Great TrAckin' Songs of the Renaissance* (Page 1) / General / Forums / Railpage

BrentonGolding Chief Commissioner

Location: Maldon Junction

* with apologies to TISM

This topic may have been covered in years gone by but RP in general and The Lounge in particular have really been getting me down recently. I know, I can hear you all cry, just stay out of the lounge. But instead I thought I would start a thread where we can post music clips for songs with a railway theme or bent. Be they train or tram stick 'em up here for everyone's listening pleasure

I'll start out with one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite bands, a group I saw live many, many times in Melbourne and around Victoria.

Hungry Years by Victorian Folk / Rock band Weddings, Parties, Anything encompasses themes of the Great Depression and railways with more than a little nod to the Mildura line

I hope you enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN2-Nnf423Y

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BrentonGolding Chief Commissioner

Location: Maldon Junction

And one for fans of US rail. I searched in vain for the version of this song that I am familiar with by Texas folk muso Michelle Shocked but it looks like she don't do YouTube y'all

So instead we have this version, far more folk-orientated and with a clip laced with great old photos of miners, their families, mines and the railways that served them

A win-win I reckon!

I hope you enjoy The L&N don't stop here anymore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2qPJXCaQag

sthyer Deputy Commissioner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyiYBajrefY

Great footage of a long gone St Kilda station

sthyer Deputy Commissioner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zie4LHesiHQ

BigShunter Chief Commissioner

Location: St Clair. S.A.

Well this one is right up my alley BG however I may go ballistic on this topic

Righto to kick er off, probably my most favorite singer.... John Fogerty ! Southern Streamline.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oNdt0tdNTQ

BigShunter.

BrentonGolding Chief Commissioner

Location: Maldon Junction

Nice one Gents but geez BS, I was gonna try to keep it to one a week but if you want to play US Country Hardball cop this!

I first became aware of this song through the Coodabeen Champions on ABC who did a p1sstake of Collingwood supporters called The Magpie Express to Montmorency or similar. I had no idea what the song was until the very next month at the VGR workshop christmas party Banjo Bazz piped up and started playing the tune! They weren't real happy with my words but we soon sorted something out

And yes, it has been covered by Arlo Guthrie, Willie Nelson etc etc but it was written by Steve Goodman so here he is, City of New Orleans, a railway lament

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SfPyg-mGhU

freightgate Minister for Railways

Location: Albury, New South Wales

Brilliant guys.

Thanks for sharing.

BigShunter Chief Commissioner

Location: St Clair. S.A.

Brilliant guys.

Thanks for sharing.
freightgate

Thanks Bill and you didn't even make a spelling mistake but I won't say that because it's Australia Day and we should be nice to everyone, even New South Welshmen, hell I will even be nice to Billyboy today, how was your day Billy ?

Anyhow crew yep It's Australia Day so I can't put a song up by anyone other than an Australian so here's a very appropriate song by Troy and I reckon we all have trains running through our veins

Happy Australia Day everyone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg_aUQAW5EA

BigShunter.

3550Rebel Beginner

Location: Axedale

Fred Eaglesmith likes trains

https://youtu.be/jd34Ioye5v4

and Freight Train, however the train is used more as metaphor me thinks.

https://youtu.be/A297zT0MiHY

BrentonGolding Chief Commissioner

Location: Maldon Junction

Well folks, another Saturday is upon us so I figure it's time for another instalment of Great TrAckin' Songs. This week I thought we should have one for all of the gangers and navvies out there.

Today we begin the descent down the rabbit hole that is Blues / Rhythm and Blues. How so you may ask? Well as all Blues / RnB aficionados know there have been an almost endless number of songs recorded by blues musicians featuring railway themes. Once we start down this path we may never see the light at the other end of the tunnel

Many blues songs were said to have been written / performed to the sound of the railways running past the cotton fields of the Delta where workers would slave away listening to the trains going by and dreaming of riding the rails to a better life up north in places like Chicago

I'm going to tackle this descent the same way I got into Blues as a young man - backwards. I started listening to British RnB bands from the early to mid sixties and wanting to know more about the music started a journey that eventually took me back to 1920s America

So without further ado I give you Take This Hammer by The Spencer Davis Group, their interpretation of the traditional Railroad Worksong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMA1kDnNOMI

BrentonGolding Chief Commissioner

Location: Maldon Junction

I hope those of you not working are enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon - I'm just sitting around, spinning some old tunes and contemplating knocking the top off a couple of coldies. Well, watching YouTube music vids and thinking about opening a can which is almost the same thing!

Time for another railroad song I reckon, another one for the gangers out there, this time from The Yardbirds, one of the all time great Brittish Blues bands which spawned both Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck among others.

Now I know what you are all thinking, Let It Rock is a Chuck Berry song so I should be playing the original right? Yes, the song is another Rock and Roll CLASSIC from one of the greatest of all time but Mr Berry has so many other great railway songs that I thought we had better let someone else have a go. And besides this is the version heard first as a young lad back in the 80s when this kind of stuff was DEFINITELY not cool!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1HMCGEJaN4

BigShunter Chief Commissioner

Location: St Clair. S.A.

Righto BG I'm happy to keep tinkering along with this, rockin' it up a bit there and I will bring it back a bit to a more country/rock-a-billy style with a song by Creedence Clearwater Revival from there 3rd album and my favorite Green River. By this stage of Creedence's career they were insight of the pinnacle of the music mountain and by 1970 rode the top of the world
rock n roll stage.

While I'm beating the Creedence drum it's no small accolade to be compared too or with the Man in Black.

Critical reception

"-- it's just a good old-fashioned rocker, and it's adorned by some working grooves, like the marvelous descending riff ending in two drum plates crashes after each verse. Danceable, too." -George Starostin.

"'Cross-Tie Walker' is another testament to the band’s technical skill, with a great prominent bass line courtesy of Stu Cook and the always steady drumming and rhythm guitar of Doug Clifford and Tom Fogerty, respectively." -Sputnik Music, June 28th, 2008

"A quintessential Johnny Cash two-step with a nifty bassline and a tale about a hobo opping a train and starting a new life." -Uncut, February 2012.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr1UNLMKcwM

BigShunter.

BrentonGolding Chief Commissioner

Location: Maldon Junction

Thanks Gashy, that was a ripper and not one I'd heard before

Big J Deputy Commissioner

Location: In Paradise

Wonderful thread BG.

My choice is not reflective of my normal taste in music (eg I am a TISM fan), however there is something special about Elvis Presley's "Mystery Train". This song represents very early "rock/pop" based on country and blues. One of his early songs and as they say, the rest is history, that his popularity morphed into the contemporary music juggernaut of today.

The clip I am sharing has really poor sound quality (there much better ones out there), but the images of US railways in the 50's is very special with this song.

The song kicks in at 1.13. Sorry I didn't know how to link it to that point.

https://youtu.be/77ZiQsxT_as?t=73

BigShunter Chief Commissioner

Location: St Clair. S.A.

Nice one Big J, a rather young and spritely Elvis with all the moves, hard to believe Forrest Gump showed him those dance moves

So what do I have, well The Traveling Wilburys a very talented mixture of musicians from numerous groups also renowned as solo musicians.

The End of the Line song can be interpreted in a couple of ways, hangin' around waiting for the phone to ring as mentioned in the song, the film clip could be depicted in the 40's chugging along the line to Mildura, which is near the end of the line or when life comes to the end of the line as it had for the Big 'O' by the time this was released.

To honour Orbison, a shot of a guitar sitting in a rocking chair and a photo of him are shown when his vocals are heard. 1:41 to 1:47

Indeed a number of the boy's have moved upstairs since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMVjToYOjbM

BigShunter.

BrentonGolding Chief Commissioner

Location: Maldon Junction

Another lazy Saturday afternoon for me must mean that it's time for some tunes!

This one is drawing a bit of a long bow as it is not strictly speaking a train song. In fact Johny B Goode is regarded my many as the first Rock and Roll song written about Rock and Roll stardom.

The thing that I love about this song by one of my all time favourite artists is that for years I didn't understand that the line about the drivers is not a reference to the bloke sitting in the cab. Because of course Americans don't have train drivers they have Engineers who are coincidently referenced in the same verse.

He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack
Go sit beneath the tree by the railroad track
Oh, the engineers would see him sitting in the shade
Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made
The people passing by they would stop and say
"Oh my what that little country boy could play"*

So this is a reference to the fact that Blues musicians often wrote songs to the sounds of the railways and the trains that passed them by as they went about their day to day lives.

Hope you folks enjoy it as much as I do every time I here it, unfortunately I couldn't find an original version of the song with a decent film clip, there is one on YouTube live but with what looks like an all white backing band playing to an all white audience and also a live version at Berry's Hall of Fame induction with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band but both seem to be a bit of an insult to the great musicians who played on the original which included Lafayette Leake and the immortal Willie Dixon

*Apparently the last line of that verse was originally "little coloured boy" but it was changed to ensure radio air play

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38v3-SSGcM

Dangersdan707 Chief Commissioner

Location: On a Thing with Internet

Well, may as well contribute to this thread. Totally not a plagiarised idea from the other place eh BG?

A very good one too! Here's some of mine, generally reflective of my fairly elective and (relatively) diverse music likings.

B Side from Nick Cave, fairly self explanatory on why. One of his fairly typical love songs he's known so well for. IIRC this one was cut from his 1990 EP "The Good Sun", pretty similar to the other tracks from that album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMbpG9xMit8

Some of Gang of Four's typical hyper political cynical funk-rock. Moreso about Fascism than anything else, with the title and chorus being an obvious jab at Mussolini.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25waL5oTWDI

One thing that surprises me with this thread is that lack of the Man in Black, considering he wrote around 20 songs about/mentioning trains. Typical American country musician of the era or Gunzel eh? All his live recordings are miles better than the studio ones, much more fun to listen to with a more rapid pace. One indirectly about rail and the other much more obviously about it. I'm sure these 2 fairly well known ones will come as no surprise to many.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9uk6NHK-AE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iMX4X-1RmU

BrentonGolding Chief Commissioner

Location: Maldon Junction

Nice one DD and welcome to the party!

Of course JC was going to get a mention at one stage or another, I am trying to drip feed my ideas to keep this thread rolling on as long as possible, just excuse me for a minute while I scratch Folsom Prison Blues off my list

Anyhoo keep 'em coming, far more interesting IMO than endless threads about politics!!!

BigShunter Chief Commissioner

Location: St Clair. S.A.

Yes DD, you've done a Steve Bradbury swooped in for the gold and stole the thunder, so I will be sitting beside BG scratching out Folsom Prison Blues and reworking the list

oh well he who hesitates.... and just a side note, Nick Cave was originally from Warracknabeal in the Wimmera.

BigShunter.

Dangersdan707 Chief Commissioner

Location: On a Thing with Internet

Ah! Sorry to pinch you guys thunder with that! Its too good not to post!

I kind of knew based on the subject of this thread that the archetypical American folk/blues/country songs would be here. Tried to break the mold a bit with some of the entires with a bit of post punk. Would never have imaged Cave came from such rural beginnings. I think that will be the peak of music posting here from me. At least for you guys BG and Big shunter there's another 18ish Johnny Cash Songs to post here, some pretty good too. I'll avoid them for you guys. Post away please!

BigShunter Chief Commissioner

Location: St Clair. S.A.

Thanks for the input DD, don't think there is a mould when it comes to music, music can be many things to many people, Punk, Rock, Metal, Country even if you had a, Operatic song that mention's a train, whack it up because that's the theme.

So what have I it got, I've reached to the very right and selected a very conservative song and very at home to the folk of Melbourne. It was released on an album in 1964 and released as a single in 1966, the year I rolled up and of similar time, I guess that Valvegear was at his peak.

For those wondering what the song is about, It tells the comforting story of the journey through night time made by all the "little travellers" (children), on board a train, with the Sandman as guard.

Enjoy Judith's beautiful voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-RkC6MYT2E

BigShunter.

BrentonGolding Chief Commissioner

Location: Maldon Junction

Ah! Sorry to pinch you guys thunder with that! Its too good not to post!

I kind of knew based on the subject of this thread that the archetypical American folk/blues/country songs would be here. Tried to break the mold a bit with some of the entires with a bit of post punk. Would never have imaged Cave came from such rural beginnings. I think that will be the peak of music posting here from me. At least for you guys BG and Big shunter there's another 18ish Johnny Cash Songs to post here, some pretty good too. I'll avoid them for you guys. Post away please!
Dangersdan707

Keep 'em coming mate, variety is the spice of life! The funny thing was Shunter and I had just had an off site convo about stretching out the posts a bit to keep the thread rolling longer when you posted.

Both of us have our lists and I remembered 3 more this week, it's not our thread, it's anyone's and everyone's who wants to contribute. A few others have had a go to, the more the merrier.

BrentonGolding Chief Commissioner

Location: Maldon Junction

It's Saturday arvo once more and time for another session! I know, some of you are driving an 1800m freighter across the Nullarbor or swinging a sledgie out on the track but I worked bloody hard this week and I deserve it!

This week we revisit Aussie Folk-Rock band Weddings, Parties, Anything. This one is from their second studio Album, Roaring Days and is a reworking of a Tex Morton song. I say reworking and not cover because even though he is credited as the writer on the WPA album it is so far removed from the original as to be barely recognisable.

Sergeant Small takes us back to the Great Depression but this time in Qld. Our man attempts to travel from way out West where he has become unemployed (along with half the country) back East looking for food and a place to stay. With no money to his name his only choice is to ride the rattler and that is where the trouble begins!

My offering today is thrice as nice, firstly the WPA album cut followed by a Tex Morton version (just for you Shunter, knowing how much you like Country) while the third is the Weds recorded at a 2011 gig that I happened to be at. This will give you an idea just how good these guys were to see and just why their final album was titled "They Were Better Live"!

So here goes and remember as the song says "So if you're down and outback let me tell you what I think, just stay off the Queensland Railways it's a short cut to the Clink"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyPvjugoTgk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3EuevP0ado

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m_zH0YV25Q

BigShunter Chief Commissioner

Location: St Clair. S.A.

Well might as well have another roll of the dice. Fridee arvo nearly that time again BG

and my offering today is back to Creedence and a song which it would appear was originally a country n blues song with it's origins here,

"Midnight Special" is a traditional folk song thought to have originated among prisoners in the American South.[1] The song refers to the passenger train Midnight Special and its "ever-loving light" (sometimes "ever-living light").

The song is historically performed in the country-blues style from the viewpoint of the prisoner and has been performed by many artists.

This live performance at the Oaklands Coliseum, California by Creedence may not have the best sound and vision but you see the boys in action, away back I said by 1970 CCR were thee top rock r roll band in the world, the year of 1970 may been as good as it got for the 4 lads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNFsS5pYO3A

BigShunter.

doyle Chief Commissioner

Loving Radio Railpage

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XSYzDDlI3WA

Slow train coming bob dylan 1979

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