‘Faster than fairies, faster than witches, Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches … And here is a mill and there is a river: Each a glimpse and gone for ever!’ One of the first poems I ever learned, very evocative of journeys gone by and a good introduction to your songs about trains. I’ve never seen so many trains turn up on time on a Bank Holiday Monday!
If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .m4a, .mp3, a web link or even just an impassioned email to earworm@tincanland.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be Wastelands and Deserts. Not to be confused with pudding. Many thanks to all contributors.
Trains – youtube playlist (above) – goneforeign: You’ll probably get enough to make a 100 + playlist, I could probably do that from my blues collection. My computer is acting silly and not allowing me to extract cuts so I can’t send you anything but I do have some titles for a playlist.
Jimi Hendrix – Hear My Train A’Comin’ – Alfie Hisself: Hendrix at the BBC album has his version of both Catfish & Hoochie then his own Voodoo Chile which has its roots in both. Then Jimi did his own Train song .. Hear My Train a Comin’. There are wild long electric live versions, but I’ve linked in the shorter 12 string acoustic ( gentler on the ears).
Billy Bragg & Joe Henry – Hobo’s Lullaby (Woody Guthrie cover) – tincanman: In the spring of 2017 Bragg and Henry took the train from Chicago to Los Angeles, recording covers of American railroad standards in waiting rooms and train platforms along the way. The resulting album, Shine A Light, is really very good.
New York Dolls – Subway Train – AliM: Very Stones-y sounding track from their 1973 album, which includes lyrics from an American folk song with an interesting provenance, I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad. So doubly appropriate.
Lucinda Belle – Stop This Train – severin: Harp playing diva covers a John Mayer song. From her Urban Lullabies EP. I like it. Some fans of the original may not.
The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band – That Train Song – glassarfemptee: There are many songs that imitate train sounds, but this is one of the best, even if Josh Peyton’s lyrics are barely comprehensible.
Dub Syndicate – Night Train – shoegazer: Late again.
Savoy Brown – Hellbound Train – Ravi Raman: My favourite of the two I have with the same title (the other being George Thorogood). Apparently based on a well known poem.
Muddy Waters – Still a Fool – Alfie Hisself: This is a variation on Catfish Blues with the opener ‘There are two trains running’. He varied again into Hoochie Coochie Man.
Ray Wylie Hubbard – Train Yard – tincanman: Ray Wylie channels the spirit of Lightnin’ Hopkins on this bit of dirty blues from his best album, 2012’s The Grifter’s Hymnal. It rocks. (And here’s him unplugged on his couch). For a few years a bunch of music bloggers held a virtual South By Southwest alternative called Couch By Couchwest. We asked artists to perform a song from their couch and record it for us. Loads of fun.
Lindisfarne – Train in G Major – AliM: From their 1971 album, Fog on the Tyne, I think this is one of the best songs they ever did. Written by Rod Clements, I believe.
Half Man Half Biscuit – The Light at the End of the Tunnel (Is the Light of an Oncoming Train) – severin: “No frills, handy for the hills..” An old song based on an even older slogan. Seems distressingly relevant right now for some reason. Still you have to laugh. Just don’t dis Eva Cassidy again chaps.
Colter Wall – Transcendent Ramblin’ Railroad Blues – tincanman: You can be forgiven for thinking this guy was riding the rails with Jimmie ‘The Singing Brakeman’ Rodgers watching John Steinbeck pound out pages on his portable typewriter. He’s 25, middle class, and suburban – his Dad is a former Premier of his home province Saskatchewan – but by high school he was already finding his muse in old time blues and folk. Thank heavens he did.
Savoy Brown – Train to Nowhere – Alfie Hisself: Then still following in the blues mood, from the sixties London blues boom we have Savoy Brown with Train to Nowhere. Enjoying music a lot just at the mo’ – well since Killing Eve there’s been bugger all on the box.
Delta Rhythm Boys – Take the A Train – severin: Vintage vocal rendition of a jazz classic.
The Ethiopians – Socialism Train – glassarfemptee: There aren’t any passenger trains in Jamaica any more, sadly. But that doesn’t stop the Ethiopians inviting you aboard the Socialism Train. Shortly to be boarding at Westminster – listen for announcements.
Little Feat – New Delhi Freight Train – Ravi Raman: Well one cannot really ride freight trains here whether they are from or to New Delhi or not. Also both the timeline plus geography seem to be off as Jesse James is supposedly escaping on board! Nevertheless it’s still a cool song.
Joan Baez – Freight Train – Bluerover: Available on Youtube but I can’t find a link to send. Beautiful song, beautiful voice, reminds me of teenage years spent carrying the weight of the world. Plus ca change – Not. The Chas McDevitt version has fantastic whistling but you can add it yourself to this one.
Nancy Whiskey – Freight Train – MaggieB: One from the age of skiffle, It was a big a hit in it’s day. There are clips of the actual band but the sound quality isn’t too good.
Kraftwerk – Trans-Europe Express – Maggie B: Almost all the train songs I can think of are American, so here is one from the marvellous Kraftwerk; it’s a long track but the Trans – Europe express is a long train I suppose …
The 'Spill 