What is it About Trains and the Blues?
The sound of a train, roaring through town, the mournful whine of the lonely whistle at night. Most of the songs about trains are also about hard times, lost chances, running away from failures. Some are also melancholic, about a love coming or going, or about going back home.
There are almost as many train songs in the blues and rock ‘n’ roll as there are love songs. Early 20th Century railroad songs told of hoboes, heroes, villains, and train wrecks, and the sounds of the railroad were heard in boogie-woogie, gospel, and even jazz. For more information on the history and tradition of railroad-inspired music, from folk to classical, check out Railways & Music by Julia Winterson.
This playlist focuses on songs that remind you of the sound of a train, and some use rhythm to imitate a train slowly gaining speed or roaring through a town.
Apple Music Playlist
Spotify Playlist
Liner Notes
“All Aboard” (McKinley Morganfield) by Muddy Waters
One of my favorite harmonica songs, featuring two harmonicas — a chromatic and a blues harp — can be found on Fathers and Sons. In this harmonica duet you can really hear the difference in sound between the melodic chromatic, played by Jeffrey Carp, and the raucous blues harp, played by Paul Butterfield. While Butterfield honks the train whistle, Carp rides the rhythm of the rails in syncopation with Sam Lay’s drums. At the end of the song they both line up like cabooses behind the train as it goes around the bend.
Blues and rock godfather Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) journeyed up the Mississippi from the Delta region of Clarksdale, Miss. to Chicago and invented a new form of the blues. His “Rolling Stone” is the song the Rolling Stones named themselves for. Besides Butterfield, Carp, and Lay, Muddy is joined by Otis Spann on piano, Mike Bloomfield on guitar, and Phil Upchurch on bass (representing most of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band).
“Freight Train” (Elizabeth Cotten) by Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
Elizabeth Cotten was a left-handed finger-picking singer-songwriter-guitarist in the country blues tradition from North Carolina, born in 1895. This song is perhaps the oldest blues song about a train ever recorded, as she used to sing it as a child. It was actually put down on vinyl much later, in 1957, after folk singers like Pete Seeger had popularized it.
Cotten was well known for songs such as “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad”, “Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie” and this song, which appeared on Not for Kids Only — the second Garcia/Grisman album, this one (released in 1993) concentrating on children’s songs.
Jerry Garcia (of the Grateful Dead) and David Grisman often collaborated, and are here joined by Hal Blaine on drums and Joe Craven on steam-engine voice.
“Mystery Train” (H. Parker, S. Phillips) by Junior Parker and by Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley heard Little Junior’s Blue Flames do this song in 1953, and he recorded it in 1955. You can find the Junior Parker version on The Complete Singles 1952-1962. You can find the Elvis version on The Sun Sessions.
Herman “Junior” Parker wrote the song along with Sam Phillips of Sun Records. Parker toured with Howlin’ Wolf’s band and was part of the Beale Streeters with B.B. King and Bobby Bland. It is actually a blues version of a folk song called “Worried Life Blues” recorded by the original Carter Family and others.
“Mystery Train” was a staple of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and a favorite cover song by the Band, as well as the title of Greil Marcus’ definitive book about rock music and American culture, Mystery Train.
“Peavine” (Hooker) by John Lee Hooker with Canned Heat
You hear a train coming, and it rolls on right through the song. John Lee Hooker joined Canned Heat for these sessions on Hooker N Heat: Alan Wilson on guitar, Henry Vestine on guitar, Antonio de la Barreda on bass, Aldofo de la Parra on drums.
From the late 1890s through the 1930s, the “Peavine” provided reliable transportation for bluesmen among the plantations of the Mississippi Delta. Charley Patton made the branch famous through his popular “Pea Vine Blues.” Originally two narrow-gauge lines run by local entrepreneurs, it taken over in the late 1890s by the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Company (called the Y&MV). The line ran from Dockery Plantation, where Patton lived, and then ten miles west to Boyle, where it connected with the “Yellow Dog” (the local slang name for the Y&MV line), which led to Cleveland and points beyond. The term “peavine” was commonly used for railways that followed indirect routes, resembling the vines of the pea plant.
John Lee Hooker’s first recorded song, “Boogie Chillen” was an instant #1 song on the rhythm and blues charts in 1949. He is the undisputed godfather of boogie music. In 1962 he released “Boom Boom” which was covered by many English blues-rock bands, including the Animals and the Yardbirds.
“Hey Porter” (Cash) by Johnny Cash and by Ry Cooder
The first “Hey Porter” is the original by Johnny Cash. It was recorded in Sept. 1954 and released as a single in July the following year. You can find it on The Essential Johnny Cash. Cash wrote the song while on his way home to his native South from a four year stint in the Air Force. It clip-clops along like a train heading south.
The second version, a much slower train, is a cover by Ry Cooder on Into the Purple Valley, who gives the song blues roots (which it never had). This demonstrates how rockabilly could be derived from country blues.
Ry Cooder started out in Los Angeles playing folk music, and in 1966 teamed up with Taj Mahal in the Rising Sons before joining Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, then contributing to various albums by Little Feat, Randy Newman, Gordon Lightfoot, and the Rolling Stones, among many others. See Ry Cooder Sessions.
“It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” (Dylan) by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is joined by Michael Bloomfield on guitar, Al Kooper on organ and piano, Paul Griffin on piano and organ, Bobby Gregg on drums, Harvey Goldstein on bass, Charley McCoy on guitar, Frank Owens on piano, and Russ Savakus on bass. This song, recorded on July 29, 1965, started out with the title “The Phantom Engineer” (an alternate version by that title was recorded on June 16, 1965).
The line “Don’t the brakeman look good, mama, / Flagging down the ‘Double E’?” is probably a reference to a gauge of track width known as EE or “double E”. Double E locomotives were the largest trains on American railroads, and a trainman who could flag down a double E was probably highly regarded by his peers.
Check out Bob Dylan’s Official Page and an excellent fan site, Expecting Rain.
“City of New Orleans” (Steve Goodman) by Arlo Guthrie
Rolling along in a stately bearing, the rhythm of the rails is all you feel. “City of New Orleans” was written and originally recorded by Steve Goodman and released in 1971. The next year, Arlo Guthrie became the first to have a hit with the song, released on his 1972 album Hobo’s Lullaby, which features Hoyt Aston, Max Bennett, Byron Berline, Clarence White, Linda Ronstadt, Spooner Oldham, Jim Dickinson, and Ry Cooder. Guthrie’s version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017.
Willie Nelson also covered this song in 1984. Steve Goodman won a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1985 for Willie Nelson‘s version, which was included on Nelson’s 1984 album City of New Orleans.
“City of New Orleans” describes a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans on the Illinois Central Railroad’s City of New Orleans. This song is such an obvious candidate for this playlist that I thought I had already included it, only to have a reader point out its absence in a comment on my blog.
“Marrakesh Express” (Nash) by Crosby Stills & Nash
You can hear the sparks flying off the rails in this song, which appeared on the first Crosby Stills & Nash album in 1969. Crosby, Stills, and Nash were a folk-rock supergroup of David Crosby from the Byrds, Stephen Stills from Buffalo Springfield, and Graham Nash from the Hollies.
The instrumentation complements Nash’s lyrics with an Eastern vibe and the sounds of a train ride by Jim Gordon on drums. Stephen Stills added a distinctive, unique sounding riff played on two overdubbed electric guitars, and added a Hammond B3 organ, piano, and bass.
“Train Song” (Jansch, Renbourn, Thompson, Cox, McShee) by Pentangle
Bert Jansch and (the late) John Renbourn performed together as a folk duo in the Sixties. They teamed up with Jacqui McShee, Danny Thompson, and Terry Cox to form Pentangle, one of the first English-folk-rock groups.
“Train Song” is a blues-influenced composition evoking the rhythms of a train. It slows into a more dream-like middle section with McShee’s “instrumental vocalization” soaring above the band before picking up speed into an ending featuring Danny Thompson’s bowed bass. The title of the album Basket of Light is taken from a line in the song, which refers to the basket of light thrown off by a train’s headlight: “Love is a basket of light; grasp it so tight.”
“Panama Limited” (Bukka White) by Tom Rush
Tom Rush is a folk and blues singer who helped launch the careers of other singer-songwriters in the 1960s. In addition to performing his own compositions, he sang songs by Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, and James Taylor, helping them to gain recognition early in their careers. “The Panama Limited” composed by Bukka White appeared on the Tom Rush 1965 Elektra LP, now available on the Tom Rush CD. The Panama Limited train ran from Chicago to New Orleans, and this song provides the sound effects. For the original Bukka White version, check out this YouTube video:
“Downbound Train” (Berry) by Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry was joined by Otis Spann on piano, Willie Dixon on bass, and Eddie Hardy on drums — the Chess house backing band. You can find this song in the Platinum Collection.
Certainly the single most important black artist in rock and roll, Chuck Berry is arguably the most important figure in rock history. Chuck Berry melded blues, country, and a witty, defiant teen outlook into songs that influenced vitally every rock musician in his wake.
Bruce Springsteen would later write a song with the same title, and nearly the same meaning, for his album Born in the U.S.A.
“2:10 Train” (L. Albertano, arranged by Ry Cooder) by Rising Sons
The band known as Rising Sons, which flourished in Los Angeles in 1965-66, featured Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder. The Sons were influential, playing in all the clubs in the Sunset Strip. Many Southern California bands of the late Sixties trace their influences to the Sons, including Love, the Byrds, and Canned Heat. Countless British groups had previously combined blues with Beatles-influenced rock, but such a combination was a surprising rarity in mid-’60s California. On their only album (found now on the Rising Sons CD), not released at the time, Rising Sons delved deeper than those groups for their influences, bypassing the Chicago Blues sound in favor of traditional Delta country blues.
The original version of this song was written by Tom Campbell and Linda Albertano. It was sung by Linda Ronstadt in the Stone Poneys around the same time as it was recoded by Rising Sons, and it was also included on Carolyn Hester‘s excellent 1965 concert album, Carolyn Hester at Town Hall.
“Orange Blossom Special” (Traditional) by Johnny Cash and by Seatrain
This fiddle tune about the passenger train of the same name (operated primarily by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad between New York City and Miami) was written by Ervin T. Rouse (1917-1981) in 1938 (with many bluegrass versions since). It is considered the best known fiddle tune of the 20th century and is often called simply “The Special”. It has been referred to as “the fiddle player’s national anthem”.
Johnny Cash recorded a version of “Orange Blossom Special” with a train rhythm, featuring a harmonica rather than a fiddle. You can find it on The Essential Johnny Cash.
Peter Rowan (vocals and guitar) and Richard Greene (violin), both well known among bluegrass and folk music fans, teamed up with Andy Kulberg from the Blues Project (flute on “Flute Thing” — see Monterey Pop 1967 Songs), Larry Atamanuik on drums and Lloyd Baskin on keyboards to make Seatrain, a bluegrass-rock fusion band in 1970. Seatrain gives this tune an almost rock treatment, and goes about as far as you can go with a violin to make the sound of a train. You can find it on the Seatrain / Marblehead Messenger CD.
“The Rail Song” (Belew) by Adrian Belew
Adrian Belew is a fantastic guitarist who has played with David Bowie, Frank Zappa, and the Talking Heads, among many others. He is best known for his work as a member of the progressive rock group King Crimson (which he has fronted since 1981). You can find this song on his solo CD compilation Desire of the Rhino King.
Belew is also known for his unusual impressionistic approach to guitar playing, involving arresting yet frequently melodic sounds more akin to animals and machines than to standard instrumental tones. No one can make a guitar sound quite like Belew with his renderings of rhinos and passing trains.
“Love in Vain Blues (Alternate Take)” (Johnson) by Robert Johnson
This song, the “alternate” version recorded in Nov. 1936 (released on King of the Delta Blues Singers and found on The Complete Recordings), reached a wider audience throughout the country and Europe than the first version.
The most famous cover of this song is by the Rolling Stones on Let It Bleed. Ry Cooder played mandolin. It was also covered by Clapton on his album Me and Mr. Johnson, and Eric gave tribute to the song in his “Layla” with the line “please don’t say we’ll never find a way, and tell me all my love’s in vain”.
“Waiting For a Train” (Traditional) by Jimmie Rogers
“Waiting for a Train” is a song from nineteenth century in England arranged and recorded by Jimmie Rodgers (a.k.a. the Singing Brakeman) and released in February 1929. The recording session featured a jazz combo the singer found while visiting a bar in Atlanta, Georgia, just before the recording session.
The song has appeared in several song books, with variations on the lyrics throughout the years. You can find this version on the Essential Jimmie Rodgers CD.
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