Train Songs

All Around the Water Tank

All around the water tank
Waiting for a train
A thousand miles away from home
Sleeping in the rain
I walked up to a brakeman
To give him a line of talk
He said "If you've got money
I'll see that you don't walk"
I haven't got a nickle
Not a penny can I show.
"Get off get off you railroad bum"
And he slammed the boxcar door

They put me off in Texas
A land I dearly love
Wide open spaces all around me
The moon and stars up above
My pocket book is empty
My heart is filled with pain
I'm a thousand miles away from home
Waiting for a train -

possibly written by Jimmy Rodgers, who appears to have sung it first

The Wayward Wind. Goggi Grant did this one better than Patsy Klein

Hey, wait! That's not really a train song, anyway.

On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe
Bing Crosby - Words by Johnny Mercer, music by Harry Warren

"On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" was introduced by Judy Garland in
the 1945 MGM film "The Harvey Girls". The song won an Oscar. It was also a big
hit for Bing Crosby who recorded it Feb. 17, 1944, although the recording was
not released until June 1945. But Johnny Mercer's recording was the biggest hit.
It reached #1 in the summer of 1945. The following lyrics were transcribed from
the Bing Crosby recording.

Do you hear that whistle down the line
I figure that it's engine number forty-nine
She's the only one that'll sound that way
On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe

See the old smoke risin' 'round the bend
I reckon that she knows she's gonna meet a friend
Folks around these parts get the time of day
From the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe

Here she comes, woo-oo-woo-oo-woo-oo-woo-oo-woo-woo
Hey Jim, you better get out the rig, woo-oo-woo-oo-woo-oo-woo-oo-woo-woo
She's got a list of passengers that's pretty big

And they'll all want lifts to Brown's Hotel
'Cause lots of them been travellin' for quite a spell
All the way from Philadelphia
On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe

Do you hear that whistle down the line
I figure that it's engine number forty-nine
She's the only one that'll sound that way
On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe

See the old smoke risin' 'round the bend
I reckon that she knows she's gonna meet a friend
Folks around these parts get the time of day
From the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe

Here she comes, woo-oo-woo-oo-woo-oo-woo-oo-woo-woo
Hey Jim, you better get out the rig, woo-oo-woo-oo-woo-oo-woo-oo-woo-woo
She's got a list of passengers that's pretty big
And they'll all want lifts to Brown's Hotel
'Cause lots of them been travellin' for quite a spell
All the way from Philadelphia
On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe

On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe
On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe
On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe
Doo-doo-da, The good old A.T. and the Santa Fe

No, but Gogi did a wonderful job singing it. And it almost fits. I have another version of Wayward Wind by Tex Ritter. - Not nearly as good.

Pardon me, boy
Is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?
Track twenty-nine
Boy, you can gimme a shine
I can afford
To board a Chattanooga Choo Choo
I've got my fare
And just a trifle to spare

You leave the Pennsylvania Station 'bout a quarter to four
Read a magazine and then you're in Baltimore
Dinner in the diner
Nothing could be finer
Than to have your ham an' eggs in Carolina

When you hear the whistle blowin' eight to the bar
Then you know that Tennessee is not very far
Shovel all the coal in Gotta keep it rollin'
Woo, woo, Chattanooga there you are

There's gonna be
A certain party at the station
Satin and lace
I used to call "funny face"
She's gonna cry
Until I tell her that I'll never roam
So Chattanooga Choo Choo
Won't you choo-choo me home?
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Won't you choo-choo me home?

I took a trip on a train
And I thought about you.

Sinatra sang it beautifully on "Songs For Swingin´Lovers"-his finest album.

The City of New Orleans
by Steve Goodman

Riding on the City of New Orleans,
Illinois Central Monday morning rail
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders,
Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail.
All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out at Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields.
Passin' trains that have no names,
Freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.

CHORUS:
Good morning America how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

Dealin' card games with the old men in the club car.
Penny a point ain't no one keepin' score.
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor.
And the sons of pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel.
Mothers with their babes asleep,
Are rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.

CHORUS

Nighttime on The City of New Orleans,
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee.
Half way home, we'll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness
Rolling down to the sea.
And all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.
The conductor sings his song again,
The passengers will please refrain
This train's got the disappearing railroad blues.

Good night, America, how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

Her mother was a beauty operator
Her sister could weave and spin
Her daddy owned a liquor still an' an ol' cotton gin
Watch that ol' money rollin' in

Rollin' in my sweet baby's arms
Rollin' in my sweet baby's arms
I'm gonna lay aroun' this shack
'Til the mail train comes back
Just rollin' in my sweet baby's arms[/color][/b]

Love Rollin'.
Joanne, I intended to post City of New Orleans. Best train song I know.

I hear the train a comin'
It's rollin' down the track
Comin' to Folsum prison
To bring me a six pack
It's nice in Folsum Prison
The warden's a swell guy----
Ben Colder (Sheb Wooley) song

Oh hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds to blue to fly
The midnight train is windin' low
An' i'm so lonesome i could cry . . . [/b][/color]

Sorry, edgarblythe did not mean to steal you thunder. Johnny Cash has the best train song singin voice of all.

Drivin' that train
High on cocaine
Casey Jone you better . . .
Watch your speed
Trouble ahead
Trouble behind
Don't you know that notion
Just crossed my mind.

Oh, trouble ahead
Lady in red
Take my advice
You'd be better off dead
Switchman's sleepin'
Trains a hundred-and-two
It's on the wrong track
And headed for you.

Drivin' that train
High on cocaine
Casey Jone you better . . .
Watch your speed
Trouble ahead
Trouble behind
Don't you know that notion
Just crossed my mind.[/b][/color]

This Train is Bound for Glory

This train is bound for glory, this train,
This train is bound for glory, this train,
This train is bound for glory,
Don't ride nothin' but the righteous an' the holy
This train is bound for glory, this train,

This train don't carry no gamblers, this train,
This train don't carry no gamblers, this train,
This train don't carry no gamblers
No hypocrites, no midnight ramblers,
This train is bound for glory, this train.

This train is built for speed now, this train,
This train is built for speed now, this train,
This train is built for speed
Fastest train you ever did see,
This train is bound for glory, this train.

This train don't carry no liars, this train,
This train don't carry no liars, this train,
This train don't carry no liars,
No hypocrites and no high flyers,
This train is bound for glory, this train.

This train don't pay no transportation, this train,
This train don't pay no transportation, this train,
This train don't pay no transportation
No Jim Crow and no discrimination,
This train is bound for glory, this train.

This train don't carry no rustlers, this train,
This train don't carry no rustlers, this train,
This train don't carry no rustlers
Sidestreet walkers, two-bit hustlers,
This train is bound for glory, this train.

-Woody Guthrie

Hey look yonder comin
Rollin down the seaboard line
It's the Orange Blossom Special
Bringin my baby back

Train arrives
Sixteen coaches long
Train train

Peace Train by Cat Stevens

Now I've been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun

Oh I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be, some day it's going to come

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

Now I've been smiling lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun

Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train
Come on now peace train
Yes, peace train holy roller

Everyone jump upon the peace train
Come on now peace train

Get your bags together, go bring your good friends too
Cause it's getting nearer, it soon will be with you

Now come and join the living, it's not so far from you
And it's getting nearer, soon it will all be true

Now I've been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating, why can't we live in bliss

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

Wow. I never realized how many great songs about trains there were. I love these. Steve Goodman? He's my hero. I was going to post his song, THe Dutchman (which he didn't write, but made popular) on Edgar's Story Songs, but never got around to it.

Sozobe - I love your train song.

What about Sentimental Journey? This is by heart and could be off a little in the lyrics. A great song for the shower!!!

Every Rolling Stone gets to feel alone,
When home sweet home is far away.
I'm a rolling stone who's been so alone....
Until today....

Goin' take a sentimental journey.
Goin' set my heart at ease.
Goin' make a sentinmental journey
To renew old memories.

Seven???
That's the time we leave at.

Seven!!! I'll be waiting up for
Heaven.

Counting every mile,
... of railroad track
that takes me back.....

Never thought my heart could be so yearny.
Why did I decide to go?
Gotta take this sentimental journey,
Sentimental Journey Home.

See the big long train rollin down the track
Means your true lovin daddy ain't comin back
I'm movin on
I'm movin on
Well I warned you from time to time
You just wouldn't listen wouldn't pay me no mind
I'm through with you
Too bad you're blue
I'm movin on