IMHO, here's one of the funnest and best RR tunes of my generation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...C0748DB6E3C&index=21

Performed by Eagles at the 1974 California Jam: Nebraska native Randy Meisner on bass and lead vocals; Minnesota native Bernie Leadon on banjo and backup vocals; Michigan native Glenn Frey on electric guitar and backup vocals; Texas native Don Henley on drums and backup vocals; and Jackson Browne on acoustic guitar (standing in for guitarist Don Felder, who missed the show for the birth of his first child).

Really cool how both the four-part-harmony vocals and the electric guitar simulate a train whistle. From the Eagles' "On the Border" album.

Oo, midnight flyer
Engineer, won't you let your whistle moan?
Oo, midnight flyer
I paid my dues and I feel like trav'lin' on

A runaway team of horses ain't enough to make me stay
So throw your rope on another man
And pull him down your way
Make him into someone who can take the place of me
Make him every kind of fool you wanted me to be

Oo, midnight flyer
Engineer, won't you let your whistle moan?
Oo, midnight flyer,
I paid my dues and I feel like trav'lin' on

Maybe I'll go to santa fe, maybe san antone,
Any town is where I'm bound any way to get me gone
Don't think about me, never let me cross your mind
'cept when you hear that midnight lonesome whistle whine

I've recently gotten into vintage audio equipment, picked up a Sansui receiver from craigs list, needed some rehab, thanks to some generous help from the guys on audio karma, I was able to make some repairs and get it functional. also got some speakers from a thrift shop, again some rehab, pulled out my jvc turntable, still have all my old lps, " On The Border" is one I just listened to the other night for the first time in years.

Amazing, maybe we get to hear real music. I still have all my turntable and stuff. New Belts for the turntable too. Gotta get that out and see . . .

The old analogue stuff is coming back. My youngest stepson, 19, has the vintage turntable, amp and speaks. But, he insists on listening to 2000s-era stuff that was originally recorded in digital . . . (sigh) Nothing like the old 70s rock n' roll

Speaking of the Eagles:
Here's one of my favorites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-q7Mih69KE

I agree, there is a good deal of interest in analog audio gear, check out the prices for new and especially vintage tube amps, and I've heard LP's are making a comeback. I can't afford a Camaro or GTO, so I guess this is just my way of recapturing some lost, misspent youth. Here's another train song you might like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O20XrApSuM

Seven Bridges Road . . .Classic!

Gary, that's a PPL song I've never heard. Thanks for posting it. Great album cover, too!

Picked this up in a second hand store a while ago, Johnny Cash liked train songs as well I assume.

Here's one of the better-known ones--Great Tune!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkFN1c8nwrA

Well then, Lindell, let's keep it going!

There is possibly one, and only one, country artist who can rival the Man in Black when it comes to living what he sings. And, IMHO, there is only one country/folk RR song that is close to as accomplished as the Folsom Prison Blues.

Here he sings it in tandem with the exceptional and lovely Sheryl Crowe. Originally written by Steve Goodman and performed by Arlo Guthrie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=allg6Ajr6PA

Riding on the City Of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday morning rail
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
Three Conductors; twenty-five sacks of mail
All along the southbound odyssey - the train pulls out of Kankakee
And rolls along past houses, farms, and fields
Passing trains that have no name, and freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobile

Good morning, America, how are you?
Say, 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

Dealing card games with the old man in the Club Car
Penny a point - ain't no one keeping score
As the paper bag that holds the bottle
Feel the wheels rumbling 'neath the floor
And the sons of Pullman Porters, and the sons of Engineers
Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel
And, mothers with their babes asleep rocking to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel

Good morning, America, how are you?
Say, 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

Night time on the City Of New Orleans
Changing cars in Memphis Tennessee
Halfway home - we'll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness, rolling down to the sea
But, all the towns and people seem to fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news
The conductor sings his songs again - the passengers will please refrain
This train got the disappearing railroad blues

Good night, America, how are ya?
Said, 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

Ditto with the socks, Lindell! (No reference to a certain radio talk show host implied . . . ) I have a Logitech 5.1 system on my computer that shakes the whole house!

Try the Arlo version, which (I hate to say)I think I like even better than Willie's version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0hCVmmlJuY

The only thing Willie is missing is that old flat top with the holes in it!!

Another great song by one of the best!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...4&list=RDaZiQ89_s67Q

Another great song by the GREAT Johnny Cash!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...DaZiQ89_s67Q&index=5


Regards,
Larry

quote:

The only thing Willie is missing is that old flat top with the holes in it!!

Yep, That's what I was thinking!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6IB0trJoJU

WOW!!

Thanks Dave, what memories!

That's like I spent hours yesterday just listening to the "Possum"! THAT really brought the tears at times!

Not to get off topic, and if I do Debbie can take care of it!

But this guy can really do it right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbjpbqowX3Y

Regards,
Larry

I had the opportunity to see the Eagles perform during their first gig being the opening act for Jethro Tull at the Calgary Corral on June 9, 1972. They did "Take It Easy" for their first song. They didn't do The Midnight Flyer which came later in their career. Let's take our time machine back 112 years to Tin Pan Alley here is first song, with its colorful cover.

Specially composed, arranged and dedicated to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers of America in 1903, which was the 40th anniversary of the organization, as suggested by AC Traweek, Wichita Falls, Texas

The Midnight Flyer

A March-Two-Step by Frederick W Hager, and arranged by E.T. Paull

Lots of action. In this piano music cover page, we see in this nighttime view a slide valve 10 wheeler Fort Worth And Denver City No. 101 ready to depart. The signboard on the station reads "Colorado Express 11:10 P.M. for Trinidad, Pueblo, Colorado, Springs, and Denver City. The passenger conductor on the platform gives the head end brakeman a highball as he jumps on board, the fireman is looking back and relays the information to the locomotive engineer, a lady on the platform, waves goodbye with her handkerchief.

The Air Brake As We Know It. A song Music by G.A.C. Wiggins.B.M. Dedicated to the B of LF Convention Held in Toronto September 1898. It is a tribute with humor to George Westinghouse, the inventor of the automatic brake valve, and railroad braking system.

It opens:

All ye jolly jolly railroad men, If puzzled you may be
now you see, he has improved the brake, From straight to automatic make;
listen to this story, And it will set you free;
Will its duty well perform, When it kept in perfect state;
2.
Westinghouse in the early days, He had ingenious pland; To
pump as up and down it goes, The air, then to the main drum flow; To
set the brakes up on the cars; By air, instead of by hand.
Engineer's Valve as gauge will show, With a pressure of ninety pounds.

3.
Position, full release the air we know,
Direct into the trainline flow;
Too much air there, will not be well,
As warning port will tell.
The air through the ports of J and G.
Goes pouring into the chamber D;
It fills the beer Keg, small and round,
With the pressure of 70 pound.
4.
Just pull the handle back to the first ridge,
As sweeping oer meadow and bridge;
Feed attachment you will ascertain,
Keeping Hose from getting strained.
Position Lap, all ports are closed –
If we take them in rotation;
The next position we find,
Is service application.
5.
When we are going down Port Union bank,
And getting near the water tank;
A crash is heard which is not well,
A story here, I will tell;
The Brakeman comes down from the top,
Not in the best of mood was he;
He walked into the Old Caboose,
An awful sad, sad, sight to see.
6.
The furniture in there is all upset,
The Con's laid out upon the floor;
The oil cans are turned upside down,
And the hinges off the door;
The Con got up, upon his feet,
Declared in language strong and clear;
Fore many days past o'er his head,
To get even with the Engineer.
7.
Now, boys, be careful when on top you go,
A warning, you must take from me;
You don't know when that man,
Would give her Emergency.
The very next time you and I doth meet,
The Tripple Valve, I will explain;
Go home and have a good night sleep,
And be sure you call again.

My Dads the Engineer Dedicated to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
Descriptive Song and Chorus by Chas. Graham. Henry J. Wehman, Publisher 130 and 132 Park Row, New York, and 85 and 87 & Madison St., Chicago.

This song from 1895, with its descriptive cover, showing a high wheeled American locomotive No. 21. Pulling a passenger train through a burning forest, with a vigintte of a little girl being calm with the adults seated behind her panicking great.

The lyrics:

1. We were none of us thinking of danger. As the train sped on in the night. 'Till the flames from a burning forest. Made the past the passengers wild with fright. Then a tiny maid near a window.with a smile said, "there's nothing to fear I'm sure that no harm will be fall you "My Dads the Engineer"

Refrain
Daddy's on the engine, Don't be afraid. Daddy knows what he's doing. Said the little maid. "We'll soon be out of danger, Don't you ever fear. To Everyone is safe, because my dad's the engineer.

2. With the sparks falling closely about us, Thro' the flames they sped on so fast. And the brave little maid's father brought us.
thru the danger all safe at last. And the proud sweet face of his lassie. And the words of the calm, little dear, will live in my mem'ry forever my dad's the engineer.

Last, we have another song with the cover showing; A high-speed passenger train with Locomotive No. 862 on the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad pulling the Empire State Express with Its Baggage Car and Three. Passenger Coaches.

This song was written in 1896 by Gussie L Davis. The first success Negro composer Davis was a porter on the train where the incident actually occurred. In the 1920s, long after the song had become popular, newspapers carried the story of the death in Kansas City of a Mrs. Nettie Klapmeyer, who was the baby of the actual journey.

In the Baggage Coach Ahead.

On a dark stormy night is the train rattled off.
All the passengers had gone to bed.
Except one young man with a babe in his arms.
Who sat there with a bowed-down head.

The innocent one begins crying just then.
Although it’s poor heart would break.
One angry man said, "Make that child stop its noise.
For its keeping all of us awake."

"Put it out," said another, "don't keep it in her
We've paid for our berths and want rest."
But never a word said the man with the child.
As he fondled it close to his breast.

"Where is its mother? Go take it to her.
This a lady then softly said.
I wish I could." Was the man's sad reply
"But she's dead, in the coach ahead."

While the train rolled onward, a husband sat in tears.
Thinking of the happiness of just a few short years.
For baby's face brings back pictures of cherished hope that's dead.
But baby's cries can't waken her in the baggage coach ahead.

. Some of these can be heard on YouTube

Thanks Larry,
That brings back this memory. I've got my Grandfathers' Edison Victrola, and on rare occasion I crank it up and listen to this one: (not my video), but same record. Makes me want to get up and shut it off as soon as it finishes.!

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

Freight Train Boogie 1950's by Red Foley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ct3V1QG8Es

Updated version of the same song by Doc Watson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hPcO4pYxlo

Doc Watson is a National Treasure. Larry Buchan is a Canadian National Treasure.


kh

Here's one of my favorite RR songs,

Back in October, we met our friend Richard Romero in his town of Niles which is about 1 hour from SF. We took the kids and rode the historic Niles Canyon Railroad. It was a very hot day and you can see how dry everything was. Here's a little something I threw together using stills and video from that trip. The song is "Last Train Home" by Pat Metheney. http://youtu.be/w2LVMNjgzoQ

William

Great video William.

Thanks for posting it.

Mike

This is an amazing assortment of RR tunes across 112 years and multiple musical genres!

Larry B., wish I'd been with you at the Eagles' show in '72, but alas I was all of 9 years old. I do believe that the version of Midnight Flyer that the Eagles performed in '74 was written by someone outside of the band, but I'm not sure who that was. In any event, here's Hager's piano march version from 1903 that is the subject of the album cover you posted:

http://parlorsongs.com/content/m/midflyer.mid

Dave, what a terrific old recording of Casey Jones. Here's a more, hmmmm . . . . "modern" version of a song by the same name. I won't print the lyrics for this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnOhKy7kRBo

And on the two versions of Freight Train Boogie . . . MY OH MY! Not sure which one i Like better. The Red Foley version is far more country, while the Doc Watson version is pure blues boogie. Thanks for posting these, Gary!

William, that is nothing short of Spectacular, and the Metheney background is just perfect. I'll admit that this brought a tear to my eye . . .

I'll bet the 1972 Jethro Tull set that Larry caught was something to remember!


kh

Funny you should mention that, Ken. This classic came out in 1971 . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJkmHQ2q--I

I've always enjoyed Larry's posts, since I'm a bit of a train fan, took lots of train pics that at the time were just everyday routine, now many of those tracks are trails. For any history buffs, here's a link to a small museum in NW PA. that's worth a visit.

http://octrr.org/

The 1972. Jethro Tull concert in Calgary was good, they did their Thick as a Brick music. The best concert by them I saw was in the Vancouver BC Pacific Coliseum on June 26, 1971, I had hitchhiked from Calgary, across BC to visit my uncle and cousins, Yes was the opening act doing "I've Seen All Good People. Your Move,", "Roundabout", "Yours Is No Disgrace" and "Starship Troopers" followed by Aqualung with flutist Ian Anderson at his best wearing his leather stockings and tunic, and John Evans on the keyboard barefooted and wearing a white tuxedo a truly mind blowing experience. My favorite of course was "Locomotive Breath" Photo of me in the summer 1971

Going back to 1960, my father Herman and his best friend, Jim Atkinson would tell me about their adventures in the depression years riding freight trains out of Calgary in the surrounding countryside to help harvest crops. Jim spent his career working for the CPR first in the freight sheds, then working his way up became a perishable inspector. He would be sent to Vancouver, BC to ride eastward with shipments of Japanese oranges that came in every year before Christmas. The cars on a special freight train were insulated and had charcoal heaters underneath to keep the oranges from freezing. They would tack on an extra caboose for Jim to stay in, and that every place they stop he would go out and inspect the cars and make sure the heaters were working okay, and refill the bunkers with charcoal when needed.

It was around this time that RCA Victor records rereleased the songs of Jimmy Rogers the singing brakeman that my dad bought. On alternate Saturday evenings, my parents, the Atkinson's, would get together and socializing, drinking some Calgary Brewery's Ale, that I would do the honors as being the bartender, and they would play the Jimmy Rogers records, the music that my young mind absorbed like a sponge.

Photo of the CPR's freight sheds, where Jim and his father worked in downtown Calgary taken by Walter Kot in 1967. The tall concrete tower is the Husky Tower poured on the site of the CPR passenger train station. I worked there in the plumbing, pipefitting trades in the winter of 1968.

Jimmy Rogers, a.k.a. "The Singing Brakeman", "The Blue Yodeler" and "The Father of Country Music" was born in Meridian, Mississippi September 8, 1897, and had a talent for singing as a youngster, his father was a Maintenance of Way foreman on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, Jimmy at Age 13 he organized traveling shows and run away from home and was brought home by his father. He got him a job on the railroad as a water boy. Here he learned how to pick and strum by railroad men, hobos, and the chants of African-American railroad track workers known as Gandy dancers.