While wife and I laid down new scenery and grass and trees, I grabbed a RR CD from my 20+ albums to play on the boom box.
Made me think of all those songs written about known as well as obscure or perhaps ficticious lines. Wabash Cannonball, City of New Orleans, Burlington Zephyr, Southern Railroad, Union Pacific, Santa Fe. Then there's ancillary ones like Hobos lullaby, Waiting for the train, In the old Depot, Take the A Train.
So when was the last time you heard a song of "I'm leaving on a United jet for San Francisco", Take the A(merican) Plane to Chicago etc. ?
Well, there are a few.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSwp-25ivXc
As for train songs, I sort of collect them. I have the original recording of "Casey Jones" from 1910 by Billy Murray along with others. My favorite of all time just might be by Henry Clay Root (who wrote "My Grandfather's Clock" among other classics.) Here's the song commemorating the UP Transcon in 1872:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GStBQ3IMGpI
All aboard! all aboard!
The hissing breath of the iron steed
Proclaims his wish to be quickly freed;
And soon as the stroke from the bell we hear,
He springs at the touch of his engineer
And away we glide
O'er prairies wide,
Through verdant vales
And mountain dales,
To the last great chain,
Which has striv'n in vain
With the Lightning! the Lightning!
The Lightning Palace Train!
Forgetting far Atlantic
And midway scenes romantic,
We scale the peaks gigantic
Which guard the Land of Gold:
Here silver rills are leaping,
Here lovely lakes are sleeping,
And snowclad granites keeping
Their watch of years untold.
We sing a wondrous story
No nation sang before!
A Continental Chorus
That echoes either shore:
We sang it on the summit!
We sing it on the plain!
We've climbed the Grand Sierras
With the Lightning Palace Train,
With the Lightning! the Lightning!
The Lightning Palace Train.
All aboard! all aboard!
No toil can tire our impatient steed,
So once again will we test his speed!
How quick is the wish of our heart obey'd!
He starts at the turn of the downward grade,
And again we glide
By torrent side,
O'er trestl'd deeps,
Through tunnel'd steeps,
While the vict'ries wane
Which they sought to gain
With the Lightning! the Lightning!
The Lightning Palace Train.
'Neath timber'd roofs unending,
From winter's snows defending,
Through canyons wild descending
To the City of the Plain:
We leave the scenes terrific,
We pass the fields prolific,
And view the broad Pacific-
The Golden-Gated main.
We sing a wondrous story
No nation sang before!
A Continental Chorus
That echoes either shore:
We sang it on the summit!
We sing it on the plain!
We've climbed the Grand Sierras
With the Lightning Palace Train,
With the Lightning! the Lightning!
The Lightning Palace Train.
Kent in SD
