Roger Miller also covered Engine Number Nine, pretty good version. I didn't see this on the list: Los Lobos "That Train Don't Stop Here"
Artist:John FogertyAlbum:CenterfieldTitle:Big Train (from Memphis) When i was young, i spent my summer days playin' on the track. The sound of the wheels rollin' on the steel took me out, took me back. Chorus: Big train from memphis, big train from memphis, Now it's gone gone gone, gone gone gone. Like no one before, he let out a roar, and i just had to tag along. Each night i went to bed with the sound in my head, and the dream was a song. Chorus Well i've rode 'em in and back out again - you know what they say about trains; But i'm tellin' you when that memphis train came through, This ol' world was not the same. Chorus
Artist:Creedence Clearwater RevivalAlbum:Green RiverTitle:Green River Well, take me back down where cool water flows, yeah. Let me remember things i love, Stoppin' at the log where catfish bite, Walkin' along the river road at night, Barefoot girls dancin' in the moonlight. I can hear the bullfrog callin' me. Wonder if my rope's still hangin' to the tree. Love to kick my feet 'way down the shallow water. Shoefly, dragonfly, get back t'your mother. Pick up a flat rock, skip it across green river. Welllllll! Up at cody's camp i spent my days, oh, With flat car riders and cross-tie walkers . old cody, junior took me over, Said, "you're gonna find the world is smould'rin'. And if you get lost come on home to green river." Welllllll! Come on home.
Cant you see Marshall Tucker Band gonna' take a freight train down at the station, lawd I don't care where it goes gonna' climb a mountain the highest mountain I'll jump off, nobody gonna' know
Johnny Cash did a TV special in the 70's about trains. He sang a song called "Ride The Train" (I think) on it and although that is the only time I have ever heard the song, I can still hear it in my head 30 years later. I wonder if that has ever seen the light of day since? Charlie
It is out on DVD, I own it, actually. Filmed in 1974. Very good, I like it a lot. "Johnny Cash: Ridin' the Rails"
A group I never heard of until a couple of weeks ago - Fred Eaglesmith: I Like Trains & Freight Train. I now have the CD.
What is your favorite railroad/train song? What is your favorite railroad/train song? Mine would be Neil Young's "Southern Pacific" from his 1981 "Re-ac-tor" album. "There's a Train" by the Holmes Brothers runs a close second.
I had that playing on our stereo just yesterday and it was the first which came into my mind. Boxcab E50
I think my favorite is "Rock Island Line" by Leadbelly. An oldie but a goodie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCiJ4QQG9WQ
"Folsom Prison" by Johnny Cash has many lines referring to a passing train, plus the rhythm has the sound of wheels running over 39 foot rails. That's probably my favorite of all, though I have several train songs I like. Eric, "Rock Island Line" is a great one, too.
I would have to say that my favorite would be "wreck of the old 97" (there are several version of this, and I would have to say that I like most of them). Wreck of the "Old 97", September 27, 1903 Followed closely by "long twin silver line" by Bob Seger, from his 1980 album "Against the Wind." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiXb5mQ9Gp8
Steve Goodman's "City of New Orleans", particularly the Willie Nelson & Johnny Cash versions. There's a bit of nostalgia attached, as the local HO model railroad club I've visited since I was 6 plays it right before it's hourly "storm", night & dawn light show. I've always dug "John Henry", though (Oh, the humanity!), and I have been known to hum "I've been workin' on the railroad" while puttering around the layout Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain" is a soul-mover, too.
That's a good one, too. I have seen a live performance of this where he switches harmonicas as the key changes back and forth.
"City of New Orleans" is still my number 1 choice, but "Daddy, What's a Train" by Bruce "Utah" Phillips is a personal favorite. And, since I'm a subway guy, "Take the A Train" by Duke Ellington and "MTA" by the Kingston Trio get honorable mention.