Liberal Arts Blog — “Love Train” (the O’Jays), “This Train” (Sister Rosetta Tharpe), “Engine Engine Number Nine” (Roger Miller), “Freight Train” (Elizabeth Cotten)
Liberal Arts Blog — Thursday is the Joy of Music Day -
Today’s Topic: “Love Train” (the O’Jays), “This Train” (Sister Rosetta Tharpe), “Engine Engine Number Nine” (Roger Miller), “Freight Train” (Elizabeth Cotten)
Today’s theme is trains. Who doesn’t love trains? What is your favorite train song? Today, four. The first “Love Train” by the O’Jays, covered by the likes of the Supremes and the Rolling Stones. Second, the gospel song, “This Train” (aka “This Train is Bound for Glory”) an African American spiritual made popular by guitarist and singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe (called the “Godmother of Rock and Roll”). Third, “Engine Engine Number Nine” (the nursery rhyme and country hit for Roger Miller in 1965). The fourth is Elizabeth Cotten’s “Freight Train” (my all-time favorite).
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
LOVE TRAIN (1975) O’Jays, written by Kenny Gamble (1943 — ) and Leon Huff (1942 — )
1. “People all over the world (everybody) join hands (join) start a love train, love train, People all over the world (all the world, now) join hands (love ride) start a love train (love ride), love train.”
2. “The next stop we make will be England, Tell all the folks in Russia, and China, too, Don’t you know it’s time to get on board, And let this train keep on riding, riding on through, well, well
3. “People all over the world (you don’t need no money) join hands (come on), start a love train, love train (don’t need no ticket, come on), People all over the world (join in, ride this train), Join in (ride this train, y’all) Start a love train (come on, train) love train.
NB: “All of you brothers over in Africa, Tell all the folks in Egypt, and Israel, too. Please don’t miss this train at the station, “Cause if you miss it, I feel sorry, sorry for you…”
The O’Jays — Love Train (Official Soul Train Video)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamble_and_Huff
The Rolling Stones — Love Train (Live) — Official
THIS TRAIN (AKA THIS TRAIN IS BOUND FOR GLORY) — traditional gospel song, made popular in the 1930s by Sister Rosetta Sharpe (1915–1973), “the Godmother of Rock and Roll.” Inspiration for Woody Guthrie’s autobiography “Bound for Glory” (1943) and his album “Bound for Glory” (1956)
1. “This train is a clean train. This train is a clean train, this train. This train is a clean train. Everybody ride it in Jesus’ name. This train is a clean train, this train.”
2. “This train is bound for glory, this train. This train, brothers train, is bound for glory, you know, this train. This train is bound for glory, everybody on it gotta be holy. Because this train is a clean train. This train.”
3. “But this train don’t pull no liars, this train. You gotta get off. This train don’t pull no liars, this train. You know this train don’t pull no liars, this train. No false pretenders. and no back biter, this train. Because this train is a clean train, this train.”
NB: “You know this train don’t pull no wankers, this train, uh uh. I said this train don’t pull no wankers. No crack shooter and no whiskey drinkers, this train. (I hear ya) Is a clean train. This train.” “You know this train don’t pull no jokers, this train. This train don’t pull no jokers, this train. This train don’t pull no jokers this train. This train don’t pull no jokers, no tobacco chewers and no cigar smokers because this train is a clean train, you know this train. Let’s ride the train.”
“This train is on to glory, this train. Yeah, this train is on to glory ooh this train. You know this train is bound for glory ooh this train, You know this train is on the way to glory everybody ridin’ her gotta be holy-holy This train is a clean train, this train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTYEUxfYHXs
Sister Rosetta Tharpe — This Train
Bound for Glory (album) — Wikipedia
Liberal Arts Blog — Sister Rosetta Tharpe — “The Godmother of Rock and Roll”
ENGINE, ENGINE NUMBER NINE — NURSERY RHYME
1. Engine, engine, number nine, going down the railroad line,
2. If the train gets off the track the track, will I get my money back?
3. No.
NB: Other verse options include: See it sparkle, see it shine, engine, engine number nine.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTYEUxfYHXs
ENGINE, ENGINE NUMBER 9: Roger Miller (1936–1992)
1. “Engine, engine number nine, coming down the railroad line how much farther back did she get off, old brown suitcase that she carried, I’ve looked for it everywhere it just ain’t here among the rest, And I’m a little upset, yes tell me”
2. “Engine, engine number nine, coming down the railroad line, I know she got on in Baltimore, a hundred and ten miles ain’t much distance but it sure do make a difference I don’t think she loves me anymore”
3. “And I warned her of the dangers, Don’t speak to strangers If by chance she find new romance warmer lips to kiss her arms to hold her tighter stirring new fires inside her how I wish it were me instead out of the he that stands beside her.”
NB: “Engine, engine number nine coming down the railroad line, I know she got on in Baltimore, A hundred and ten miles ain’t much distance, but it sure do make a difference, I don’t think she loves me anymore. I don’t think she loves me anymore…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFjYrLxUiXo
Engine Engine Number Nine Roger Miller with Lyrics
The Twenty-Three Best Train Songs Ever Written — Maybe, by Kevin Baker
ELIZABETH COTTEN’S “FREIGHT TRAIN” — I saw her perform it in Washington DC in 1967 at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. She lived from 1893 to 1987 and “was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down. This position meant that she played the bass lines with her fingers and the melody with her thumb. Her signature alternating bass style has become known as “Cotten picking.”
1. “Freight train, freight train, run so fast, freight train, freight train run so fast, please don’t tell what train I’m on, They won’t know what route I’m going”
2. “When I’m dead and in my grave, no more good times here I crave, place the stones at my head and feet and tell them all I’ve gone to sleep.”
3. “When I die, oh bury me deep, Down at the end of old Chestnut Street so I can hear old Number Nine as comes rolling by.”
NB: “When I die, oh bury me deep, down at the end of old Chestnut Street place the stones at my head and feet and them them all I’ve gone to sleep.”
“Freight train, freight train, run so fast, freight train, freight train run so fast Please don’t tell what train I’m on They won’t know what route I’m going.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUK8emiWabU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL6EH0oSI_M
How Elizabeth Cotten’s music fueled the folk revival
Smithsonian Folklife Festival — Wikipedia
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with. those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY
Updating PDFs: 2023 — Google Drive
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
YOUR TURN
Time to share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to music.
Or the coolest thing you learned in your life related to music. Say your favorite song or songs. Or your favorite tips for breathing, posture, or relaxation. Or some insight into the history of music….Or just something random about music… like a joke about drummers. jazz, rock….or share an episode or chapter in your musical autobiography.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day. And perhaps to cement in your memory something important you would otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than you otherwise would about something that matters to you.
