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18 June 2007

AskMusicMeCha Choo-choo! I want songs featuring trains or train-related, other than Gladys Knight & the Pips "midnight train to Georgia" and "night train", what should I go rummaging around in the vinyl bins for?
post by: dabitch at: 16:01 | 30 comments
Johnny Cash's "On the Evening Train" on America V is pretty killer
posted by Capn 18 June | 16:24
"Texas Eagle" and "Train A' Comin'" both by Steve Earle.
posted by essexjan 18 June | 16:28
Elvis's "Mystery Train" is pretty much the awesomest all awesome train songs.

I also love Tom Waits' "Train Song" (warning: will make you cry like a baby if you have a single sentimental bone in your body).

I know there are a ton of others, but I'm away from my itunes and can't think of them all off the top of my head! Will post more as they occur to me, or once I get home.

posted by scody 18 June | 16:31
d'oh! Tom Waits' "Downtown Train" is also AMAZING. (Forget the shitty cover versions.)
posted by scody 18 June | 16:33
There is a live Arcade Fire cover of The Magnetic Field's Born On A Train what I think someone posted here a while ago. I'd ysi it, but my iPod seems to have lost it.
posted by Capn 18 June | 16:34
Just found this playlist of songs about trains. Some great ones on there.
posted by scody 18 June | 16:39
You might find this useful.
posted by dersins 18 June | 16:40
awesome! Thanks all! Choo choooo!
posted by dabitch 18 June | 16:43
Does 'Expressway to Yr Skull,' from Sonic Youth's EVOL, count? And, of course, 'Working on the Chain Gang,' famously sung by Otis Redding.
posted by box 18 June | 16:46
God yes, I totally love that song and totally didn't think of that one. Got that on vinyl *checksit off list*
posted by dabitch 18 June | 16:48
Laura Nyro has 2 train songs - Been on a Train (it's about heroin addiction) and Poverty Train (which is about poverty).
posted by matildaben 18 June | 16:49
Don't forget the Chattanooga Choo Choo. The original is Glenn Miller but there are probably thousands of other versions.
posted by doctor_negative 18 June | 17:02
Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga choo-choo?

*instantly gets the song playing in his head. Commits suicide*
posted by Daniel Charms 18 June | 17:16
Does King of the Road count? And what about the Springsteen song that sounds like a train (I can't remember the name of it at the moment)?

I also haven't looked at any of the links posted above. Sorry if these are repeats.
posted by deborah 18 June | 18:07
It's an old blues song, but Bukka White's Special Streamline (youtube link) is one of my favorite songs about trains.
posted by sleepy_pete 18 June | 18:15
"The Ballad of Casey Jones" is a pretty well known song commemorating a famous trainwreck. Gordon Lightfoot's "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" is a song about the building of the railroads across Canada, commissioned by the CBC. Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" includes a verse whose lyrics are "You could have a steam train, if you'd just lay down your tracks." "Hellbound Train" is always a crowd pleaser. "This Train is Bound for Glory" is the other side of the room's anthem. Since nobody's mentioned "City of New Orleans," I will. Here's a YouTube link to CCR doing "Midnight Special." "Orange Blossom Special" was a hit for Johnny Cash.

There are whole Web sites with lists of train songs. Go nuts.
posted by paulsc 18 June | 18:20
And there's John Coltrane's 'Blue Train,' and 'Night Train' and 'Take the A Train' (about subways, if you want to split hairs) are also well-known jazz songs. Ooh, and 'Last Train to Clarksville.' Not a jazz song, but anyway.
posted by box 18 June | 19:34
Some more that I don't think have been mentioned (some of these may be on the playlist I linked to upthread; for some reason the link's not opening for me right now):

Train Train - Billy Bragg
Let the Train Blow the Whistle / Down There by the Train / Train of Love - Johnny Cash (Down There by the Train recently covered by Tom Waits)
Train in Vain - The Clash
Back Up Train - Al Green
Friendship Train - Gladys Knight and the Pips
The Day We Caught the Train - Ocean Colour Scene
I Often Dream of Trains - Robyn Hitchcock (recently covered by Grant Lee Philips)
The Memphis Train - Rufus Thomas
Gospel Train - Tom Waits

Station to Station - David Bowie
Down in the Tube Station at Midnight - The Jam
Zoo Station - U2

Tracks - Gary Numan
posted by scody 18 June | 21:33
dang, one more!

Engine No. 9 - Wilson Pickett
posted by scody 18 June | 21:34
embarassed to bring it up, but..."Groovy Train" by the Farm
posted by lalex 19 June | 00:13
Buses and Trains - Bachelor Girl
Slow Moving Train - Eric Burdon
Milk Train - Jefferson Airplane
Evening Train - Van Morrison
Outré Risqué Locomotive - Neneh Cherry
Clang Boom Steam - Tom Waits (OK, clutching at straws there).
posted by dg 19 June | 00:25
Love Train - The O'Jays
Gone Dead Train - Crazy Horse
Casey Jones - Grateful Dead (forgive me!)
Train Running Out of Soul Coal - XTC

I'm assuming someone somewhere mentioned Johnny Cash's "Orange Blossom Special", yes?

And I only mention Sheena Easton's "Morning Train" beacuse I had to sell the 45 to bored suburban housewives back in the day.
posted by bmarkey 19 June | 00:34
Rock Island Line.
posted by asok 19 June | 03:38
This list is teh awesome! I love you mecha!
posted by dabitch 19 June | 03:55
Freight Train by Elizabeth Cotten
Train 45 and almost every other bluegrass song that isn't about mother, prison, a murder or a cabin.

Folkways has a comp called Classic Railroad Songs. Email me if you'd like to borrow my copy.
posted by omiewise 19 June | 06:27
Some fun kitsch: The disco-ish Last Train to London by ELO. Wow, it was covered by Atomic Kitten (under a different name)?
posted by shane 19 June | 08:22
Train Train - Blackfoot
posted by jonmc 19 June | 08:49
R.E.M., "Driver 8"
Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Tuesday's Gone" ("Train roll on, on down the line/Won't you please take me far away?")
Irving Berlin, "The Freedom Train"
posted by kirkaracha 19 June | 11:57
I searched through my music, and here's what I came up with:

"Long Train Running" -- The Doobie Brothers
"High Speed Train" -- R.E.M.
"Runaway Train" -- Soul Asylum (this kinda fits)
posted by Godbert 19 June | 13:31
ps - scody - you rock, thank you. I found loads of discarded things I would not have looked for... *mwah*
posted by dabitch 29 June | 19:50
← This is a whispering thread. || songs →

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