos)
"Freight Train Blues" (Dylan)
"The Midnight Special" (The Delmore Brothers)
Cheers,
John Joran
Draw Your Brakes by Scotty
Phil Brown
I also love the 10,000 Maniacs cover of Cat Stevens "Peace Train".
Bryant Brow
One more Train song.
"Trains I've missed" by the great Walt Wilkins
Best,
Jeff Howe
My baby thinks she's a train - Asleep at the Wheel and Last Train Home- Patti Griffith
Anne Fennessy
'Back On The Train' (Phish). Epic.
'Monkey & The Engineer' (The Dead). Quite Enjoyable.
SMR
RED STREAMLINER by Little Feat — is that a train song?
Werner Balzert
Jerry Garcia and David Grishman did a nice version of Freight Train (Elizabeth Cotton) on their kids' album.
Hobo's Lullaby (written by ?), Woody G's favorite song.
Folkie: Starlight on the Rails (U. Utah Phillips)
Canadian Folk Trilogy, Gordon Lightfoot
Kingston Trio's song -- Fast Freight
New Riders of the Purple Sage: Somebody Robbed the Glendale Train
A Rainy Night in Georgia, sung by Brook Benton
Wabash Cannonball (I remember Dizzy Dean singing this on the "Game of the Week" in the 50s)
Tom Ayres
Now I know why I've been walking around with Dionne Warwick singing "Trains and Boats and Planes" and bits of "Downtown Train" by Rod Stewart running through my head.
Karen Gordon
I'm a bit late here but I'm surprised I didn't see Vashti Bunyan's hauntingly beautiful Train Song mentioned.
Everybody came to know it from True Detective season one thanks to T Bone Burnett.
It's become one of my all time favorite tracks.
https://youtu.be/6A6N4dunDxU
Chris Stein
My Baby Thinks He's a Train - Roseanne Cash
Brian Siberell
Sting's "Twenty-Five To Midnight"... it even has the "train rhythm" but in 7/4.
Armak
My fav. Midnight Train To Georgia, was originally written to be Midnight Plane To Houston, per Jim Weatherly , author. Label found it to be not soulful enough hence the change.
Barry Pollack
BTO take the 8:15 into the city to be Takin Care Of Business
Sidney Cooke
No one mentioned Novo Combo's City Bound - (E Train).
All the best,
Bob Musso
BTW I recorded Tom Waits' Downtown Train
Awesome thread.
It looks like "Tons of Steel" by the Grateful Dead hasn't been mentioned yet. There weren't enough Brent songs and this was a great one.
Thanks,
Rich Waters
Mandolin Orange - Train Song
https://open.spotify.com/track/51kGiM5b38qp1CKJqfR3ng?si=VYQDGjDyTSuU4iD1lQ6LGA
Todd Snider - Play a Train Song
https://open.spotify.com/track/63qYdOxVE0qmWALQuzU7ZP?si=2TAYVYH9ThG-uLU_CL7s5w
Chad Mountain
Guess Who - Pain Train
Gov't Mule - Railroad Boy
Jeff Griffin
Isn't it amazing that NRBQ is never listed on any list?
Train song? Next Stop Brattleboro -
Thanks
djkonk
Hi Bob:
Let's not forget SeaTrain's instrumental version
of Orange blossom special. I played it endlessly.
Peter
Texas Eagle by Steve Earle. Romanticizing the bygone era of trains..."nowadays they don't make no trains just them piggy back freighters and them Amtrak things..."
Tim Pringle
"From A Late Night Train", by The Blue Nile.
Robert Bond
Not sure if you got this one but if not, it's a great one from the last and perhaps the most agile "Jeff Beck Group"
Jeff Beck Group - New Ways/Train Train
Train Train starts at 3:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drawgbKsMng
George Gilbert
Homeward Bound?
It was written at a train station!
Alan Pell
I meant to reply as soon as I saw your original post. oh well.
I made this "mix tape" (cassette) of train songs in 1990 and recently updated it on Spotify.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4x2WnnDnCOIWMjcS7Nl81c?si=cMsvRfqwSSKqCwXqkRHF8w
Bobby Houck
Big railroad blues?
Don Strasburg
Has anyone mentioned "When You Need A Train It Never Comes" by Amanda Shires?
https://youtu.be/N53rN5J24Tg
Carrie Carroll
I'm late for the fun and may have over looked a previous mention, but... Al Green "Back Up Train" ... his debut single (and album)
They spelled his last name Greene for that release
Ed Brown
This one is certainly worth a listen...
"Train" - Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise
https://youtu.be/yK__-fGo_Ew
Enjoy!
Chad Randau
Don't forget LONG TWIN SILVER LINE by Bob Seger from the album AGAINST THE WIND
Steve Gerardi
Train in Vain- The Clash
Love in Vain- Robert Johnson/ The Rolling Stones
Blues In The Night- Bobby Blue Bland
Long Black Train- Lee Hazlewood
Different Trains- Steve Reich
Daniel Smith
"That train don't stop here" - East LA's Los Lobos
"Train called Rock n Roll" - Canadian rockabilly Band The Bopcats
"Midnight Train" - Canadian Jeffrey Hatcher
Bill Tibbs
Here's a couple more good train songs which I believe no one above has mentioned:
Darden Smith "Clatter & Roll"
Ray Wylie Hubbard "Last Train To Amsterdam"
Both of the above Dallas, TX natives.
Rosanne Cash "My Baby Thinks He's A Train"
This has been fun reading.
I'm really looking forward to creating a Spotify "Train Songs" playlist out of all these great suggestions.
- Allen Hare
Driving around the Gulf Coast of Texas on a beautiful day today I came up with some more……after many hours!
Silver Train—The Rolling Stones
Cheap Day Return—Jethro Tull
Love Train—O'Jays
Stop That Train—Bob Marley
The Midnight Special—Odetta/Johnny Cash/CCW
Bob Jameson
Surprised that no one mentioned my favorite, "Lost My Driving Wheel" or sometimes just "Driving Wheel." Originally by David Whiffen from mid-70's, his version was a bit lost in the sauce, but covers by Tom Rush, Cowboy Junkies, The Jayhawks, and Chris Robinson, all do honor to this beautiful piece of songwriting.
Michael Phelan
Leonia, NJ
Freight Train
Elizabeth Cotton
Runaway Train
Roseanne Cash
Love your posts, Bob
Jim Mullen
As The Crow Flies / Tony Joe White (& Rory Gallagher's 1974 definitive live version!)
Jd Dworkow
Westport, CT
Currently 29˚
Rudy as in Rudys on the train to nowhere and he's halfway down the line.....Supertramp
Authentic and true to rhythm and the feel of taking the train anywhere in Europe. Seamless & continuous rail not too mention the meaning of the song.....
M1
Johnny B. Goode, Chuck Berry
Bound for Glory, Woody Guthrie
My Baby Thinks He's a Train, Rosanne Cash
Peter Knobler
This deep cut is one of my personal favorites:
Fleetwood Mac's That's Alright off the Mirage album.
Love Stevie's vocal on it and it's interestingly got a little bit of a country vibe to it.
ANITA
I thought you were done, so I don't think I saw Slow Train Coming by Dylan.
Doug Gillis
Maybe I missed it on all of your train song lists but a big favorite of ours for this lyric ...
I wish I was a headlight on a north-bound train. I'd shine my light through the cool Colorado rain.
Song: I Know You Rider
Grateful Dead
Wendy Brickman
My favorite train song by a country mile is Last Train by Allen Toussaint https://open.spotify.com/track/1zFkWtm4zmjB4O3qAokRBX?si=8ewH97cQQmWYEJQ_6l6xbQ.
My apologies if someone already mentioned it.
David Weitzman
Partner
Primary Wave
Well, I'm late but what about the amazing New Ways/Train Train by Jeff Beck (The Jeff Beck Group). 1970. The Rough and Ready album
"Please, please, please go down the line
Never never never been on time
Take me down to the pit of dispear
Anywhere but away from here
Train, train, train you're doing fine
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Rollin' down on that dusty train
Hope we found what we have no yet
You will see time goes by
Many have been this way"
Steve Aliment
Love the 14 year-old with the Locomotive Breath reminder!
And…quite possibly the saddest and most tragic rock song I've ever heard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFmLVtSqQo0 (Stereophonics, Graffiti on the Train)
If you ever are on the verge of crying and can't quite get it out…this works.
(insert smiley face?)
Connie
P.S. Fastest way to remember the song you don't think you'll remember…is to hit "send"…
One of my fave songs of 1988(ish), Breit Brothers "Slow Train": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh1DtFw8mfI
A doorway smash of a train song was "M.T.A" from The Kingston Trio..that some of us remember as a campfire sing-a-long from the annual 2 week summertime, tick-infected parental escape. And Steve Goodman?…a never to be forgotten (and gone way too soon) master. I still frequently re-visit "Jesse's Jig and Other Favorites", a magnificent Steve Goodman collection.
In our loving community of Nashville, we're blessed to live among and see regularly the likes of Steve's long time friend and label mate John Prine and his amazing activist wife Fiona.
Come visit and get on board, start a love train.
Skip Bishop
Studio2Bee Entertainment
Nashville
"Freight Train, Freight Train.... Run so fast" ... Elizabeth Cotton .
A classic.
Norman Dolph
Click Clack Howlin Wolf
Jeffrey Roy
"Texas 1947": Click Clack Howlin Wolf
Mark McLaughlin
I gotta add one more
Train of Glory - Jonathon Edward's
Great Harp
Your friend
Dave Frantz
I don't think these 2 were mentioned:
Whiskey Train -Procol Harum
Station Man - Fleetwood Man
Jonathan NYC
It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry—but!
Such fun! Going to go roots—Elizabeth Cotten, Freight Train (got to see her in a church basement when I was a kid), and the original version of Night Train by Jimmy Forrest. Original versions of Train Kept a Rollin' should get a shout out (Paul Burleson, guitar!) and so should Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner, who Bob Ezrin called in for the Aerosmith solos ((Beck/Page Yardbirds still my favorite).
Thanks, Bob. This stuff keeps us all engaged with each other. Important now more than ever, regardless of what stripe of the flag one claims.
Mark Daterman,
NYC
'Driver 8' - REM. Fables Of The Reconstruction '85
Barry Privett
Too late chiming in on this but perhaps the greatest of all is Bob Marley and The Wailers 'Stop That Train'
(Catch A Fire, 1973)
https://open.spotify.com/track/3zyiIZPvHvZypLqQiN9zey?si=0TOx_lqDQ6Kqwpob3PUUlQ
Derek Hess
This is fun! Has anyone chipped in with Lynard Skynard's "Tuesday's Gone"? Metallica cover works too. Tim, NYC
Timothy Pistell
Great column the trains keep rolling!
Someone may have mentioned if so I missed them:
Albert King singing Match Box Blues:
"Cause if she flags my train buddy I am bound to let her ride"
Stevie Ray Vaughn and Albert did the song…
Billy Joe Shaver: Fast Train to Georgia
Numerous songs by The Byrds, Dylan, Marty Stuart and many others..
Watt Casey
Fuck by The Leaving Trains
Johnny Palazzotto
Solomon Burke: "Fast Train"
Alan Swyer
Fun list. A few personal favorites:
Can't Stop A Train - The Derailers
Amtrak Crescent - Scott Miller
Everybody Loves A Train - Los Lobos
Train - Uncle Tupelo
The Next Thing Smokin' - Tom Russell
Emperor of the North - Rick Shea
On The Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe - Johnny Mercer and many others
Jack Powers
She Caught the Katy has got to be on there, no? Pick a version.
Jeff Chesman
One more.
Rufus Thomas - Memphis Train
(Also coveted by Buddy Miles)
Dave Logan
People Got to be Free - Rascals
The Letter - Box Tops
You Never Even Called Me by My Name - David Alan Coe
Hear my Train A'Comin - Hendrix
Love in Vain - Stones
Mark Town
Catch a Train, by Free.
Christopher Palmer
Peace Train by Cat Stevens
Michael Solomon
Did I miss the meta answer: Todd Snider's Play a Train Song. "Play a train song, pour me one more round/Make 'em leave my boots on when they lay me into the ground/ I am a runaway locomotive, out of my one track mind/And I'm a-lookin' for any kinda trouble that I can find"
Mark Pelavin
Fast train - Solomon Burke
Ghost Train - Counting Crows
Chris Goerlitz
Bob Seger - long twin silver line.
zakkcar
First one that popped in my mind is Bob Dylan's "Duquesne Whistle."
https://youtu.be/mns9VeRguys
My friend Scott Litt and I recorded and mixed. Opening song on the album "Tempest". Beautiful song.
Great video too! Never saw it till right now. Bernie Sanders has a great cameo too as a flower salesman at 2:05 ??
Hugs,
Dana Nielsen
"Train Round the Bend" by the Velvet Underground. The most optimistic train song ever!
Thanks Bob!
Greg Remillard
Had to add "Are You Lonely For Me Baby" Freddie Scott
Joe Selinsky
Train Train by Blackfoot
Kundalini Express by Love and Rockets
Hot Rails To Hell by Blue Oyster Cult
Long Train Runnin' by the Doobies (I probably missed that already in the list).
Alex Terapane
You might let your readers know that Omnivore has been reissuing some of Steve Goodman's albums with bonus tracks:
http://omnivorerecordings.com/steve-goodman/
hyperboium
"Last Train to Lhasa" by Banco de Gaia.
From the electronic world music genre.
ANTHONY RHODES
Bob Dylan—Duquesne Whistle
Tiny Bradshaw—The Train Kept A-Rollin' (the original)
Tarheel Slim—Number Nine Train
John Fogerty—Southern Streamline & Big Train From Memphis
John Hiatt—Train To Birmingham
Rosanne Cash—My Baby Thinks He's A Train & Runaway Train
Interboro Rhythm Team—Watch The Closing Doors
—not to mention "I've Been Working On The Railroad"
Gregg Geller
"Click Clack"
1958
Dickie do and the don'ts
Swan records.
The lead singer was Gerry Granahan, who did a bunch of other stuff too.
https://youtu.be/fvyfHVai0Qs
Petticoat Junction...
Cover of Jimmie Rogers - Boz Scaggs and Duane Allman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OXlpgZoS2c
Does the list ever end?
Lou Judson
Tan Mahal- She Caught The Katy
Terry Micalizio
Monkey and the Engineer
Casey Jones
Both by the Grateful Dead
John Panzarella
Best Train Song Ever: The Midnight Special by Leadbelly
Victoria Joyce
Of course, Soul Asylum's hit "Runaway Train" but way lesser known:
https://open.spotify.com/track/3VLKARX7hcRSbr9KZ4KkRH?si=RP_8WlabS4qyl1JKqzJYQQ
Joe Perry's "rockin' train."
Alice Cooper's 'a runaway train"
https://open.spotify.com/track/1vgkzkJmHH3LaMFeiJruXF?si=F4bHRoTISP67kZGdejnCyg
Katherine Turman
Koerner Ray & Glover :: Southbound Train
The guitar riff that leads it off was also used by The Doors on "Love Me Two Times," probably thanks to Paul Rothchild, who produced both groups.
No videos of Koerner Ray & Glover doing this exist on YouTube, but this is from their Wikipedia page :::
Spider John Koerner and Tony Little Sun Glover met one spring day over 40 years ago, in Dave Ray's Greenwich Village apartment. Over the next three years Koerner, Ray & Glover would record five seminal folk-blues albums for Elektra Records, play at the Newport and Philadelphia Folk Festivals and inspire musicians yet to come. (Dylan wrote of Koerner's impact on his early days in Dinkytown, The Doors "borrowed" Koerner & Glover's recording of Johns "Southbound Train" as the basis for their hit "Love Me Two Times".)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsP6EKAzEjI
Muddy Waters :: Southbound Train
Different song, different train.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D5-qsfEk4w
Mink DeVille : A Train Lady
David Forman's beautiful tale of love on the subway. From Return To Magenta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFcrbTVSGO4
Keith & Tex:: Stop That Train
Are there trains in Jamaica? I lie awake nights thinking about this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnQTGNcNpI4
Bob Scaggs wi/Duane Allman :: Waiting On A Train
From Box Scaggs' first album after leaving The Steve Miller Band. Duane Allman sitting in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OXlpgZoS2c
Lord Buckley :: The Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3vbxeBvaU0
Randy Newman w/ Ry Cooder :: Gone Dead Train
From PERFORMANCE. Written by Jack Nitzsche & Russ Titelman. Perfect in every way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug1XU-XvjBI
The Valentines :: Woo Woo Train
"Bye bye baby, move on down the line…."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QivUvScv2wM
Tom T Hall :: I Miss A Lot Of Trains
"I used to lie awake like you, calling out your name…now I sleep good, and I miss a lot of trains."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8SoNxdBZP4
Iris Dement's version is definitive, but I need them both.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aBOrOGvmnU
Serpent Power ::: Endless Tunnel
Sounds like Country Joe & The Fish in grad school. In a good way. And a bad way.
David Meltzer's long, shaggy dog story : "Mr conductor tell me where are we going…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2ct-E8EgzI
Brian Cullman
Weirdly, I don't think anybody mentioned "No Expectations" by the Rolling Stones. Even weirder, I didn't mention it as it's a song a play often at my gigs.
Here's even more from searching my hard drive with the word "train".
"Railroad Train Runnin' Up My Back" by producer John Simon on his obscure solo record. He produced the Band's eponymous LP. An acquired taste.
"Blue Railroad Train" by Doc Watson.
"Southbound Train" by Mountain (on the Woodstock box).
"Freedom Train" Lenny Kravitz
"I Got the Train Sittin' Waitin' " by Waylon Jennings
"I'll Take The Train" by REM
"Jumping On Someone Else's Train" by the Cure
"Keep This Train Rollin' " by the Doobie Brothers
"Midnight Train" by Vince Gill
"Night Train To Memphis" Dolly Parton
"St. Agnes and the Burning Train" by Sting
"Stop That Train" Bob Marley
"This Train Don't Stop Here Anymore" Elton John
"Train Carried My Girl From Town" Kelly Joe Phelps
"Woody And Dutch On The Slow Train To Peking" Rickie Lee Jones
"Yesterday's Train" by the Byrds on their excellent "Untitled" album.
It's kinda crazy how many train songs there are, that I actually know of, but never think about. And some so worth remembering.
Thanks, Mr. Lefsetz for kickstarting this.
Scott Sechman
Glad another mentioned Savoy Brown's Hellbound Train. I actually used it in one of my posts attacking an earlier iteration of Congestion Pricing in NYC. Another time I used It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry.
Also happy that John Hartman mentioned Poco's Legend (with the link!)
I would add to that Poco's Running Horse (from the LP of same name) and from same CD, Paul's Cotton's Every Time I Hear That Train which I also used for another one of my posts v. the "Congestion Tax".
Cotton also penned Ride The Country from the A Good Feelin' to Know LP (Live version also worth a listen.).
Surprised no one mentioned the New Riders'Glendale Train
and of course Orange Blossom Special, a fave of country and blue grass artists covered by many county rock acts of our era including Seatrain, Old and In The Way and later iterations of the (Rick Robert fronted) Burritos, and southern rocker Charlie Daniels.
Also (double checking my Apple Music)
Dead's Big Railroad Blues
Cat Steven's Peace Train
Laura Nyro's Poverty Train
(Not sure this counts) Difford & Tilbrook's Wagon Train
Poco (Paul Cotton) Railroad Days
Creedence Graveyard Train
Because the early senders did not include links and I'll have some fun developing a train playlist (on youtube and Apple Music of my fave such songs:
Free's Catch A Train
Joni Mitchell's Just Like This Train
It'll be fun.
Thx for the idea. Need a diversion from my day job that often extends to the eve and of course the politics world.
Corey B. Bearak, Esq.
Bob,
Did anybody add "Train in Vain' by The Clash..
Or one that I mixed 'Trains' by Porcupine Tree??
Cheers,
Tim Palmer
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Thursday 27 February 2020
Narcos Mexico-Season 2
It's more about thought than action, although plenty of people are shot and beat-up.
But it all comes down to this...do you want to be a cog in the system or control the system?
This is the issue confronting America today. Used to be the cogs were well-taken care of. They had high-paying jobs for life. With good health care. A line worker for GM could own a boat and go on vacation.
Not anymore.
Now no one believes the corporation is on their side. And the biggest winners are thieves, even though they're lionized.
Like Bill Gates.
He charged for Windows even if you didn't put it on the machine. Which dented Linux. Which ensured Windows' triumph in the marketplace. But now he is lauded as a humanitarian.
What is that aphorism, "behind every great fortune lies a great crime"?
The only difference between Mexico and the U.S. is that in the U.S. it's done under the appearance of legality, whereas in Mexico the corruption is visible right up front.
So, Felix Gallardo has a plan. He wants to unite the plazas and then stand up to the Colombian cocaine cartel. He wants to end internecine warfare and then stick it to the man.
The only problem is he can't keep the plazas (i.e. regional cartels), in line. They're all cowboys. Fighting each other. Like in the Democratic primary.
And one of Gallardo's lieutenants ultimately says the price Felix extracts is too high.
So, you need to pay off the police. Pretty easy to do. Actually, Felix Gallardo started out as a policeman. You ultimately give them no choice. Corruption is better than death.
And then you pay off the politicians.
Gallardo is stumped when the new candidate won't take his money. EVERYBODY needs his money.
Finally the real story outs. The new President plans to privatize much of the nation's industry and the people he's delivering for are fronting his campaign. AND IT HAPPENED! Before there were only three Mexicans on the Forbes list, after there were double-digits.
And you wonder how everybody got so rich.
The public has had enough. So a clean candidate is drafted and then the PRI, the party in control, rigs the election. It's Felix's idea. The key is to promote false results from Mexico City initially, so the voters in the rest of the country will become demoralized and not even bother to vote and the PRI candidate will win legally. When the subterfuge surfaces, the cartels just change the results, ensuring the new regime's fealty to Felix.
Sound far-fetched?
Can you say "hanging chads"?
Can you say "voter suppression"?
Can you say "Iowa caucus"?
Forever America has convinced itself that it is the best, that it can't happen here, but it has and continues to do so.
Kinda like the Donald last night. Stopping the coronavirus through his voice. And then, today, a whistleblower came out and said that the possibly infected returnees were greeted by government workers sans protection, who subsequently flew on planes all over the country: https://wapo.st/32vXW8X When she raised her hand, she was reassigned! And why would anybody be a whistleblower anymore anyway, after impeachment. Trump was exonerated and then cleaned house, just like a drug lord. You can no longer rely on the rule of law.
Now if you want the definitive story of the Mexican drug war, read Don Winslow's "Power of the Dog" trilogy. It's fiction, but it nails it.
But "Narcos Mexico" is essentially true. You keep pinching yourself. Can this really happen?
And you recognize some of the names, like El Chapo.
And the elite of our government are in cahoots with the Mexicans, undercutting the agents in the field. And the DEA and the FBI are at war.
And it's all about loyalty, just like with Trump.
And everyone needs to be taught a lesson, to stay in line, which is where Trump's purge comes in.
Now I see these Mexicans in Vail, the resort is famous for it. They're all wearing the latest fashions, even the children are wearing Bogner. And there are stories how some fly home and leave the clothing behind, the money doesn't matter! Corruption sowed so many of those fortunes.
And there's corruption here. It's rampant. But the IRS has been hampered and it seems like almost all of the Wall Streeters get off while they extract cash from our economy and give nothing back. Wall Street used to build things, now it's a business unto itself.
But in a country where we're all in our own silos, we can't unite and stand up to the man and the corruption.
Meanwhile, the news is a disinformation machine. Trump and Fox have made facts fungible, while decimating the reputations of other media, which rarely stand up to the man, they print false equivalencies.
And just like Trump is a vapid TV star, whose CV is shaky, what about all those people on TV news? Tune in. There's no reporting, just bloviating. All the reporting is done by the NYT and the WaPo, which are quoted constantly.
As for the NYT...it's on a single-minded mission to prevent Bernie Sanders from winning the nomination. Believing that the media can sway the mind-set of the people. But less than ever before. Bloomberg is spending all that money and he hasn't won yet.
But he might.
And if he does, it'll be just like Felix Gallardo. The strongman keeps the peace, the man with the money does it his way.
If Bloomberg wins it'll be because people want protection, not because they believe in him. After all, he's really a Republican.
Now the cartels are run like Mafia families, you don't cross 'em and you can never get out. Which is why Trump's cronies pledge fealty...they want the spoils and they're afraid of what will happen to them if they go against the grain, I mean look at Vindman.
Everybody knows the story of Pablo Escobar, but he's dead.
Once you move on to the Mexican drug-lords the story is more murky, if for no other reason than it's still going on. We hear all about the opioid manufacturers. What we don't hear is the Mexicans move in and sell cheap heroin to help the addicted with their fix, they'll even deliver it to your house!
But most people don't know this.
Most people don't know much, and they're susceptible to lies.
So, "Narcos Mexico" is a learning experience. Only one man (or woman) can be on top. It's a fight for that spot. And you always have to be on guard, you can never relax. And keeping your organization in line is a full-time job, and you do it via violence, no one wants to die, then it's over, done deal.
This is business today. All over the world. One person's will herded over others, squeezing out the competition.
But they cover it up with their philanthropy, just like Pablo Escobar and these drug-lords.
So in Mexico you can't stand up to the man. You literally get shot. You read the news, don't you?
But it's turning out that way in America too. You may not get shot, but they want to make sure you get no power. This is Bernie's mission. Who cares what he'll do in office, we want one of ours in there, who hopefully won't be corrupted.
Because we've lost faith.
America is run by drug-lords just like Mexico. Only they hide behind names like Facebook and GM and...play your cards wrong and you lose power, like GE.
And there's only one metric, MONEY!
Which is what the Dow is all about.
Come on, it doesn't mean anything to you, right?
But to the big swinging dicks it does, this is how the keep score, this is how they gain entrance, this is how they raise money at low rates.
So, we've got a lack of sophistication crossed with strongmen, and they are mostly men.
Education is given lip service, but there's no money for it.
Taxes have to be lowered so money can trickle down like a drug-lord builds a soccer field.
We were supposed to be different.
I'm not sure we are anymore.
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But it all comes down to this...do you want to be a cog in the system or control the system?
This is the issue confronting America today. Used to be the cogs were well-taken care of. They had high-paying jobs for life. With good health care. A line worker for GM could own a boat and go on vacation.
Not anymore.
Now no one believes the corporation is on their side. And the biggest winners are thieves, even though they're lionized.
Like Bill Gates.
He charged for Windows even if you didn't put it on the machine. Which dented Linux. Which ensured Windows' triumph in the marketplace. But now he is lauded as a humanitarian.
What is that aphorism, "behind every great fortune lies a great crime"?
The only difference between Mexico and the U.S. is that in the U.S. it's done under the appearance of legality, whereas in Mexico the corruption is visible right up front.
So, Felix Gallardo has a plan. He wants to unite the plazas and then stand up to the Colombian cocaine cartel. He wants to end internecine warfare and then stick it to the man.
The only problem is he can't keep the plazas (i.e. regional cartels), in line. They're all cowboys. Fighting each other. Like in the Democratic primary.
And one of Gallardo's lieutenants ultimately says the price Felix extracts is too high.
So, you need to pay off the police. Pretty easy to do. Actually, Felix Gallardo started out as a policeman. You ultimately give them no choice. Corruption is better than death.
And then you pay off the politicians.
Gallardo is stumped when the new candidate won't take his money. EVERYBODY needs his money.
Finally the real story outs. The new President plans to privatize much of the nation's industry and the people he's delivering for are fronting his campaign. AND IT HAPPENED! Before there were only three Mexicans on the Forbes list, after there were double-digits.
And you wonder how everybody got so rich.
The public has had enough. So a clean candidate is drafted and then the PRI, the party in control, rigs the election. It's Felix's idea. The key is to promote false results from Mexico City initially, so the voters in the rest of the country will become demoralized and not even bother to vote and the PRI candidate will win legally. When the subterfuge surfaces, the cartels just change the results, ensuring the new regime's fealty to Felix.
Sound far-fetched?
Can you say "hanging chads"?
Can you say "voter suppression"?
Can you say "Iowa caucus"?
Forever America has convinced itself that it is the best, that it can't happen here, but it has and continues to do so.
Kinda like the Donald last night. Stopping the coronavirus through his voice. And then, today, a whistleblower came out and said that the possibly infected returnees were greeted by government workers sans protection, who subsequently flew on planes all over the country: https://wapo.st/32vXW8X When she raised her hand, she was reassigned! And why would anybody be a whistleblower anymore anyway, after impeachment. Trump was exonerated and then cleaned house, just like a drug lord. You can no longer rely on the rule of law.
Now if you want the definitive story of the Mexican drug war, read Don Winslow's "Power of the Dog" trilogy. It's fiction, but it nails it.
But "Narcos Mexico" is essentially true. You keep pinching yourself. Can this really happen?
And you recognize some of the names, like El Chapo.
And the elite of our government are in cahoots with the Mexicans, undercutting the agents in the field. And the DEA and the FBI are at war.
And it's all about loyalty, just like with Trump.
And everyone needs to be taught a lesson, to stay in line, which is where Trump's purge comes in.
Now I see these Mexicans in Vail, the resort is famous for it. They're all wearing the latest fashions, even the children are wearing Bogner. And there are stories how some fly home and leave the clothing behind, the money doesn't matter! Corruption sowed so many of those fortunes.
And there's corruption here. It's rampant. But the IRS has been hampered and it seems like almost all of the Wall Streeters get off while they extract cash from our economy and give nothing back. Wall Street used to build things, now it's a business unto itself.
But in a country where we're all in our own silos, we can't unite and stand up to the man and the corruption.
Meanwhile, the news is a disinformation machine. Trump and Fox have made facts fungible, while decimating the reputations of other media, which rarely stand up to the man, they print false equivalencies.
And just like Trump is a vapid TV star, whose CV is shaky, what about all those people on TV news? Tune in. There's no reporting, just bloviating. All the reporting is done by the NYT and the WaPo, which are quoted constantly.
As for the NYT...it's on a single-minded mission to prevent Bernie Sanders from winning the nomination. Believing that the media can sway the mind-set of the people. But less than ever before. Bloomberg is spending all that money and he hasn't won yet.
But he might.
And if he does, it'll be just like Felix Gallardo. The strongman keeps the peace, the man with the money does it his way.
If Bloomberg wins it'll be because people want protection, not because they believe in him. After all, he's really a Republican.
Now the cartels are run like Mafia families, you don't cross 'em and you can never get out. Which is why Trump's cronies pledge fealty...they want the spoils and they're afraid of what will happen to them if they go against the grain, I mean look at Vindman.
Everybody knows the story of Pablo Escobar, but he's dead.
Once you move on to the Mexican drug-lords the story is more murky, if for no other reason than it's still going on. We hear all about the opioid manufacturers. What we don't hear is the Mexicans move in and sell cheap heroin to help the addicted with their fix, they'll even deliver it to your house!
But most people don't know this.
Most people don't know much, and they're susceptible to lies.
So, "Narcos Mexico" is a learning experience. Only one man (or woman) can be on top. It's a fight for that spot. And you always have to be on guard, you can never relax. And keeping your organization in line is a full-time job, and you do it via violence, no one wants to die, then it's over, done deal.
This is business today. All over the world. One person's will herded over others, squeezing out the competition.
But they cover it up with their philanthropy, just like Pablo Escobar and these drug-lords.
So in Mexico you can't stand up to the man. You literally get shot. You read the news, don't you?
But it's turning out that way in America too. You may not get shot, but they want to make sure you get no power. This is Bernie's mission. Who cares what he'll do in office, we want one of ours in there, who hopefully won't be corrupted.
Because we've lost faith.
America is run by drug-lords just like Mexico. Only they hide behind names like Facebook and GM and...play your cards wrong and you lose power, like GE.
And there's only one metric, MONEY!
Which is what the Dow is all about.
Come on, it doesn't mean anything to you, right?
But to the big swinging dicks it does, this is how the keep score, this is how they gain entrance, this is how they raise money at low rates.
So, we've got a lack of sophistication crossed with strongmen, and they are mostly men.
Education is given lip service, but there's no money for it.
Taxes have to be lowered so money can trickle down like a drug-lord builds a soccer field.
We were supposed to be different.
I'm not sure we are anymore.
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Emilio Castillo-This Week's Podcast
Emilio Castillo is the only person who's been in every iteration of Tower of Power. It was a joy talking to Emilio, hearing how he formed the band, their various record deals, rehab, marriage, Bill Graham, Ted Templeman... Even if you think you're not interested in TOP you will love Emilio's stories, learning how he went from there to here.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emilio-castillo/id1316200737?i=1000466842722
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3mDEH2OCWzjXQP3kYlvdAC
https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=67641043
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emilio-castillo/id1316200737?i=1000466842722
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3mDEH2OCWzjXQP3kYlvdAC
https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=67641043
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Even More Train Songs
Somebody say 5:15 by The Who yet?
Sean MacDermant
You missed perhaps the best "train song" of all. Pat Metheny's "Last Train Home." Give it a listen.
Lee Hansen
Trains? My favourite is FREIGHT TRAIN by Chas McDevitt and Nancy Whisky recorded in 1957. It was the No 1 recording of the British fifties skiffle movement.
Another great reference is in Bob Dylan's autobiography Chronicles….
"I'd seen and heard trains from my earliest childhood days and the sight and sound of them always made me feel secure. The big boxcars, the iron ore cars, freight cars, passenger trains, Pullman cars. There was no place you could go in my home town without at least some part of the day having to stop at intersections and wait for the long trains to pass. Tracks crossed the rural roads and ran alongside them as well. The sound of trains off in the distance more or less made me feel at home, like nothing was missing, like I was at some level place never in any significant danger and that everything was fitting together." Bob Dylan
David Stopps
Down there by the train. Johnny cash and tom waits
Downtown train. Rod Stewart and tom waits
Lionel Conway
Click Clack -- Captain Beefhert
My Train is Coming -- Andy Partridge
Downtown Train -- Tom Waits
Take the A Train -- Duke Ellington
David Rubien
And.........."Train the Distance" by Paul Simon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mgNHd0UayQ
LOVE this song.
Thank you,
David Brauner
Ten or so years in, and I'm pretty certain Chad Worthington's plus of Union Pacific Line is the first mention of Lucero in the Letter.
One of our best bands, and Ben Nichols is one of our finest songwriters.
Langston
How about:
Railroad Days (Poco)
Take The A Train (Duke Ellington)
Brad Fisher
Also: "Travelling by Steam" (Huw Williams) / "Travel by Steam" (trad., arr. Sanders) by Fairport Convention on their 1995 release, "Jewel In The Crown".
Jim Harnagel
Subject: train songs playlist-139 songs
Innocent Bystander -Leo Sayer
One toke over the line - Brewere &Shipley
The Ghost of Tom Joad - Bruce Springsteen
Can't wait to cross reference your list to mine !
Joshua Goldberg
https://open.spotify.com/user/jbg1113/playlist/4C5Qg1DiXPUt4PvnsHgWOx?si=L-GyTQZcRUe5JI1kNTbhnw
One of my favorites: https://open.spotify.com/track/3tAwGmIYlx4dqC0PAT9y8I?si=ly5C-Q7CQtKyVI0-gJS1zw
Adam Zinke
SVP, Rividia Ico
Train in the distance, Don Henley Cass County
B Chapin
Since your correspondents have come up with dozens without mentioning four of my favourites, here they are:
Train Song - Flying Burrito Bros (bought it on a single at One Stop Records by Manchester Piccadilly station);
Train To Nowhere - Savoy Brown (superior in my book to the band's Hellbound Train, which many cited);
Love Train - O'Jays (sentiments never more apposite, though I doubt Trump will be boarding any time soon);
5.15 - The Who ('Out of my brain on the train'... from Quadrophenia).
Greetings from England
Phil Shaw
Okay…here's more:
Night Train - Rickie Lee Jones (How I didn't mention that is beyond me).
Choo Choo Train - The Boxtops
Ghost Train - Elvis Costello
And my girlfriend says, (being that she's a huge Laura Nyro fan) "What ? No "Poverty Train" ?
Scott Sechman
Ps: Did anybody mention The Dead's "Casey Jones'?
Has anyone included "Bound for Hell" by Love and Rockets? Or "Train in Vain" by The Clash?
Bryant Brow
Thought this might have flown under your radar - Ted can tell you about how he met Claudia at the Mad Dogs rehearsals at A&M. He did one song with her in '73 - Lowell's tune Two Trains, backed by Little Feat, engineered by the great Donn Landee. What a great riff - and check out the Ted Templeman patented - percussion here...congas abound. For whatever reason it didn't make the cut for her album Phew, presumably because Ted didn't produce it.
https://www.discogs.com/Claudia-Lennear-Two-Trains/master/1159233
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBVTFMvE4m4
Keep up the good work!
Greg Renoff
"The wheels were playing fast in 9/8 time."
Bruce Cockburn, "How I Spent My Fall Vacation."
https://youtu.be/EFXUwblZpTA
Steve Hurlburt
Reaching back...
"This Train" by Sister Rosetta Tharp deserves a mention.
And how about "Orange Blossom Special" by Vassar Clements?
Robert Bond
Canadian Railroad Trilogy - Gordon Lightfoot.
R. Hennessy
Desperados Waiting For The Train - the Jerry Jeff Walker version.
Wasn't born in the US, lived here for 10+ years.
This is one of those key songs to understand US culture five layers deep:
https://open.spotify.com/track/79e0llyW01wjBfsMV1o9Dy?si=f0WCeiZ3TVqHYjf71YurFQ
Take care!
Carlos Delgado-Imbert
Did any of your readers mention "5:15"? "Out of brain on the train, on the train..."
-Chris Frate
Train Overnight by The Tragically Hip.
Ted Hageman
Panama Limited (Bukka White) great version from Tom Rush
Jane Harbury
Springsteen: Land of Hope and Dreams
Michael Rosenbaum
Murray McLauchlan-Never Did Like That Train
https://youtu.be/ot8QPvPjWtk
Denise Donlon
'Night Train' by Guns N' Roses...
From 'Appetite for Destruction': An album that changed Rock n' Roll in the late 80s, when Glam rock began to turn less 'glam', opening the door I believe, for Grunge...
Marcus Cardwell
One of the best train songs ever, from Steven Wilson's prog band Porcupine Tree.
Aptly titled "Trains". Fantastic.
https://youtu.be/0UHwkfhwjsk
zootsnakes
I'm probably late to the train party but here are two rockin' train songs that come to mind:
Monster Truck - "Old Train" off their great 2013 album Furiousity
Joe Perry Project - "South Station Blues" off his underrated 1981 album I've Got the Rock'n'Rolls Again
Take care,
Chris Perry
Norman, OK
Rem driver8 is a great train song
Peter Sam Martin
Well, if this theme hasn't played out, hard to imagine nobody yet referenced Folsom Prison Blues, perhaps the most known train song of all time. There's a real good reason Johnny Cash is one of only 11 artists inducted into both the Rock 'n' Roll and Country Music Halls of Fame. . .
I hear the train a comin'.
It's rollin' 'round the bend,
And I ain't seen the sunshine
Since, I don't know when.
I'm stuck in Folsom Prison,
And time keeps draggin' on.
But that train keeps a-rollin'
On down to San Antone
Sean Brickell
Virginia Beach, VA
Don Henley on his Cass County recording has a nice train Song.
Train in the Distance co written with Stan Lynch.
It's actually a beautiful record....
I've beaten this dead horse idea with you before Bob, but something happens to the creative process to almost all artists and they fail to ever come close to their early
greatness of creativity in their adavncing ages. After 40ish it seems very few artists can get close to their early pinnacles of creative excellence.
Quite a few exceptions but it is a very exclusive club, and would make a fun letter for people to discuss. Henley I feel is in the club. He continues to create great songs at an " old " age.
McCartney of course.....Procol Harum ( a yes to me but I am totally biased there)
Springsteen absolutely not- never even remotely close in great songs to his early output....Paul Simon is a no....Billy Joel - not really trying anymore....Elton is a no....
See where I am going with this? It is a very tough nut to crack. Leigh Goldstein ? ( I am a no- can't seem to write anything good anymore!)
I always love your letter...Fun and always thought provoking.
Leigh Goldstein
Night Train to Nashville......Tab Benoit
Debra Rybarz
"Train Long Suffering" --Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Astonishing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGNCoc8FZCs
Richard Metzger
Back in the mid 1950's in the UK a US train song "The Rock Island Line" by Skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan kickstarted the interest in learning guitar in my generation.
Johnny Cash later recorded it.
Keep up the good nostalgia pieces.
Regards
Peter Bardon
https://open.spotify.com/track/3qVDy4yN9PofPBhdA5TAjW?si=mR5MGeakQkOYrSyJ8KQhBg – That's Why I Love Trains – Jordan Mogey
https://open.spotify.com/track/7rGOd1u0t68KyX95WJ7vnP?si=BYelqt39Rs6uymBh5IPE8Q – Rock Island Line – Lonnie Donegan
Sorry if these are redundant:
"Midnight Train to Georgia" -- Gladys Knight and the Pips -- one of the great "transistor radio next to my pillow late at night" songs from my teen years. Woo-woo!
"Up the Junction" -- The Squeeze -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQciegmLPAo This one barely qualifies. :) It's a terrific song, regardless. The 60s British film of the same name was very enjoyable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxeIhMy-Ctc
"5:15" -- The Who -- the seats are seductive
John Swetye
I know you're done collecting Train songs, but 2 of my favorites are"
"Milwaukee Blues" by Charlie Poole and
"Rueben's Train" performed by Leftover Salmon
Pat
Hey Bob, greetings from Lisbon, Portugal!
Been a while since we hung out at BIME, hope to cross paths again soon.
How about Elvis' "Mystery Train"? :) 16 coaches long!
And of course, all the way from Portugal O Gajo released "Lisbon Express" last September... https://open.spotify.com/album/1Z1wxMdlqwpY2ZJ6EuIYVP
Cheers,
Nuno Saraiva
Perhaps I missed "There's a train leaves here this morning" by Dillard & Clark and Billy J Kramer's version of "Trains and boat and planes" in your extensive list. I even remember "Here that Whistle blow"by Side of the Road Gang.
Over the years I enjoyed your newsletters!!
Greetings,
Roy van der Laan
Railroad Lady - written by Jimmy Buffett & Jerry Jeff Walker somewhere around 1972 - early 73. It's on JB's A White Sport coat and A Pink Crustacean (June 4,1973). JJW also recorded the song multiple times.
Dan Fife
Wow - so many Great train songs.
Here's two more:
Midnight Train - Buddy Guy featuring Jonny Lang; and
Midnight Special - CCR.
Michael
Bob, Driver 8 by R E M is a good one.
Guy Mccreery
How about "Marrakesh Express"? I saw Graham Nash and David Crosby perform in Belfast some years back and Mr Nash told us a story of how 'somewhere' in Abbey Road there is a version of this song on a tape (attempted, but never finished) by The 'Hollies'.
Terry Grew
Hi - I'm still waiting for Between Trains by Robbie Robertson to be put up on the list. From the movie King of Comedy, it's a beautiful song with a resemblance of the Band.
Reidar Erlandsson
One more, lol
https://youtu.be/0TYq9RjdYYU
David Lowrey
Maria Vidal's brilliant 'Life on a Train' -
https://youtu.be/tqfuUmJ_elE
Stacy B
Train Time. Cream. Best ever.
Marrakech Express. CSN. Come on. ???
Roderick Smith
Evening Train - Rob Mathes
you may recognise the players...
Night Train - Amos Lee
Great songs in my humble Kiwi opinion
Steven Jaymes
I don't know if I've read far enough down the list but Train in Vain, by Clash and Annie Lennox are both epic
TConnolly
Peace Train / Cat Stevens
Les Garland
Bob:
Driver 8 by R.E.M.
Andrew Paciocco
No one mentioned Smokestack Lightning by Howlin' Wolf?!!
And people said Elvis, but no Junior Parker Mystery Train
Likewise Leadbelly's Rock Island Line was neglected.
Also Keith and Tex- Stop that Train is a classic, sampled endlessly.
Harry Chapin- Mail Order Annie
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=spGFdXGMw58
And this version of People Get Ready by Al Green
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uVamMjrv3og
Geronimo Son
Steve Goodman had one of his first paid gigs....in my basement! Thats right. A whopping ten bucks!
My dad used to buy a new car every other year from Steve's dad, Bud Goodman at Keystone Chevrolet on Chicago' north side. In late '64, when dad took me to pick up his shiny new '65 Chevy Impala station wagon, Bud suggested that my parents hire his son to play their New Years Eve party. And that night, at the age of nine, I got to accompany him on bongos on Michael Row the Boat Ashore! (eventually Steve recorded a song about his dad called My Old Man).
And one more train song...1910 Fruitgum Company's, The Train. It only made it to #58 in the US but it was huge in Chicago on WLS.
https://youtu.be/EMW43_aUgho
Fun stuff!
Coop
RICK COOPER MUSIC
"Trains and Boats and Planes" - (Hal David / Burt Bacharach)... Dionne Warwick.
patric
Whiskey Train - Procul Harum (Robin Trower)
Rock Island Line - Lonnie Donegon
Freight Train - Elizabeth Cotton
Orange Blossom Special- Ervin T. Rouse
Covered by everybody in the 60's
Edward Bogan
I remember that Steve Goodman was the songwriter of The City of New Orleans. What captured my imagination was how it all began. Steve asked Arto after a show to listen to the song. Arlo responded.....OK, but you have to buy me a beer. Arlo listened, loved the song and recorded it.
"....their daddy's magic carpet made of steel" .
Love it
Bob Bisnett
Don't forget "Under your thumb" by Godley and Crème from 1981 ??
https://open.spotify.com/track/05jTavSs9eW9lfCYisJhHz?si=qcO6ve05TkiTLG8zYkcMdA
Mark Jeffrey
And nobody mentioned one of my favorites, a real obscure song by The Band, "Between Trains" from The King Of Comedy soundtrack.
And hey, "Coo Coo Ch'Boogie" by Louis Jordan.
Love me some Steve Goodman, every album is full of gems. He still makes me laugh, and sometimes makes me cry. He was a brilliant songwriter, a damn fine guitarist and a pretty good singer with the greatest sense of humor. Rest well, Steve, you are remembered.
Rich Arfin
I'm on my way home again, by the Everly Brothers. The first time I heard the song was on one of the "loss leaders" albums that Warner Brothers released in the late 60s early 70s. It's a wonderful tune
jh tompkins
LA
Crazy Train
Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard
Crazy Train
Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard
Mark Wolfson
Hi. From Neil Young's Reactor album, the great "Southern Pacific."
And the coolest "Night Train"by James Brown.
Thanks.
Mighty Tim Young.
I know I missed the "train song" train, but give a listen to "Click Clack," a bona fide train song by Captain Beefheart. The propulsive power, the rhythmic click clack, the concatenation, the girl leaving him behind at the station ("maybe you had uh girl like that..."), a handkerchief, even something like a slow lonesome whistle on slide guitar. It's all there. And the girl ain't coming back. (And sadly, neither is the Captain.)
Ira
Perhaps I read thru your emails and responses too fast, but has anyone mentioned Gordon Lightfoot's "Canadian Railroad Trilogy." One of my all time favorites.
Robert Greer
My fav. Bradley from sublime covers Marley. Super raw and acoustic:
https://open.spotify.com/track/1uCzlBE0jqEFoEqJMbm6lR?si=OpTivyUNQaOYLniGF8G1_g
"This Train"
Roots of Creation
Berlin. Metro
Barbara Stevens
Kinks - Last of the Steam Powered Trains (on Village Green Preservation Society)
Peter Thomashow
Fred Eaglesmith writes some of the finest songs about trains. I Like Trains and 49 Tons being two gems
Gregg Simon
Lots of great songs here but I am sorry.... the most heartbreaking Train song in the history of the world is by the great English band FREE... " Oh I Wept". " I take my seat on the train, and let the sun come melt my pain....
Come tomorrow I'll be far away, in the sunshine of another day". Paul Rodgers bluesy, mournful voice and Paul Kossoff ' s heartbreaking guitar playing are simply devastating.. I have loved your writing for 15 years now Bob..... thank you. David Resch
Have not seen these two: 1 whiskey train by Procol Harum and 2 No trains to heaven by Be Bop Deluxe , which includes an outstanding guitar solo.
David Camp
A) I can't believe I forgot "Trains and Boats and Planes" by Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas
B) Aerosmith's "Train Kept A Rollin'" is a lead weight sinking in the river compared to the Yardbirds definitive version and to Johnny Burnette's earlier rockabilly version.
Toby Mamis
Two more:
- "5:15" by The Who ("out of my brain on a train")
- Not on Spotify: "Blue Train" by Jimmy Page & Robert Plant from their superb Walking Into Clarksdale album in 1998
Steve "The Lemon" Sauer
Waitin for the 103 by Dan Hicks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE0yvIzipkk
Lou Judson
One more train song: The Clash. Train in Vain
john monguillot
Los Lobos
The Train Don't Stop Here
Ricardo Colin
Loved your "train" show.... I guess there are a lot of Blackfoot fans.. who woulda' thought.
Here's a great one... Foghat . "Jump That Train".. It was from the last album with Lonesome Dave.
jeff laufer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLwyXOMyuj0
Hell bound Train
Savoy Brown
Neil Lasher
Choo Choo ch'boogie. Is the classic train song.
Kenneth Freundlich
A few more from a little farther back in the stack:
Trains---Terrence Boylan
Train---Buddy Miles
What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round---Monkees
Marty Bender
Train coming around the bend by the True Believers ( Alejandro Escavedo first Band) And Too bad- Night train by Lets Active. Both very good songs
Tino Perez
Gordon Lightfoot - Canadian Railroad Trilogy
Lightfoot and Steve Goodman once played the same bill - one doing the greatest Canadian train song, the other doing the greatest American train song.
Rest in Peace Steve Goodman
John Trelstad
Fargo, ND
Last Train To London
My Baby Takes The Morning Train
Chattanooga Choo Choo
there must be a stack of hits from the 20s/30s/40s heydays of steam passenger express trains?
Michael Feinstein would know?
Evan Linwood
How about "Locomotive Breath" by Jethro Tull and "Driver 8" by REM?
All the best
Robert Heiblim
thy Guy Clark somg is a great catch, from a great album
also "Runaway Train" by Roseanne Cash
oohlikewowman
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes s Train to Cry. - Robert Zimmerman
Paula Franceschi
One more for you
The ultimate Who Train song
5:15 from Quadrophenia
"Out of my brain on the train, on the 5:15"
Best
Steve Margo
Freight Train by Elizabeth Cotton, met her in the 70's when she was 78 and with Taj Mahal at the University of WA. I had the great honor of carry her guitar for her.
Pat Mallahan
Seattle
Blue Train, written by Tom Kimmel and Jennifer Kimball and sung by Maura O'Connell. Beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORMUqhofLGw
Amy Kurland
New Delhi Freight Train by Little Feat
Frank Wood
Night Train-Guns-N-Roses
Jay Stewart
most of these were so obvious...
though the Hiatt and the Marley and the Little Feat
i figured you wanted obsurities, hopefully with some social comment
go find Aaron Lee Tasjan. he's worth it.
torchlili
Anybody mention Tom rush's Panama limited. If not, I just did.
Richard Allison
No room for "Orange Blossom Special"? The SEA TRAIN version? Either you're on drugs or I am!
Barry Lyons / Rent A Label
"Take the A train" Duke Ellington
Paul Mencel
https://youtube.com/watch?v=mb7LvUnx_8s
Brenden Small of Home Movies other project
Richard Altman
I'm late to this and while the train does not appear in the title... The Lightning Express by the Everly Brothers is one of my favorites.
Todd Devonshire
I worked for WEA Chicago in the late 70s. We scheduled an in store performance for Steve for a new album release. It was winter and a huge un-forecast storm hit. No one showed. I thought he'd be angry. He grabbed his guitar and played and sang for over an hour for the store personnel and record people. He was gracious and I sounded great.
Randal Edwards
Not to be forgotten:
Night Train-James Brown
Traintime-Cream
Train In the Distance-Paul Simon
Hear My Train A Comin-Jimi Hendrix
It Takes A lot to Laugh, It Takes A Train to Cry-Bob Dylan
Best wishes
Bob Jameson
Hear hear to the Billy Joe Shaver shout-outs for "Georgia on a Fast Train." My numero uno in this category. Man writes some righteous lyrics.
Underappreciated gem: AC/DC's poorly titled "Rock 'N' Roll Train." It's not only their best late-era single, it's in the top ten (or 15) best Brian J-era songs. The Youngs should have named it from the gang-vocal chorus "Runaway train! Runnin' right off the tracks". No one would've confused this banger with Soul Asylum's hit.
Virtually unknown gem: The Shazam's "Gonna Miss Yer Train." Nashville power poppers should've blitzed the world with their 1999 Not Lame Recordings album Godspeed The Shazam.
Tucker Eskew
Morning Bound Train by Jimmy Rankin from Cape Breton, Canada. I love Train songs!
Kind regards,
June Hiscock
Mystery Train. Paul Simon did a great cover during his 2012 Hyde Park concert.
Niels van Oyen
Peace Train Cat Stevens
Monkey and the Engineer Grateful Dead
Waiting for a Train Jimmie Rodgers
Sent from my iPhone
Night Train Guns N Roses
Midnight Trains To Georgia Gladys Night and Pips
Wabash Cannonball (everyone)
Downtown Train Tom Waits
Hey Porter Johnny Cash
The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down The Band
My Baby Takes The Morning Train Shena Easton !!!
George Drakoulias
From the dawn of Rock and Roll - The Valentines (from Harlem) - Woo Woo Train - 1956 on Rama Records.
Bruce Berenson
Nobody mentioned these, so I will:
Little Jimmy Dickens-
https://youtu.be/cJPf0dRITaY
Pentangle-
https://youtu.be/S6i40SoW2BM
Yay, train songs!
Great lists, including yours,
Marshall Crenshaw
"Train Time" Cream ?!
Will Bratton
Casey Jones
Big railroad blues
Monkey and the engineer
Robert Rosenstein
" Hellbound Train", Savoy Brown's 1972 cult classic from the album of the same name. Mid period British blues rock at its finest.
Stephen Dessau
"Driver 8" - R.E.M.
https://youtu.be/wuFId1RYSZE
Pearce Bannon
I?m late to the party here but
Another to add to your Train Playlist.
Hollis Brown Ride on the Train˛
https://youtu.be/9GlNKST3_Rc
They?re a quintet from Queens, NYC.
Dave Marsh calls them truly one of the best Rock Bands in the world.
Fiona Bloom
my reservations been confirmed herman's hermits
Peter Noone
Last train to London by ELO. Awesome.
Eric Herz
Has anyone mentioned "Last Of The Steam Powered Trains" by The Kinks? That's the only one that matters.
Francois Mobasser, Esq.
"Take The A Train" ... "Casey Jones"
Paul Zullo
Bob Woodruff's "I'm The Train"
Hillorie McLarty
Night Train, original by Jimmy Forest. James Brown killed it................
Sjaak Blaauw
Thanks for the shout-out, Bob — much appreciated!
Tom Rush
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Sean MacDermant
You missed perhaps the best "train song" of all. Pat Metheny's "Last Train Home." Give it a listen.
Lee Hansen
Trains? My favourite is FREIGHT TRAIN by Chas McDevitt and Nancy Whisky recorded in 1957. It was the No 1 recording of the British fifties skiffle movement.
Another great reference is in Bob Dylan's autobiography Chronicles….
"I'd seen and heard trains from my earliest childhood days and the sight and sound of them always made me feel secure. The big boxcars, the iron ore cars, freight cars, passenger trains, Pullman cars. There was no place you could go in my home town without at least some part of the day having to stop at intersections and wait for the long trains to pass. Tracks crossed the rural roads and ran alongside them as well. The sound of trains off in the distance more or less made me feel at home, like nothing was missing, like I was at some level place never in any significant danger and that everything was fitting together." Bob Dylan
David Stopps
Down there by the train. Johnny cash and tom waits
Downtown train. Rod Stewart and tom waits
Lionel Conway
Click Clack -- Captain Beefhert
My Train is Coming -- Andy Partridge
Downtown Train -- Tom Waits
Take the A Train -- Duke Ellington
David Rubien
And.........."Train the Distance" by Paul Simon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mgNHd0UayQ
LOVE this song.
Thank you,
David Brauner
Ten or so years in, and I'm pretty certain Chad Worthington's plus of Union Pacific Line is the first mention of Lucero in the Letter.
One of our best bands, and Ben Nichols is one of our finest songwriters.
Langston
How about:
Railroad Days (Poco)
Take The A Train (Duke Ellington)
Brad Fisher
Also: "Travelling by Steam" (Huw Williams) / "Travel by Steam" (trad., arr. Sanders) by Fairport Convention on their 1995 release, "Jewel In The Crown".
Jim Harnagel
Subject: train songs playlist-139 songs
Innocent Bystander -Leo Sayer
One toke over the line - Brewere &Shipley
The Ghost of Tom Joad - Bruce Springsteen
Can't wait to cross reference your list to mine !
Joshua Goldberg
https://open.spotify.com/user/jbg1113/playlist/4C5Qg1DiXPUt4PvnsHgWOx?si=L-GyTQZcRUe5JI1kNTbhnw
One of my favorites: https://open.spotify.com/track/3tAwGmIYlx4dqC0PAT9y8I?si=ly5C-Q7CQtKyVI0-gJS1zw
Adam Zinke
SVP, Rividia Ico
Train in the distance, Don Henley Cass County
B Chapin
Since your correspondents have come up with dozens without mentioning four of my favourites, here they are:
Train Song - Flying Burrito Bros (bought it on a single at One Stop Records by Manchester Piccadilly station);
Train To Nowhere - Savoy Brown (superior in my book to the band's Hellbound Train, which many cited);
Love Train - O'Jays (sentiments never more apposite, though I doubt Trump will be boarding any time soon);
5.15 - The Who ('Out of my brain on the train'... from Quadrophenia).
Greetings from England
Phil Shaw
Okay…here's more:
Night Train - Rickie Lee Jones (How I didn't mention that is beyond me).
Choo Choo Train - The Boxtops
Ghost Train - Elvis Costello
And my girlfriend says, (being that she's a huge Laura Nyro fan) "What ? No "Poverty Train" ?
Scott Sechman
Ps: Did anybody mention The Dead's "Casey Jones'?
Has anyone included "Bound for Hell" by Love and Rockets? Or "Train in Vain" by The Clash?
Bryant Brow
Thought this might have flown under your radar - Ted can tell you about how he met Claudia at the Mad Dogs rehearsals at A&M. He did one song with her in '73 - Lowell's tune Two Trains, backed by Little Feat, engineered by the great Donn Landee. What a great riff - and check out the Ted Templeman patented - percussion here...congas abound. For whatever reason it didn't make the cut for her album Phew, presumably because Ted didn't produce it.
https://www.discogs.com/Claudia-Lennear-Two-Trains/master/1159233
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBVTFMvE4m4
Keep up the good work!
Greg Renoff
"The wheels were playing fast in 9/8 time."
Bruce Cockburn, "How I Spent My Fall Vacation."
https://youtu.be/EFXUwblZpTA
Steve Hurlburt
Reaching back...
"This Train" by Sister Rosetta Tharp deserves a mention.
And how about "Orange Blossom Special" by Vassar Clements?
Robert Bond
Canadian Railroad Trilogy - Gordon Lightfoot.
R. Hennessy
Desperados Waiting For The Train - the Jerry Jeff Walker version.
Wasn't born in the US, lived here for 10+ years.
This is one of those key songs to understand US culture five layers deep:
https://open.spotify.com/track/79e0llyW01wjBfsMV1o9Dy?si=f0WCeiZ3TVqHYjf71YurFQ
Take care!
Carlos Delgado-Imbert
Did any of your readers mention "5:15"? "Out of brain on the train, on the train..."
-Chris Frate
Train Overnight by The Tragically Hip.
Ted Hageman
Panama Limited (Bukka White) great version from Tom Rush
Jane Harbury
Springsteen: Land of Hope and Dreams
Michael Rosenbaum
Murray McLauchlan-Never Did Like That Train
https://youtu.be/ot8QPvPjWtk
Denise Donlon
'Night Train' by Guns N' Roses...
From 'Appetite for Destruction': An album that changed Rock n' Roll in the late 80s, when Glam rock began to turn less 'glam', opening the door I believe, for Grunge...
Marcus Cardwell
One of the best train songs ever, from Steven Wilson's prog band Porcupine Tree.
Aptly titled "Trains". Fantastic.
https://youtu.be/0UHwkfhwjsk
zootsnakes
I'm probably late to the train party but here are two rockin' train songs that come to mind:
Monster Truck - "Old Train" off their great 2013 album Furiousity
Joe Perry Project - "South Station Blues" off his underrated 1981 album I've Got the Rock'n'Rolls Again
Take care,
Chris Perry
Norman, OK
Rem driver8 is a great train song
Peter Sam Martin
Well, if this theme hasn't played out, hard to imagine nobody yet referenced Folsom Prison Blues, perhaps the most known train song of all time. There's a real good reason Johnny Cash is one of only 11 artists inducted into both the Rock 'n' Roll and Country Music Halls of Fame. . .
I hear the train a comin'.
It's rollin' 'round the bend,
And I ain't seen the sunshine
Since, I don't know when.
I'm stuck in Folsom Prison,
And time keeps draggin' on.
But that train keeps a-rollin'
On down to San Antone
Sean Brickell
Virginia Beach, VA
Don Henley on his Cass County recording has a nice train Song.
Train in the Distance co written with Stan Lynch.
It's actually a beautiful record....
I've beaten this dead horse idea with you before Bob, but something happens to the creative process to almost all artists and they fail to ever come close to their early
greatness of creativity in their adavncing ages. After 40ish it seems very few artists can get close to their early pinnacles of creative excellence.
Quite a few exceptions but it is a very exclusive club, and would make a fun letter for people to discuss. Henley I feel is in the club. He continues to create great songs at an " old " age.
McCartney of course.....Procol Harum ( a yes to me but I am totally biased there)
Springsteen absolutely not- never even remotely close in great songs to his early output....Paul Simon is a no....Billy Joel - not really trying anymore....Elton is a no....
See where I am going with this? It is a very tough nut to crack. Leigh Goldstein ? ( I am a no- can't seem to write anything good anymore!)
I always love your letter...Fun and always thought provoking.
Leigh Goldstein
Night Train to Nashville......Tab Benoit
Debra Rybarz
"Train Long Suffering" --Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Astonishing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGNCoc8FZCs
Richard Metzger
Back in the mid 1950's in the UK a US train song "The Rock Island Line" by Skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan kickstarted the interest in learning guitar in my generation.
Johnny Cash later recorded it.
Keep up the good nostalgia pieces.
Regards
Peter Bardon
https://open.spotify.com/track/3qVDy4yN9PofPBhdA5TAjW?si=mR5MGeakQkOYrSyJ8KQhBg – That's Why I Love Trains – Jordan Mogey
https://open.spotify.com/track/7rGOd1u0t68KyX95WJ7vnP?si=BYelqt39Rs6uymBh5IPE8Q – Rock Island Line – Lonnie Donegan
Sorry if these are redundant:
"Midnight Train to Georgia" -- Gladys Knight and the Pips -- one of the great "transistor radio next to my pillow late at night" songs from my teen years. Woo-woo!
"Up the Junction" -- The Squeeze -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQciegmLPAo This one barely qualifies. :) It's a terrific song, regardless. The 60s British film of the same name was very enjoyable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxeIhMy-Ctc
"5:15" -- The Who -- the seats are seductive
John Swetye
I know you're done collecting Train songs, but 2 of my favorites are"
"Milwaukee Blues" by Charlie Poole and
"Rueben's Train" performed by Leftover Salmon
Pat
Hey Bob, greetings from Lisbon, Portugal!
Been a while since we hung out at BIME, hope to cross paths again soon.
How about Elvis' "Mystery Train"? :) 16 coaches long!
And of course, all the way from Portugal O Gajo released "Lisbon Express" last September... https://open.spotify.com/album/1Z1wxMdlqwpY2ZJ6EuIYVP
Cheers,
Nuno Saraiva
Perhaps I missed "There's a train leaves here this morning" by Dillard & Clark and Billy J Kramer's version of "Trains and boat and planes" in your extensive list. I even remember "Here that Whistle blow"by Side of the Road Gang.
Over the years I enjoyed your newsletters!!
Greetings,
Roy van der Laan
Railroad Lady - written by Jimmy Buffett & Jerry Jeff Walker somewhere around 1972 - early 73. It's on JB's A White Sport coat and A Pink Crustacean (June 4,1973). JJW also recorded the song multiple times.
Dan Fife
Wow - so many Great train songs.
Here's two more:
Midnight Train - Buddy Guy featuring Jonny Lang; and
Midnight Special - CCR.
Michael
Bob, Driver 8 by R E M is a good one.
Guy Mccreery
How about "Marrakesh Express"? I saw Graham Nash and David Crosby perform in Belfast some years back and Mr Nash told us a story of how 'somewhere' in Abbey Road there is a version of this song on a tape (attempted, but never finished) by The 'Hollies'.
Terry Grew
Hi - I'm still waiting for Between Trains by Robbie Robertson to be put up on the list. From the movie King of Comedy, it's a beautiful song with a resemblance of the Band.
Reidar Erlandsson
One more, lol
https://youtu.be/0TYq9RjdYYU
David Lowrey
Maria Vidal's brilliant 'Life on a Train' -
https://youtu.be/tqfuUmJ_elE
Stacy B
Train Time. Cream. Best ever.
Marrakech Express. CSN. Come on. ???
Roderick Smith
Evening Train - Rob Mathes
you may recognise the players...
Night Train - Amos Lee
Great songs in my humble Kiwi opinion
Steven Jaymes
I don't know if I've read far enough down the list but Train in Vain, by Clash and Annie Lennox are both epic
TConnolly
Peace Train / Cat Stevens
Les Garland
Bob:
Driver 8 by R.E.M.
Andrew Paciocco
No one mentioned Smokestack Lightning by Howlin' Wolf?!!
And people said Elvis, but no Junior Parker Mystery Train
Likewise Leadbelly's Rock Island Line was neglected.
Also Keith and Tex- Stop that Train is a classic, sampled endlessly.
Harry Chapin- Mail Order Annie
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=spGFdXGMw58
And this version of People Get Ready by Al Green
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uVamMjrv3og
Geronimo Son
Steve Goodman had one of his first paid gigs....in my basement! Thats right. A whopping ten bucks!
My dad used to buy a new car every other year from Steve's dad, Bud Goodman at Keystone Chevrolet on Chicago' north side. In late '64, when dad took me to pick up his shiny new '65 Chevy Impala station wagon, Bud suggested that my parents hire his son to play their New Years Eve party. And that night, at the age of nine, I got to accompany him on bongos on Michael Row the Boat Ashore! (eventually Steve recorded a song about his dad called My Old Man).
And one more train song...1910 Fruitgum Company's, The Train. It only made it to #58 in the US but it was huge in Chicago on WLS.
https://youtu.be/EMW43_aUgho
Fun stuff!
Coop
RICK COOPER MUSIC
"Trains and Boats and Planes" - (Hal David / Burt Bacharach)... Dionne Warwick.
patric
Whiskey Train - Procul Harum (Robin Trower)
Rock Island Line - Lonnie Donegon
Freight Train - Elizabeth Cotton
Orange Blossom Special- Ervin T. Rouse
Covered by everybody in the 60's
Edward Bogan
I remember that Steve Goodman was the songwriter of The City of New Orleans. What captured my imagination was how it all began. Steve asked Arto after a show to listen to the song. Arlo responded.....OK, but you have to buy me a beer. Arlo listened, loved the song and recorded it.
"....their daddy's magic carpet made of steel" .
Love it
Bob Bisnett
Don't forget "Under your thumb" by Godley and Crème from 1981 ??
https://open.spotify.com/track/05jTavSs9eW9lfCYisJhHz?si=qcO6ve05TkiTLG8zYkcMdA
Mark Jeffrey
And nobody mentioned one of my favorites, a real obscure song by The Band, "Between Trains" from The King Of Comedy soundtrack.
And hey, "Coo Coo Ch'Boogie" by Louis Jordan.
Love me some Steve Goodman, every album is full of gems. He still makes me laugh, and sometimes makes me cry. He was a brilliant songwriter, a damn fine guitarist and a pretty good singer with the greatest sense of humor. Rest well, Steve, you are remembered.
Rich Arfin
I'm on my way home again, by the Everly Brothers. The first time I heard the song was on one of the "loss leaders" albums that Warner Brothers released in the late 60s early 70s. It's a wonderful tune
jh tompkins
LA
Crazy Train
Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard
Crazy Train
Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard
Mark Wolfson
Hi. From Neil Young's Reactor album, the great "Southern Pacific."
And the coolest "Night Train"by James Brown.
Thanks.
Mighty Tim Young.
I know I missed the "train song" train, but give a listen to "Click Clack," a bona fide train song by Captain Beefheart. The propulsive power, the rhythmic click clack, the concatenation, the girl leaving him behind at the station ("maybe you had uh girl like that..."), a handkerchief, even something like a slow lonesome whistle on slide guitar. It's all there. And the girl ain't coming back. (And sadly, neither is the Captain.)
Ira
Perhaps I read thru your emails and responses too fast, but has anyone mentioned Gordon Lightfoot's "Canadian Railroad Trilogy." One of my all time favorites.
Robert Greer
My fav. Bradley from sublime covers Marley. Super raw and acoustic:
https://open.spotify.com/track/1uCzlBE0jqEFoEqJMbm6lR?si=OpTivyUNQaOYLniGF8G1_g
"This Train"
Roots of Creation
Berlin. Metro
Barbara Stevens
Kinks - Last of the Steam Powered Trains (on Village Green Preservation Society)
Peter Thomashow
Fred Eaglesmith writes some of the finest songs about trains. I Like Trains and 49 Tons being two gems
Gregg Simon
Lots of great songs here but I am sorry.... the most heartbreaking Train song in the history of the world is by the great English band FREE... " Oh I Wept". " I take my seat on the train, and let the sun come melt my pain....
Come tomorrow I'll be far away, in the sunshine of another day". Paul Rodgers bluesy, mournful voice and Paul Kossoff ' s heartbreaking guitar playing are simply devastating.. I have loved your writing for 15 years now Bob..... thank you. David Resch
Have not seen these two: 1 whiskey train by Procol Harum and 2 No trains to heaven by Be Bop Deluxe , which includes an outstanding guitar solo.
David Camp
A) I can't believe I forgot "Trains and Boats and Planes" by Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas
B) Aerosmith's "Train Kept A Rollin'" is a lead weight sinking in the river compared to the Yardbirds definitive version and to Johnny Burnette's earlier rockabilly version.
Toby Mamis
Two more:
- "5:15" by The Who ("out of my brain on a train")
- Not on Spotify: "Blue Train" by Jimmy Page & Robert Plant from their superb Walking Into Clarksdale album in 1998
Steve "The Lemon" Sauer
Waitin for the 103 by Dan Hicks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE0yvIzipkk
Lou Judson
One more train song: The Clash. Train in Vain
john monguillot
Los Lobos
The Train Don't Stop Here
Ricardo Colin
Loved your "train" show.... I guess there are a lot of Blackfoot fans.. who woulda' thought.
Here's a great one... Foghat . "Jump That Train".. It was from the last album with Lonesome Dave.
jeff laufer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLwyXOMyuj0
Hell bound Train
Savoy Brown
Neil Lasher
Choo Choo ch'boogie. Is the classic train song.
Kenneth Freundlich
A few more from a little farther back in the stack:
Trains---Terrence Boylan
Train---Buddy Miles
What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round---Monkees
Marty Bender
Train coming around the bend by the True Believers ( Alejandro Escavedo first Band) And Too bad- Night train by Lets Active. Both very good songs
Tino Perez
Gordon Lightfoot - Canadian Railroad Trilogy
Lightfoot and Steve Goodman once played the same bill - one doing the greatest Canadian train song, the other doing the greatest American train song.
Rest in Peace Steve Goodman
John Trelstad
Fargo, ND
Last Train To London
My Baby Takes The Morning Train
Chattanooga Choo Choo
there must be a stack of hits from the 20s/30s/40s heydays of steam passenger express trains?
Michael Feinstein would know?
Evan Linwood
How about "Locomotive Breath" by Jethro Tull and "Driver 8" by REM?
All the best
Robert Heiblim
thy Guy Clark somg is a great catch, from a great album
also "Runaway Train" by Roseanne Cash
oohlikewowman
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes s Train to Cry. - Robert Zimmerman
Paula Franceschi
One more for you
The ultimate Who Train song
5:15 from Quadrophenia
"Out of my brain on the train, on the 5:15"
Best
Steve Margo
Freight Train by Elizabeth Cotton, met her in the 70's when she was 78 and with Taj Mahal at the University of WA. I had the great honor of carry her guitar for her.
Pat Mallahan
Seattle
Blue Train, written by Tom Kimmel and Jennifer Kimball and sung by Maura O'Connell. Beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORMUqhofLGw
Amy Kurland
New Delhi Freight Train by Little Feat
Frank Wood
Night Train-Guns-N-Roses
Jay Stewart
most of these were so obvious...
though the Hiatt and the Marley and the Little Feat
i figured you wanted obsurities, hopefully with some social comment
go find Aaron Lee Tasjan. he's worth it.
torchlili
Anybody mention Tom rush's Panama limited. If not, I just did.
Richard Allison
No room for "Orange Blossom Special"? The SEA TRAIN version? Either you're on drugs or I am!
Barry Lyons / Rent A Label
"Take the A train" Duke Ellington
Paul Mencel
https://youtube.com/watch?v=mb7LvUnx_8s
Brenden Small of Home Movies other project
Richard Altman
I'm late to this and while the train does not appear in the title... The Lightning Express by the Everly Brothers is one of my favorites.
Todd Devonshire
I worked for WEA Chicago in the late 70s. We scheduled an in store performance for Steve for a new album release. It was winter and a huge un-forecast storm hit. No one showed. I thought he'd be angry. He grabbed his guitar and played and sang for over an hour for the store personnel and record people. He was gracious and I sounded great.
Randal Edwards
Not to be forgotten:
Night Train-James Brown
Traintime-Cream
Train In the Distance-Paul Simon
Hear My Train A Comin-Jimi Hendrix
It Takes A lot to Laugh, It Takes A Train to Cry-Bob Dylan
Best wishes
Bob Jameson
Hear hear to the Billy Joe Shaver shout-outs for "Georgia on a Fast Train." My numero uno in this category. Man writes some righteous lyrics.
Underappreciated gem: AC/DC's poorly titled "Rock 'N' Roll Train." It's not only their best late-era single, it's in the top ten (or 15) best Brian J-era songs. The Youngs should have named it from the gang-vocal chorus "Runaway train! Runnin' right off the tracks". No one would've confused this banger with Soul Asylum's hit.
Virtually unknown gem: The Shazam's "Gonna Miss Yer Train." Nashville power poppers should've blitzed the world with their 1999 Not Lame Recordings album Godspeed The Shazam.
Tucker Eskew
Morning Bound Train by Jimmy Rankin from Cape Breton, Canada. I love Train songs!
Kind regards,
June Hiscock
Mystery Train. Paul Simon did a great cover during his 2012 Hyde Park concert.
Niels van Oyen
Peace Train Cat Stevens
Monkey and the Engineer Grateful Dead
Waiting for a Train Jimmie Rodgers
Sent from my iPhone
Night Train Guns N Roses
Midnight Trains To Georgia Gladys Night and Pips
Wabash Cannonball (everyone)
Downtown Train Tom Waits
Hey Porter Johnny Cash
The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down The Band
My Baby Takes The Morning Train Shena Easton !!!
George Drakoulias
From the dawn of Rock and Roll - The Valentines (from Harlem) - Woo Woo Train - 1956 on Rama Records.
Bruce Berenson
Nobody mentioned these, so I will:
Little Jimmy Dickens-
https://youtu.be/cJPf0dRITaY
Pentangle-
https://youtu.be/S6i40SoW2BM
Yay, train songs!
Great lists, including yours,
Marshall Crenshaw
"Train Time" Cream ?!
Will Bratton
Casey Jones
Big railroad blues
Monkey and the engineer
Robert Rosenstein
" Hellbound Train", Savoy Brown's 1972 cult classic from the album of the same name. Mid period British blues rock at its finest.
Stephen Dessau
"Driver 8" - R.E.M.
https://youtu.be/wuFId1RYSZE
Pearce Bannon
I?m late to the party here but
Another to add to your Train Playlist.
Hollis Brown Ride on the Train˛
https://youtu.be/9GlNKST3_Rc
They?re a quintet from Queens, NYC.
Dave Marsh calls them truly one of the best Rock Bands in the world.
Fiona Bloom
my reservations been confirmed herman's hermits
Peter Noone
Last train to London by ELO. Awesome.
Eric Herz
Has anyone mentioned "Last Of The Steam Powered Trains" by The Kinks? That's the only one that matters.
Francois Mobasser, Esq.
"Take The A Train" ... "Casey Jones"
Paul Zullo
Bob Woodruff's "I'm The Train"
Hillorie McLarty
Night Train, original by Jimmy Forest. James Brown killed it................
Sjaak Blaauw
Thanks for the shout-out, Bob — much appreciated!
Tom Rush
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Wednesday 26 February 2020
More Train Songs
Just some considerations
Train Kept A Rollin' (as covered by Yardbirds and later Aerosmith)
Long Train Runnin' (The Doobie Brothers)
Fast Train (April Wine)
A Passage To Bangkok (Rush)
Last Train To Clarksville (The Monkees)
Crazy Train (Ozzy)
John Robbie
___________________________________________
Love this Bob. Thank you for doing what you do.
To add to your list....
Phish's more well known Back on the Train....
https://youtu.be/XJlha93DgvE
And their lesser known but haunting version of Train Song sung by bassist Mike Gordon...
https://youtu.be/p8FnMDakG4U
Be well....
Mike Novick
___________________________________________
"The City of New Orleans"
Arlo Guthrie
Does anybody remember this was written by Steve Goodman? Does anybody remember Steve Goodman?
I remember...saw him at the earl of old town. amazing grace in evanston. probably a half dozen other places.
He was great, spontaneous, super entertaining!
Had an engaging smile.
He often played with John Prine. Thankfully still alive.
The chicago folk scene was incredible!!
The good old days.
Glad you gave Goodman credit for the song!
a miller
___________________________________________
Also don't forget Elvis' "Mystery Train" or anything by Grand Funk Railroad
John Zambetti
___________________________________________
Steve Goodman has been in the news over the last few years, so yes, we remember him.
When the Cubs won the World Series in 2016 (Steve was a long suffering Cubs fan), you could hear his two songs, "A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request" and "Go Cubs Go" at every celebration.
Last year, Steve's good friend, John Prine, was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. Here are Steve and John performing "Souvenirs", plus a bonus solo song by Steve. https://youtu.be/aOTbg39-I5Q
Ken Coffey
Waukesha, WI (home of the inventor of the solid body electric guitar)
___________________________________________
Hey, Bob... Love it, but you forgot Warren Zevon's "Nighttime at the Switching Yard" and Savoy Brown's "Hellbound Train." Also, "Train Train" and "Train Kept a Rollin'."
Dave Wood
___________________________________________
Yes yes yes. That record of Wendy's is wonderful. I mean hell, we cut "Mad Mad Me" and "Vaudeville Man" on Maria Muldaur's first album when Wendy was what? Sixteen? Seventeen? Just sayin', creatives like Wendy and Billie Eilish, they're born with it.
And Steve Goodman: among the sweetest people on the planet. I sang BGs on a John Prine album he produced in the '70s; we had a blast.
And "Two Trains Runnin'" among my favorite records ever. Well, I gotta say: EVERYTHING on Dixie Chicken.
What about any bluegrass or country singer doing "Wabash Cannonball"...? From Wikipedia: The song "The Wabash Cannonball" is part of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list. It is the oldest song on the list. Hank Snow, Willie Nelson, Carter Family, Roy Acuff, etc. Maybe I'm going too far back...
gPresto
___________________________________________
Train, Train by Blackfoot.
https://open.spotify.com/track/5bSpsKGoGKXOOfg7F3ZtKz?si=kooog_hIQeqaTRT6kLXAiQ
Never cared much about this band. But this is great redneck rock. I should know- GA born and bred. Check out the harp solo at 2:05.
- Bruce Gow
___________________________________________
Downbound train is the best on that album!!!! Great call! Bruce is my favorite and has been since I was ten (1979). My counselors at my Jewish summer sports camp Bauercrest loved Bruce and I taped their cassette taped bootlegs. A wire connecting our two "boxes". Loved him ever since.
Winny from Massachusetts
___________________________________________
Hi Bob,
...A few more Train songs for you on my Boats, Trains, Planes and Automobiles playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4TnGuk9WZQZ4IQ1EgLotDN?si=IK2N-d-uTJSVtjzEyTlc4g
including Train Song by Murray McLauchlan and Big Train by John Fogerty.
Bruno
Mississauga
___________________________________________
Steve Goodman
Great performer
Ask people in Chicago...they remember
Ask john prine..or david Allen Coe
Steve cowrote You never even call me by my name
He was a Witty live performer
Toy Caldwell should get more credit, I agree
Btw..love Wendy Waldman ..
Always a good read, thanks LC
___________________________________________
Strangely. I have a TRAIN playlist going on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2fi4x7o8eDhR3o5JnyAtGz?si=_suPs6kSTayAXzX4hm-Dog
Nanci M. Walker
___________________________________________
One After 909...???
stoned
___________________________________________
Every Chicago Cub fan remembers Steve Goodman.
Wileen Dragovan
___________________________________________
From station to station Back to Dusseldorf City Meet Iggy Pop and David Bowie
Tom Quinn
___________________________________________
Guy Clark - Texas 1947
Just a consideration.
Great list.
Thanks
Ted Lindsay
___________________________________________
Train Song by Phish. A masterful folk tune with beautiful harmonies.
Meditesh Rock
___________________________________________
Two more:
Rock Island Line- Lonnie Doneghan
(Inspired the Beatles' One After 909)
Last Train Home- Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays
David Lowrey
___________________________________________
I listened endlessly to Wendy's "Main Refrain" in the late 70's and had the pleasure of meeting her doing an In-store Taylor guitar promotion when I managed the Minneapolis Guitar Center 15 years ago. The Fishin in the Dark writers story is a classic of where great song ideas come to For genius writers like Wendy.
Secondarily , I have a track of "You Can Close Your Eyes" in the can that I did with Russ Kunkel, Lee Sklar, Waddy ( The original session band for James) and Foo Fighters violinist Jesse Greene recorded In Burbank 5 years ago but not yet completed.
I have a standing invitation relayed by Peter Simon before he passed from my friend Sally Taylor to find a time when she, her brother Ben, her Mom, and I can all meet at Carly's home studio on the Vineyard to finish it as a chorus of four. Needless to say I am excited for the opportunity.
Sally told me that her Dad wrote the song as a lullaby for her , and that he cane into her room before departing on any tour or trip and sang it to her "in case anything happened to him" traveling so that that would be her last memory of him.
Touching for sure. I think there will be a convergent time this Summer to complete my cover with Sally, Ben , and Mama C.
Best,
Zannman- Minneapolis
___________________________________________
Saw Steve Goodman at a pub in DC after he lost his hair from chemo. He died not long after.
When I ran into John Prine at ORD we talked about them playing the "Stompin 76" festival.
He said he still misses him.
Myiyes
___________________________________________
If you want to rock things up, here's TRAIN, TRAIN by Ricky Medlocke and Blackfoot,
which got a ton of airplay. Rickey's now with Skynyrd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBP15lRprPs
Beau Phillips
___________________________________________
Thanks Bob. A couple of " Train" songs I missed.
How about " Catch A Train" by Free on Free At Last. On the same lp is " Traveling Man" with a definite train groove at the end of the song , along with some fantastic Andy Fraser bass playing.
Alan Childs
___________________________________________
"Downtown Train" by Tom
The man with the incredible voice - where has he been lately?
And who remembers that he went into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 2011 ?
Stuart Taubel
___________________________________________
There was a contest a few years ago (not sponsored by the Cubs) to write a better Cubs song. The winner made "Go Cubs Go" sound like a cross between "Hey Jude" and Beethoven's 5th.
Steven Monk
___________________________________________
Train Train by Blackfoot
"The time is always right to do what is right."
Tino Perez
___________________________________________
I forgot "Two Trains Running" by The Blues Project, Butterfield Blues Band, Muddy Waters
Toby Mamis
___________________________________________
You left out Warren Zevon's "Nighttime in the Switching Yard".
Danny Cohen
___________________________________________
Howdy Bob,
"City of New Orleans," and many other Steve Goodman cuts were often
aired on KFAT, Gilroy when I was a deejay there.
Cheers,
Deadwood Dick
http://www.deadwooddick.com
___________________________________________
Hey Bob,
How about Joni's 'Just Like This Train.' One of my favorite songs. She creates such vivid pictures.
I'm new to your blogs and have really been enjoying them.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks,
Donna Giardina
___________________________________________
From his/Bob live feed grammy's performance.
Worth listening to for this: "this is one of your songs about traaaaaiiiins."
https://music.apple.com/us/album/train-of-love/192704152?i=192704215
It's a good 'un
Judd Marcello
___________________________________________
Rufus Thomas - The Memphis Train
Greg McLoughlin
___________________________________________
Great selection of songs. If you want to add a non-rock song, listen to "Daddy What's A Train" by U. Utah Phillips.
About Steve Goodman: I was introduced to him by Fred Walecki at Fred's Westwood Music in 1972. Very nice guy. I mentioned that I'd just purchased John Denver's latest album "Annie's Song" which had "The City of New Orleans" on it. I said I was surprised to see on the record that John Denver had co-written the song. Steve immediately said "No he didn't. My attorneys and his are discussing that right now". According to Steve, John had made some minor changes to make it more "up-beat" and thought that made him a co-writer.
It was a huge loss when Steve died. I saw him several times in concert, usually with John Prine.
Norm Willis
___________________________________________
Bob,
I know you're getting a million of these but no "Casey Jones"?
Kim Cooke
___________________________________________
Nice Bob, but missing from the list the beautiful "Southbound Train" by Graham Nash and David Crosby and also "Mystery Train" by The Band...
All the best,
Cob Carlson
___________________________________________
I'll give you three you missed though one is pretty obscure…….
Blackfoot "Train Train" arguably their biggest song.
Little Feat "Red Streamliner" a Bill Payne gem off of
Time Loves A Hero. The best song on that album in my opinion.
And last but not least..
The Holmes Brothers cover of Tom Waits "Train Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71LmHeKv4yc
if this don't get ya……..
Best,
Jack
Jack Randall
President
The Kurland Agency
___________________________________________
You forgot a few....
Here are 2 of my faves from Canadian Artists.
"Night Train", same name different song by Bruce Cockburn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgAlL6gSvxo
There is also a stripped down version somewhere
The other is "I like Trains" by Fred Eaglesmith
This is the studio version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd34Ioye5v4&t=65s
There also many live versions all over youtube
Fred has been touring for decades and should be much
more well known
I met him a few years back doing sound production at a small show
and became an instant fan.
2 years after that I did another show for him, and when he found out
I also print T-Shirts, I became his merch guy.
He has a great catalog of songs from the heart about the working man etc.
You probably would enjoy Alcohol and Pills, among many.
He now tours as duo with wife Tiff Ginn, a great artist in her own right.
Cheers
Mitch Nixon ( the Sound Guy, T-Shirt Guy....what ever you need Guy LOL! )
___________________________________________
You left a classic "Train" themed song off the list:
The Band w. Paul Butterfield "Mystery Train"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-fmqOU8_Uo
Thanks,
Mike H
___________________________________________
No "One After 909"??
Not much of a list then!
Dennis Pelowski
___________________________________________
Here's another great song about a galloping horse. ???
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS760US760&sxsrf=ALeKk00o0n-z-eOmvBkYyya-qaVLu7zHlA%3A1582671243819&ei=i6VVXpDOMYHs9AOM152IAg&q=poco+legend+youtube&oq=poco+legend&gs_l=psy-ab.1.8.0l10.2
John Hartmann
___________________________________________
C'mon
"Play aTrain Song"
-Todd Snider
???????
Richard Bruehl
___________________________________________
Hi Bob; Good list. I would have had James Brown's Night Train instead of Winwood's.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4OMreMBdFMvXg4nyh6KIAB?si=l_2-rdmxR_S-XM7Ft_ILvA
Also, not really your taste, I suspect but I'd surely have Midnight Train to Georgia.
All the best,
Mike Craig
___________________________________________
Guy Clark (probably better known for LA Freeway, which of course is more dangerous than a train) had Texas 1947. One of the really great train songs.
And Georgia on a Fast Train is one of Billy Joe Shaver's best.
I've been to Georgia on a fast train honey
I wasn't born no yestday
Got a good Christian raisin' and an eighth grade education
Ain't no need in y'all a treatin' me this way…
Jim Warren
___________________________________________
Lots of good stuff here, Bob. Train songs fill a large amount of well done songs. Here are a few trains that I favor:
Desperados Waiting for a Train - Guy Clark; also version by Jerry Jeff Walker
Train to Birmingham - John Hiatt; favorite version by Kevin Welch
Last Train to Amsterdam - Ray Wylie Hubbard
Trains I Missed - Walt Wilkins
New Delhi Freight Train - Little Feat; also version by Terry Allen
I Like Trains - Fred Eaglesmith
Train Ride - Lyle Lovett
Georgia on a Fast Train - Billy Joe Shaver
This Train Is Bound for Glory - Woodie Guthrie
bowman
___________________________________________
TRAIN LEAVES HERE THIS MORNING ...GENE CLARK (BYRDS)
Don de Brauwere
___________________________________________
"Traintime"
From the Cream album Wheels of Fire.
Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker
Departed giants.
R. Pina
___________________________________________
If there's another train collection...
"Gone Dead Train"
Writers: Jack Nitzsche and Russ Titelman
Performer: Randy Newman
Album: Soundtrack of Performance
"If Love Was a Train"
Writer: Michelle Shocked
Performer: Michelle Shocked
Album: Short Sharp Shocked
John Scott G
___________________________________________
Two Trains was with me on my cross-country train trip.
And on my road trip to the Grand Canyon with ashes of my human best friend
and my sweet dog.
I think I shared with you previously we saw them in the mid-70's at the
underground Boston club Paul's Mall.
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/little-feat/1973/pauls-mall-boston-ma-53dba775.html
We stayed for both sets. Second set we sat directly behind Billy Payne. There had
been a noticeable shift in energy when the band came out for the second set.
Must've been that cocaine they loved so much.
By the time they got to Tripe Face Boogie I thought the club was going to
simply explode and take us all along for the trip.
An epic, life-changing evening.
Jane Hoffman
___________________________________________
Bob: nice Rhino Bucket reference. Great outfit. Bad timing indeed. And props for Down Bound Train - the true gem on Born in U.S.A. Love from the Entertainment Capital of the World.
Kurt Lambeth
___________________________________________
Hey Bob, what about Night Time in the Switching Yard by Warren Zevon?
-Miles Johnson
Tulsa, OK
___________________________________________
All good Bob, but you forgot the classic :
Locomotive Breath (The Live Version)
Jethro Tull
Regards,
India (aged 14)
___________________________________________
"Night Train"
Steve Winwood
Bob,
Thanks for keeping the Winwood flame burning. Such genius, such neglect.
The two-minute intro alone is a wonder, Winwood plying the A and D major scales, brilliantly exploring and expanding the theme, playing all the instruments—guitar, synth, piano, bass, drums—and then that voice! Brilliant and perfect. The video shows it all. He looks like a kid, skinny, detached—but already at 32 is a veteran of three great bands who had played with Muddy Waters, Hendrix, Clapton, Harrison, the Dead. And still touring!
Les Jacobson
___________________________________________
Hell yes I remember Steve Goodman. Great songwriter. Chicken Cordon Blues. You Never Even Call Me by My Name. A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request. To name a few.
Dave Thorn
___________________________________________
What a great selection (esp. "Riding on a Railroad", which I first heard in a live version on a compilation called the Bitter End Years). Another favorite train song of mine: "Train Song" by Tom Waits, not to be confused with "Downtown Train", also great and by Tom Waits, and later covered by Rod Stewart.
Andrew Cohen
___________________________________________
Train A Comin' - Steve Earle
Rodney Rowland
___________________________________________
More Trains ….
Paul Simon : Train In The Distance
The best song on his underrated, under-noticed HEARTS & BONES album.
Originally it was going to be a Simon & Garfunkel album.
That didn't happen, but if it had, this would've been that record's "Only Living Boy In New York."
And like that track, it gets better with each hearing…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCFTHhcvRT0
Chuck Berry : Downbound Train
One of Chuck Berry's best unheard songs…it wasn't a single, it wasn't a hit, and it doesn't have an identifiable Chuck Berry
feel to it. It's also darker than dark, about a man finding himself on a train being driven by the devil straight to hell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcB9NGwkHrM
Tony Joe White : The Train I'm On
From an album by the same name from 1972, produced by Jerry Wexler & Tom Dowd. You can hear Wexler finding the sound & the players he'd eventually use on Dylan's Slow Train album. But it never got any better than this. You can feel Tony Joe White there on the train and watching the locomotive disappear into the distance. Both at once. Wave goodbye.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edsur2x6yyw
OK Savant : Where The Railroads Run On Time
My old band : Sara Lee on bass, Steve Holley on drums, Larry Saltzman on guitar, Leslie Winston on keyboards, Brian Cullman singing & playing rhythm.
This song got us signed to Columbia/Sony. And then it all went kablooey. Still sounds good though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BCLFzrTpdE
Tom Waits : Downtown Train
That's the dirty little secret…for all the boho posturing and all the mumbling, Waits is not above turning out beautiful pop songs now and then…it's nearly impossible to get "Ol' 55" out of your head, and this one's no different. And go back to "Jockey Full Of Bourbon" or "San Diego Serenade"or "Soldier's Things" if you need more proof.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLtZKkCIVmI
Brian Cullman
___________________________________________
I realize your "train" playlist wasn't meant to include every single train song, but as I've been following you for years now, and thinking back to all the wonderful music you've championed, I'm kinda shocked that you'd not include this gem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXmZmAIl600
Along those same lines, and although I prefer the above, there is also this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxjk4Ck4vMA
But I'm also kinda surprised that this one didn't make your cut:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRtvqT_wMeY
And this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUzBgeI5dpc
Finally, I always enjoyed "Hearts and Bones", so there's always this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCFTHhcvRT0
Anyway, thanks for the inspiration!
John Van Nest
___________________________________________
But no "Everybody Loves a Train" off Los Lobos Colossal Head album? What a groove. Go ahead and call us insane, but we all love a train. Like we love the woefully underrated Wolves.
And you had to at least consider Joni's "Just Like this Train" from Court & Spark? Boxcars are bangin in the yards!
Settle down into the clickety clack.
Cheers
Bob Scott
___________________________________________
"Night Train" by Bruce Cockburn
-- Bill O'Neill
___________________________________________
I recommend you to listen to "Northern Bound Train" by Pete Droge. One of my favorites.
https://youtu.be/c_lMH-oucqE
As matter of fact, his first album (which includes this track) is pretty damn good.
Tom Petty had him opening for him during one of his 1990s tours.
Scott Sechman
___________________________________________
What? No ZION TRAIN by Bob Marley? SMH.
Best,
Kia Kamran
___________________________________________
Thanks for the kind words about Toy Caldwell and "Can't You See." Yesterday was the 27th anniversary of Toy's passing. Toy was a great guitarist, performer and songwriter. RIP Toy.
Best,
Casey
F. Casey Del Casino
Del Casino Law
___________________________________________
Don't forget Savoy Brown! This tune makes it onto a lot of my playlists - an all time favorite. Great road trip tune!
Marty Jorgensen
NorCal
"Hellbound Train": https://youtu.be/N6TkCLDcC7o
___________________________________________
Long Time Between Trains
Susan Werner
Pat Long
___________________________________________
Train Kept a Rollin (All night long) Aerosmith
Carrie A. Russell, JD, PhD
___________________________________________
What about "Train Leaves Here This Morning"? Written by Bernie Leadon and Gene Clark. Recorded by the Eagles on their debut album. Also recorded by Dillard & Clark and found on their album "The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark."
Ben Fierro
___________________________________________
Hitchcock railway , terrific cut
I need to hear that tonight
Thanks for zapping my memory .
Tom Rush is still great live , we in New England are lucky he is a local guy
Gerry
___________________________________________
Great playlist! I loved the guitar work on Hitchcock Railway...Henry McCullough and Clarence White or so Wikipedia says...Leon Russell on keys! I might suggest Los Lobos, "That Train Don't Stop Here Anymore," a great musical ride, a perfect blend of a missed train and love lost, done and gone, down that track!
Another great train song is 70s Everly Bros, "I'm On My Way Home Again." This song is why I love Clarence White's guitarwork so much. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41f8AFx1TDM
Chip Lovitt
___________________________________________
You can't have a playlist like that and not include Lucero – Union Pacific Line
https://open.spotify.com/track/7MEzKirbaU6IdJUVUviyPP
I am still uncertain how Lucero flies under the radar they are such a solid band
Chad Washington
___________________________________________
Great playlist!
I love all these artists, but my favorite is Tom Rush. I used to get my friend Albert Spevak to drive me up to Rockport when I was at Brandeis, trying to figure out all his fingering on Rockport Sunday (and other songs). And I have most of his early albums. (When he went to Columbia, I hated those albums, even though I worked there.)
And then a few months ago, Tom played an acoustic set at the Rubin Museum in Manhattan (and I sat in the front row, so close I could almost reach out and touch his fingers on the frets). He was great, and of course, played "Panama Limited." I got a chance to chat with him afterwards, which was nice.
Best,
Debbie
___________________________________________
What about Night Train by James Brown? Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight? Last Train to Clarksville? Mystery Train by Elvis? Train Kept-A Rolling by The Yardbirds? I guess I'll have to make my own playlist…
Also, here's MY favorite version of Hitchcock Railway: https://youtu.be/Dt5RhzKtZA4
Cheers,
Jeremy Shatan
___________________________________________
SOUTHERN PACIFIC - Give Uncle Neil some loving
Or the DEAD - I wish I was a headlight on a north-bound train - I'd shine my light through the cool Colorado rain
Sincerely
Michael Karff
___________________________________________
One of the best, "Royal Station 4/16" Melissa Etheridges 2nd album! Great song and a great performance from her.
Irv Berner
___________________________________________
I love it that you included "Panama Limited." Tom played here in Middlebury a couple months ago and yes, he still nails it.
- Greg Dennis
___________________________________________
Back on the Train
Phish
rollicking
Jonas Kelly
___________________________________________
Never would have guessed Rhino Bucket would pop up on a list of yours. Glad it did. Truly an overlooked band
100% right on Downbound Train. Best cut on the record
Thanks
Dana Gore
___________________________________________
I can name many,,, but.
It takes a lot to laugh...It takes a train to cry..would be at the top of the list
Brian Lukow
___________________________________________
I saw you've already got 'Downtown Train' in there. I'd add - or maybe swap it out for - Bruce's version of 'Land Of Hope & Dreams', Bob. From about 2000, I believe. Got me through a *very* dark and hopeless moment in my life, that song... and came at a point when I really did feel I was riding a 'downbound train' on a one-way ticket.
Cheers, and keep on doing what only you can do. More power to ya.
Paul Murphy
___________________________________________
What about Mystery Train?
Harold Love
___________________________________________
I didn't catch on that you were collecting train songs,
When I had my daughter, we she was 4 we tripped on this, by an children's educator, who plays Library's. and it is HAUNTINGLY AMAZING you'd have to have no soul to not like this,
Charlie Hope "Train Song"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKlHABc8HTE
Not sure if you were looking just for suggestions,
But I bet you can put Charlie HOPE on the MAP with this,
She's amazing For some reason I get really emotional listening to the song.
She actually sounds like a train coming down the tracks from a distance. right at you!
If you're like me you'll listen to this ten times in a row.
ALSO as a HUGE Blackfoot fan, you have to include
Train Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBP15lRprPs
BUT even better,
Blackfoot "Railroad Man"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoDPlGIfemU
Enjoy
John
--
John Warden
Rive Video Promotion
___________________________________________
Bob, of course we remember Steve Goodman. Yes, the people whose lives he touched will eventually all die. But those of us who still remain, we remember and treasure him.
Tom Moore
___________________________________________
Tom Rush. Yes!!
But...no train playlist could be complete without
Monsters of Folk
"The Sandman, The Brakeman And Me"
A stand-out lullaby about falling asleep on a rolling train from the 2009 self titled debut that brought Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes), M. Ward (She & Him), and Jim James (My Morning Jacket) together for one of the best albums of the last decade.
Cody Chapman
___________________________________________
Great songs here Bob, I'm going to pop in on this afternoon.
I'd like to chuck a song onto the rails, Two Gallants - The Train That Stole My Man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHkq-LJyXRs
By the time the vocals kick in the shimmering rumble of the distant locomotive and lonely windswept vista is effortlessly evoked. You can feel the dust blowing up against your calves and the sweat-stained shirt sticking to your back.
I think a while back you wrote about how there's some things that 'The Algortihm' just won't be able to predict. Sure, if I listen to ten rap tracks it can find me more rap tracks from a similar area or era. But what about other, less tangible aspects?
I think about distance. Not just miles but deep, deep emotional gaps that both sides want to cross but the chasm is too gaping. Something bigger than yards. I don't know why, but I yearn for it in a lot of art. When The Doctor and Rose are on the other side of a wall on the screen, but a universe apart in reality. The twinning of souls who are always apart in Makoto Shinkai's masterpiece 'Your Name'. This song does similar, in another time and place this family could be together, but in this time and place they can't.
Maybe it's that feeling of an itch you can't quite scratch. A desire to constantly have something to reach for. I don't know.
Anathema - Untouchable brings up these feelings too. I can't put a finger on why, but I sometimes wonder what algorithm is going to pick it out based on the previous things I've mentioned? I'd rather you find me ten things that make me feel like this than similar sci-fi shows, anime films, folk ballads and rock epics.
Andy Vale
___________________________________________
I gotta say: any train playlist should include Blackfoot's "Train, Train" https://open.spotify.com/track/5bSpsKGoGKXOOfg7F3ZtKz?si=YbH4xKVCTSSEiwHrux_4Ow
That is a head-out-of-the-window freedom chasing classic.
Stay human!
K
___________________________________________
Great list, you missed:
Train Song - Tom Waits.
Probably the greatest song about the despair that alcoholism brings.
Night Train - Guns 'N Roses
Taking no prisoners pure hard rock decadence. Apparently when they mastered Appetite they were referencing the juggernaut that is Back in Black.
Louis Warner
___________________________________________
WTF, No James Brown "Night Train?"
Michael Providence
___________________________________________
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/train-songs-newburys-others/pl.u-yZyVlNVsYBXA1J
Grant Fowler
___________________________________________
plenty of 'em:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/593DI3FELrDcn8UzPVlU3U?si=2NXsv_P8Rhm3fI3ZteRJOg
John Hughes
___________________________________________
@MrChuckD: A rap song Nighttrain by @PublicEnemyFTP if you need a hiphop rep @siriusxmvolume @Lefsetz off https://t.co/QorwQOAZK3
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Love the trains playlist, especially the mention of Wendy Waldman..
But even more, I love the Babka, along with sundry other delicacies, that arrived today from Zabars.
Thanks for reminding me of two of life's essentials.
Dan Beach
Orlando
___________________________________________
Hi Bob. You must write a book called " The Right band at the wrong time"
If Griel Marcus can whittle down Rock & Roll to 10 songs, you surely can shine a light on those that have not reached Valhalla & never will. Having said all of that you're probably too busy reading three books at once.
Michael Des Barres.
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Train Kept A Rollin' (as covered by Yardbirds and later Aerosmith)
Long Train Runnin' (The Doobie Brothers)
Fast Train (April Wine)
A Passage To Bangkok (Rush)
Last Train To Clarksville (The Monkees)
Crazy Train (Ozzy)
John Robbie
___________________________________________
Love this Bob. Thank you for doing what you do.
To add to your list....
Phish's more well known Back on the Train....
https://youtu.be/XJlha93DgvE
And their lesser known but haunting version of Train Song sung by bassist Mike Gordon...
https://youtu.be/p8FnMDakG4U
Be well....
Mike Novick
___________________________________________
"The City of New Orleans"
Arlo Guthrie
Does anybody remember this was written by Steve Goodman? Does anybody remember Steve Goodman?
I remember...saw him at the earl of old town. amazing grace in evanston. probably a half dozen other places.
He was great, spontaneous, super entertaining!
Had an engaging smile.
He often played with John Prine. Thankfully still alive.
The chicago folk scene was incredible!!
The good old days.
Glad you gave Goodman credit for the song!
a miller
___________________________________________
Also don't forget Elvis' "Mystery Train" or anything by Grand Funk Railroad
John Zambetti
___________________________________________
Steve Goodman has been in the news over the last few years, so yes, we remember him.
When the Cubs won the World Series in 2016 (Steve was a long suffering Cubs fan), you could hear his two songs, "A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request" and "Go Cubs Go" at every celebration.
Last year, Steve's good friend, John Prine, was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. Here are Steve and John performing "Souvenirs", plus a bonus solo song by Steve. https://youtu.be/aOTbg39-I5Q
Ken Coffey
Waukesha, WI (home of the inventor of the solid body electric guitar)
___________________________________________
Hey, Bob... Love it, but you forgot Warren Zevon's "Nighttime at the Switching Yard" and Savoy Brown's "Hellbound Train." Also, "Train Train" and "Train Kept a Rollin'."
Dave Wood
___________________________________________
Yes yes yes. That record of Wendy's is wonderful. I mean hell, we cut "Mad Mad Me" and "Vaudeville Man" on Maria Muldaur's first album when Wendy was what? Sixteen? Seventeen? Just sayin', creatives like Wendy and Billie Eilish, they're born with it.
And Steve Goodman: among the sweetest people on the planet. I sang BGs on a John Prine album he produced in the '70s; we had a blast.
And "Two Trains Runnin'" among my favorite records ever. Well, I gotta say: EVERYTHING on Dixie Chicken.
What about any bluegrass or country singer doing "Wabash Cannonball"...? From Wikipedia: The song "The Wabash Cannonball" is part of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list. It is the oldest song on the list. Hank Snow, Willie Nelson, Carter Family, Roy Acuff, etc. Maybe I'm going too far back...
gPresto
___________________________________________
Train, Train by Blackfoot.
https://open.spotify.com/track/5bSpsKGoGKXOOfg7F3ZtKz?si=kooog_hIQeqaTRT6kLXAiQ
Never cared much about this band. But this is great redneck rock. I should know- GA born and bred. Check out the harp solo at 2:05.
- Bruce Gow
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Downbound train is the best on that album!!!! Great call! Bruce is my favorite and has been since I was ten (1979). My counselors at my Jewish summer sports camp Bauercrest loved Bruce and I taped their cassette taped bootlegs. A wire connecting our two "boxes". Loved him ever since.
Winny from Massachusetts
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Hi Bob,
...A few more Train songs for you on my Boats, Trains, Planes and Automobiles playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4TnGuk9WZQZ4IQ1EgLotDN?si=IK2N-d-uTJSVtjzEyTlc4g
including Train Song by Murray McLauchlan and Big Train by John Fogerty.
Bruno
Mississauga
___________________________________________
Steve Goodman
Great performer
Ask people in Chicago...they remember
Ask john prine..or david Allen Coe
Steve cowrote You never even call me by my name
He was a Witty live performer
Toy Caldwell should get more credit, I agree
Btw..love Wendy Waldman ..
Always a good read, thanks LC
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Strangely. I have a TRAIN playlist going on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2fi4x7o8eDhR3o5JnyAtGz?si=_suPs6kSTayAXzX4hm-Dog
Nanci M. Walker
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One After 909...???
stoned
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Every Chicago Cub fan remembers Steve Goodman.
Wileen Dragovan
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From station to station Back to Dusseldorf City Meet Iggy Pop and David Bowie
Tom Quinn
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Guy Clark - Texas 1947
Just a consideration.
Great list.
Thanks
Ted Lindsay
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Train Song by Phish. A masterful folk tune with beautiful harmonies.
Meditesh Rock
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Two more:
Rock Island Line- Lonnie Doneghan
(Inspired the Beatles' One After 909)
Last Train Home- Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays
David Lowrey
___________________________________________
I listened endlessly to Wendy's "Main Refrain" in the late 70's and had the pleasure of meeting her doing an In-store Taylor guitar promotion when I managed the Minneapolis Guitar Center 15 years ago. The Fishin in the Dark writers story is a classic of where great song ideas come to For genius writers like Wendy.
Secondarily , I have a track of "You Can Close Your Eyes" in the can that I did with Russ Kunkel, Lee Sklar, Waddy ( The original session band for James) and Foo Fighters violinist Jesse Greene recorded In Burbank 5 years ago but not yet completed.
I have a standing invitation relayed by Peter Simon before he passed from my friend Sally Taylor to find a time when she, her brother Ben, her Mom, and I can all meet at Carly's home studio on the Vineyard to finish it as a chorus of four. Needless to say I am excited for the opportunity.
Sally told me that her Dad wrote the song as a lullaby for her , and that he cane into her room before departing on any tour or trip and sang it to her "in case anything happened to him" traveling so that that would be her last memory of him.
Touching for sure. I think there will be a convergent time this Summer to complete my cover with Sally, Ben , and Mama C.
Best,
Zannman- Minneapolis
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Saw Steve Goodman at a pub in DC after he lost his hair from chemo. He died not long after.
When I ran into John Prine at ORD we talked about them playing the "Stompin 76" festival.
He said he still misses him.
Myiyes
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If you want to rock things up, here's TRAIN, TRAIN by Ricky Medlocke and Blackfoot,
which got a ton of airplay. Rickey's now with Skynyrd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBP15lRprPs
Beau Phillips
___________________________________________
Thanks Bob. A couple of " Train" songs I missed.
How about " Catch A Train" by Free on Free At Last. On the same lp is " Traveling Man" with a definite train groove at the end of the song , along with some fantastic Andy Fraser bass playing.
Alan Childs
___________________________________________
"Downtown Train" by Tom
The man with the incredible voice - where has he been lately?
And who remembers that he went into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 2011 ?
Stuart Taubel
___________________________________________
There was a contest a few years ago (not sponsored by the Cubs) to write a better Cubs song. The winner made "Go Cubs Go" sound like a cross between "Hey Jude" and Beethoven's 5th.
Steven Monk
___________________________________________
Train Train by Blackfoot
"The time is always right to do what is right."
Tino Perez
___________________________________________
I forgot "Two Trains Running" by The Blues Project, Butterfield Blues Band, Muddy Waters
Toby Mamis
___________________________________________
You left out Warren Zevon's "Nighttime in the Switching Yard".
Danny Cohen
___________________________________________
Howdy Bob,
"City of New Orleans," and many other Steve Goodman cuts were often
aired on KFAT, Gilroy when I was a deejay there.
Cheers,
Deadwood Dick
http://www.deadwooddick.com
___________________________________________
Hey Bob,
How about Joni's 'Just Like This Train.' One of my favorite songs. She creates such vivid pictures.
I'm new to your blogs and have really been enjoying them.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks,
Donna Giardina
___________________________________________
From his/Bob live feed grammy's performance.
Worth listening to for this: "this is one of your songs about traaaaaiiiins."
https://music.apple.com/us/album/train-of-love/192704152?i=192704215
It's a good 'un
Judd Marcello
___________________________________________
Rufus Thomas - The Memphis Train
Greg McLoughlin
___________________________________________
Great selection of songs. If you want to add a non-rock song, listen to "Daddy What's A Train" by U. Utah Phillips.
About Steve Goodman: I was introduced to him by Fred Walecki at Fred's Westwood Music in 1972. Very nice guy. I mentioned that I'd just purchased John Denver's latest album "Annie's Song" which had "The City of New Orleans" on it. I said I was surprised to see on the record that John Denver had co-written the song. Steve immediately said "No he didn't. My attorneys and his are discussing that right now". According to Steve, John had made some minor changes to make it more "up-beat" and thought that made him a co-writer.
It was a huge loss when Steve died. I saw him several times in concert, usually with John Prine.
Norm Willis
___________________________________________
Bob,
I know you're getting a million of these but no "Casey Jones"?
Kim Cooke
___________________________________________
Nice Bob, but missing from the list the beautiful "Southbound Train" by Graham Nash and David Crosby and also "Mystery Train" by The Band...
All the best,
Cob Carlson
___________________________________________
I'll give you three you missed though one is pretty obscure…….
Blackfoot "Train Train" arguably their biggest song.
Little Feat "Red Streamliner" a Bill Payne gem off of
Time Loves A Hero. The best song on that album in my opinion.
And last but not least..
The Holmes Brothers cover of Tom Waits "Train Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71LmHeKv4yc
if this don't get ya……..
Best,
Jack
Jack Randall
President
The Kurland Agency
___________________________________________
You forgot a few....
Here are 2 of my faves from Canadian Artists.
"Night Train", same name different song by Bruce Cockburn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgAlL6gSvxo
There is also a stripped down version somewhere
The other is "I like Trains" by Fred Eaglesmith
This is the studio version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd34Ioye5v4&t=65s
There also many live versions all over youtube
Fred has been touring for decades and should be much
more well known
I met him a few years back doing sound production at a small show
and became an instant fan.
2 years after that I did another show for him, and when he found out
I also print T-Shirts, I became his merch guy.
He has a great catalog of songs from the heart about the working man etc.
You probably would enjoy Alcohol and Pills, among many.
He now tours as duo with wife Tiff Ginn, a great artist in her own right.
Cheers
Mitch Nixon ( the Sound Guy, T-Shirt Guy....what ever you need Guy LOL! )
___________________________________________
You left a classic "Train" themed song off the list:
The Band w. Paul Butterfield "Mystery Train"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-fmqOU8_Uo
Thanks,
Mike H
___________________________________________
No "One After 909"??
Not much of a list then!
Dennis Pelowski
___________________________________________
Here's another great song about a galloping horse. ???
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS760US760&sxsrf=ALeKk00o0n-z-eOmvBkYyya-qaVLu7zHlA%3A1582671243819&ei=i6VVXpDOMYHs9AOM152IAg&q=poco+legend+youtube&oq=poco+legend&gs_l=psy-ab.1.8.0l10.2
John Hartmann
___________________________________________
C'mon
"Play aTrain Song"
-Todd Snider
???????
Richard Bruehl
___________________________________________
Hi Bob; Good list. I would have had James Brown's Night Train instead of Winwood's.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4OMreMBdFMvXg4nyh6KIAB?si=l_2-rdmxR_S-XM7Ft_ILvA
Also, not really your taste, I suspect but I'd surely have Midnight Train to Georgia.
All the best,
Mike Craig
___________________________________________
Guy Clark (probably better known for LA Freeway, which of course is more dangerous than a train) had Texas 1947. One of the really great train songs.
And Georgia on a Fast Train is one of Billy Joe Shaver's best.
I've been to Georgia on a fast train honey
I wasn't born no yestday
Got a good Christian raisin' and an eighth grade education
Ain't no need in y'all a treatin' me this way…
Jim Warren
___________________________________________
Lots of good stuff here, Bob. Train songs fill a large amount of well done songs. Here are a few trains that I favor:
Desperados Waiting for a Train - Guy Clark; also version by Jerry Jeff Walker
Train to Birmingham - John Hiatt; favorite version by Kevin Welch
Last Train to Amsterdam - Ray Wylie Hubbard
Trains I Missed - Walt Wilkins
New Delhi Freight Train - Little Feat; also version by Terry Allen
I Like Trains - Fred Eaglesmith
Train Ride - Lyle Lovett
Georgia on a Fast Train - Billy Joe Shaver
This Train Is Bound for Glory - Woodie Guthrie
bowman
___________________________________________
TRAIN LEAVES HERE THIS MORNING ...GENE CLARK (BYRDS)
Don de Brauwere
___________________________________________
"Traintime"
From the Cream album Wheels of Fire.
Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker
Departed giants.
R. Pina
___________________________________________
If there's another train collection...
"Gone Dead Train"
Writers: Jack Nitzsche and Russ Titelman
Performer: Randy Newman
Album: Soundtrack of Performance
"If Love Was a Train"
Writer: Michelle Shocked
Performer: Michelle Shocked
Album: Short Sharp Shocked
John Scott G
___________________________________________
Two Trains was with me on my cross-country train trip.
And on my road trip to the Grand Canyon with ashes of my human best friend
and my sweet dog.
I think I shared with you previously we saw them in the mid-70's at the
underground Boston club Paul's Mall.
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/little-feat/1973/pauls-mall-boston-ma-53dba775.html
We stayed for both sets. Second set we sat directly behind Billy Payne. There had
been a noticeable shift in energy when the band came out for the second set.
Must've been that cocaine they loved so much.
By the time they got to Tripe Face Boogie I thought the club was going to
simply explode and take us all along for the trip.
An epic, life-changing evening.
Jane Hoffman
___________________________________________
Bob: nice Rhino Bucket reference. Great outfit. Bad timing indeed. And props for Down Bound Train - the true gem on Born in U.S.A. Love from the Entertainment Capital of the World.
Kurt Lambeth
___________________________________________
Hey Bob, what about Night Time in the Switching Yard by Warren Zevon?
-Miles Johnson
Tulsa, OK
___________________________________________
All good Bob, but you forgot the classic :
Locomotive Breath (The Live Version)
Jethro Tull
Regards,
India (aged 14)
___________________________________________
"Night Train"
Steve Winwood
Bob,
Thanks for keeping the Winwood flame burning. Such genius, such neglect.
The two-minute intro alone is a wonder, Winwood plying the A and D major scales, brilliantly exploring and expanding the theme, playing all the instruments—guitar, synth, piano, bass, drums—and then that voice! Brilliant and perfect. The video shows it all. He looks like a kid, skinny, detached—but already at 32 is a veteran of three great bands who had played with Muddy Waters, Hendrix, Clapton, Harrison, the Dead. And still touring!
Les Jacobson
___________________________________________
Hell yes I remember Steve Goodman. Great songwriter. Chicken Cordon Blues. You Never Even Call Me by My Name. A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request. To name a few.
Dave Thorn
___________________________________________
What a great selection (esp. "Riding on a Railroad", which I first heard in a live version on a compilation called the Bitter End Years). Another favorite train song of mine: "Train Song" by Tom Waits, not to be confused with "Downtown Train", also great and by Tom Waits, and later covered by Rod Stewart.
Andrew Cohen
___________________________________________
Train A Comin' - Steve Earle
Rodney Rowland
___________________________________________
More Trains ….
Paul Simon : Train In The Distance
The best song on his underrated, under-noticed HEARTS & BONES album.
Originally it was going to be a Simon & Garfunkel album.
That didn't happen, but if it had, this would've been that record's "Only Living Boy In New York."
And like that track, it gets better with each hearing…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCFTHhcvRT0
Chuck Berry : Downbound Train
One of Chuck Berry's best unheard songs…it wasn't a single, it wasn't a hit, and it doesn't have an identifiable Chuck Berry
feel to it. It's also darker than dark, about a man finding himself on a train being driven by the devil straight to hell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcB9NGwkHrM
Tony Joe White : The Train I'm On
From an album by the same name from 1972, produced by Jerry Wexler & Tom Dowd. You can hear Wexler finding the sound & the players he'd eventually use on Dylan's Slow Train album. But it never got any better than this. You can feel Tony Joe White there on the train and watching the locomotive disappear into the distance. Both at once. Wave goodbye.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edsur2x6yyw
OK Savant : Where The Railroads Run On Time
My old band : Sara Lee on bass, Steve Holley on drums, Larry Saltzman on guitar, Leslie Winston on keyboards, Brian Cullman singing & playing rhythm.
This song got us signed to Columbia/Sony. And then it all went kablooey. Still sounds good though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BCLFzrTpdE
Tom Waits : Downtown Train
That's the dirty little secret…for all the boho posturing and all the mumbling, Waits is not above turning out beautiful pop songs now and then…it's nearly impossible to get "Ol' 55" out of your head, and this one's no different. And go back to "Jockey Full Of Bourbon" or "San Diego Serenade"or "Soldier's Things" if you need more proof.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLtZKkCIVmI
Brian Cullman
___________________________________________
I realize your "train" playlist wasn't meant to include every single train song, but as I've been following you for years now, and thinking back to all the wonderful music you've championed, I'm kinda shocked that you'd not include this gem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXmZmAIl600
Along those same lines, and although I prefer the above, there is also this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxjk4Ck4vMA
But I'm also kinda surprised that this one didn't make your cut:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRtvqT_wMeY
And this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUzBgeI5dpc
Finally, I always enjoyed "Hearts and Bones", so there's always this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCFTHhcvRT0
Anyway, thanks for the inspiration!
John Van Nest
___________________________________________
But no "Everybody Loves a Train" off Los Lobos Colossal Head album? What a groove. Go ahead and call us insane, but we all love a train. Like we love the woefully underrated Wolves.
And you had to at least consider Joni's "Just Like this Train" from Court & Spark? Boxcars are bangin in the yards!
Settle down into the clickety clack.
Cheers
Bob Scott
___________________________________________
"Night Train" by Bruce Cockburn
-- Bill O'Neill
___________________________________________
I recommend you to listen to "Northern Bound Train" by Pete Droge. One of my favorites.
https://youtu.be/c_lMH-oucqE
As matter of fact, his first album (which includes this track) is pretty damn good.
Tom Petty had him opening for him during one of his 1990s tours.
Scott Sechman
___________________________________________
What? No ZION TRAIN by Bob Marley? SMH.
Best,
Kia Kamran
___________________________________________
Thanks for the kind words about Toy Caldwell and "Can't You See." Yesterday was the 27th anniversary of Toy's passing. Toy was a great guitarist, performer and songwriter. RIP Toy.
Best,
Casey
F. Casey Del Casino
Del Casino Law
___________________________________________
Don't forget Savoy Brown! This tune makes it onto a lot of my playlists - an all time favorite. Great road trip tune!
Marty Jorgensen
NorCal
"Hellbound Train": https://youtu.be/N6TkCLDcC7o
___________________________________________
Long Time Between Trains
Susan Werner
Pat Long
___________________________________________
Train Kept a Rollin (All night long) Aerosmith
Carrie A. Russell, JD, PhD
___________________________________________
What about "Train Leaves Here This Morning"? Written by Bernie Leadon and Gene Clark. Recorded by the Eagles on their debut album. Also recorded by Dillard & Clark and found on their album "The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark."
Ben Fierro
___________________________________________
Hitchcock railway , terrific cut
I need to hear that tonight
Thanks for zapping my memory .
Tom Rush is still great live , we in New England are lucky he is a local guy
Gerry
___________________________________________
Great playlist! I loved the guitar work on Hitchcock Railway...Henry McCullough and Clarence White or so Wikipedia says...Leon Russell on keys! I might suggest Los Lobos, "That Train Don't Stop Here Anymore," a great musical ride, a perfect blend of a missed train and love lost, done and gone, down that track!
Another great train song is 70s Everly Bros, "I'm On My Way Home Again." This song is why I love Clarence White's guitarwork so much. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41f8AFx1TDM
Chip Lovitt
___________________________________________
You can't have a playlist like that and not include Lucero – Union Pacific Line
https://open.spotify.com/track/7MEzKirbaU6IdJUVUviyPP
I am still uncertain how Lucero flies under the radar they are such a solid band
Chad Washington
___________________________________________
Great playlist!
I love all these artists, but my favorite is Tom Rush. I used to get my friend Albert Spevak to drive me up to Rockport when I was at Brandeis, trying to figure out all his fingering on Rockport Sunday (and other songs). And I have most of his early albums. (When he went to Columbia, I hated those albums, even though I worked there.)
And then a few months ago, Tom played an acoustic set at the Rubin Museum in Manhattan (and I sat in the front row, so close I could almost reach out and touch his fingers on the frets). He was great, and of course, played "Panama Limited." I got a chance to chat with him afterwards, which was nice.
Best,
Debbie
___________________________________________
What about Night Train by James Brown? Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight? Last Train to Clarksville? Mystery Train by Elvis? Train Kept-A Rolling by The Yardbirds? I guess I'll have to make my own playlist…
Also, here's MY favorite version of Hitchcock Railway: https://youtu.be/Dt5RhzKtZA4
Cheers,
Jeremy Shatan
___________________________________________
SOUTHERN PACIFIC - Give Uncle Neil some loving
Or the DEAD - I wish I was a headlight on a north-bound train - I'd shine my light through the cool Colorado rain
Sincerely
Michael Karff
___________________________________________
One of the best, "Royal Station 4/16" Melissa Etheridges 2nd album! Great song and a great performance from her.
Irv Berner
___________________________________________
I love it that you included "Panama Limited." Tom played here in Middlebury a couple months ago and yes, he still nails it.
- Greg Dennis
___________________________________________
Back on the Train
Phish
rollicking
Jonas Kelly
___________________________________________
Never would have guessed Rhino Bucket would pop up on a list of yours. Glad it did. Truly an overlooked band
100% right on Downbound Train. Best cut on the record
Thanks
Dana Gore
___________________________________________
I can name many,,, but.
It takes a lot to laugh...It takes a train to cry..would be at the top of the list
Brian Lukow
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I saw you've already got 'Downtown Train' in there. I'd add - or maybe swap it out for - Bruce's version of 'Land Of Hope & Dreams', Bob. From about 2000, I believe. Got me through a *very* dark and hopeless moment in my life, that song... and came at a point when I really did feel I was riding a 'downbound train' on a one-way ticket.
Cheers, and keep on doing what only you can do. More power to ya.
Paul Murphy
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What about Mystery Train?
Harold Love
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I didn't catch on that you were collecting train songs,
When I had my daughter, we she was 4 we tripped on this, by an children's educator, who plays Library's. and it is HAUNTINGLY AMAZING you'd have to have no soul to not like this,
Charlie Hope "Train Song"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKlHABc8HTE
Not sure if you were looking just for suggestions,
But I bet you can put Charlie HOPE on the MAP with this,
She's amazing For some reason I get really emotional listening to the song.
She actually sounds like a train coming down the tracks from a distance. right at you!
If you're like me you'll listen to this ten times in a row.
ALSO as a HUGE Blackfoot fan, you have to include
Train Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBP15lRprPs
BUT even better,
Blackfoot "Railroad Man"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoDPlGIfemU
Enjoy
John
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John Warden
Rive Video Promotion
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Bob, of course we remember Steve Goodman. Yes, the people whose lives he touched will eventually all die. But those of us who still remain, we remember and treasure him.
Tom Moore
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Tom Rush. Yes!!
But...no train playlist could be complete without
Monsters of Folk
"The Sandman, The Brakeman And Me"
A stand-out lullaby about falling asleep on a rolling train from the 2009 self titled debut that brought Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes), M. Ward (She & Him), and Jim James (My Morning Jacket) together for one of the best albums of the last decade.
Cody Chapman
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Great songs here Bob, I'm going to pop in on this afternoon.
I'd like to chuck a song onto the rails, Two Gallants - The Train That Stole My Man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHkq-LJyXRs
By the time the vocals kick in the shimmering rumble of the distant locomotive and lonely windswept vista is effortlessly evoked. You can feel the dust blowing up against your calves and the sweat-stained shirt sticking to your back.
I think a while back you wrote about how there's some things that 'The Algortihm' just won't be able to predict. Sure, if I listen to ten rap tracks it can find me more rap tracks from a similar area or era. But what about other, less tangible aspects?
I think about distance. Not just miles but deep, deep emotional gaps that both sides want to cross but the chasm is too gaping. Something bigger than yards. I don't know why, but I yearn for it in a lot of art. When The Doctor and Rose are on the other side of a wall on the screen, but a universe apart in reality. The twinning of souls who are always apart in Makoto Shinkai's masterpiece 'Your Name'. This song does similar, in another time and place this family could be together, but in this time and place they can't.
Maybe it's that feeling of an itch you can't quite scratch. A desire to constantly have something to reach for. I don't know.
Anathema - Untouchable brings up these feelings too. I can't put a finger on why, but I sometimes wonder what algorithm is going to pick it out based on the previous things I've mentioned? I'd rather you find me ten things that make me feel like this than similar sci-fi shows, anime films, folk ballads and rock epics.
Andy Vale
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I gotta say: any train playlist should include Blackfoot's "Train, Train" https://open.spotify.com/track/5bSpsKGoGKXOOfg7F3ZtKz?si=YbH4xKVCTSSEiwHrux_4Ow
That is a head-out-of-the-window freedom chasing classic.
Stay human!
K
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Great list, you missed:
Train Song - Tom Waits.
Probably the greatest song about the despair that alcoholism brings.
Night Train - Guns 'N Roses
Taking no prisoners pure hard rock decadence. Apparently when they mastered Appetite they were referencing the juggernaut that is Back in Black.
Louis Warner
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WTF, No James Brown "Night Train?"
Michael Providence
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https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/train-songs-newburys-others/pl.u-yZyVlNVsYBXA1J
Grant Fowler
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plenty of 'em:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/593DI3FELrDcn8UzPVlU3U?si=2NXsv_P8Rhm3fI3ZteRJOg
John Hughes
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@MrChuckD: A rap song Nighttrain by @PublicEnemyFTP if you need a hiphop rep @siriusxmvolume @Lefsetz off https://t.co/QorwQOAZK3
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Love the trains playlist, especially the mention of Wendy Waldman..
But even more, I love the Babka, along with sundry other delicacies, that arrived today from Zabars.
Thanks for reminding me of two of life's essentials.
Dan Beach
Orlando
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Hi Bob. You must write a book called " The Right band at the wrong time"
If Griel Marcus can whittle down Rock & Roll to 10 songs, you surely can shine a light on those that have not reached Valhalla & never will. Having said all of that you're probably too busy reading three books at once.
Michael Des Barres.
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