Riding the Rails of Time
Way back yonder in time. . . back in the day, the Brits came up with a thing called a railroad. It was a mighty amazing beast.
I mean, it looked like a beast, huffin’ and puffin’ and blowin’ off steam while rollin’ along on a steel rail like nobody had ever seen before.
By ’n by, that steam-belching beast became the inspiration for all kinds of historical developments. So, along with the railroads, the Brits rolled out a whole host of industrial and economic innovations that changed the world forever.
As time rolled on, their upstart yankee brethren, cousins and heirs in America, joined the great importation of industry into human history; the outcome was a thing called the industrial revolution. There’s a lot could be said about that, but today I’m a-thinkin’ about the railroad’s impact on even older human invention: music
Way back in the annals and the windmills of my baby-boomer memory there’s a whole a train-yard of trains rollin’ through my Rowland memory.
The first one I can remember is “I’ve been working on the Railroad, all the live-long day. . . Can’t you hear the whistle blowin. . .” Then there’s the juvenile-sounding “Freight train, freight train, goin’ down the track.”
By ’n by, that steam-belching beast became the inspiration for all kinds of historical developments. So, along with the railroads, the Brits rolled out a whole host of industrial and economic innovations that changed the world forever.
And I remember, back in the day, 1950’s, layin’ in bed at night, with transistor radio tuned into the darkness and here comes the voice of Brook Benton singing “Rainy Night in Georgia”: he’s hobo’in’ on a boxcar. . .where
“the distant moanin’ of a train seems to send a sad refrain through the night. . .“so I take my guitar”. . . “It’s a rainy night in Georgia. . . Lord, I believe it’s rainin’ all over the world.”
On a lighter note, there’s the ole “Chattanooga Choochoo” from back in ’30’s or somewhere. . . not to mention (although I will) so many other classics: Wreck of the Old ’97, Orange Blossom Special, Wabash Cannonball.
When my generation came along, we were inspired to hear a highly commendable batch of contributions to the rail-song legacy. . . Peter Paul and Mary’s plaintive voice as she so tunefully lamented . . .
. . .”If you miss the train I’m on, you will know that I am gone. You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles. . . you can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.”
By ’n by, that steam-belching beast became the inspiration for all kinds of historical developments. So, along with the railroads, the Brits rolled out a whole host of industrial and economic innovations that changed the world forever.
But movin’ right along on the American side, I cherish Steve Goodman’s masterpiece, City of New Orleans, performed so admirably by Arlo Guthrie, after Arlo’s pappy, Woody, had sung, back in the day, a whole car-load of railroad (and other) good ole songs. Later on down the timeline, the Doobie Brothers cranked up their “Long Train Runnin’”, one of the greatest rock rhythms that ever rolled down a songway rail.
And I shan’t neglect to mention Casey Jones. And what about ole John Henry swingin’ his way into railway history. . . and Tom and Dick Smothers blowin’ comical commentary hot air about the intercontinental railway being joined up at Promontary Point Utah, where, as brutha Tommy used to tell it, they “drove a big golden spike” to commemorate the Union of East and West by way of the Railway.
Meanwhile, up at the maple leaf coast-to-coast nation, there’s Gordon Lightfoot rollin’ up his absolutely profound Canadian Railroad Trilogy.
I mean, there were so many of them that, long about 1977, I had to roll my contribution into that long train of rail songs. Listen:
