Eleven men died so the mail could get to Spencer on time. The crash occurred when the 97 failed to negotiate a curve on a forty-five-foot-high wooden trestle outside Danville, Virginia. The train’s engineer, a thirty-three-year-old named Joseph “Steve” Broady, had been ordered to put on speed by his bosses at the Southern Railway, who were concerned about keeping the company’s U.S. (It was in any case set to the music of an older folk favorite, Henry Clay Work’s 1865 “The Ship That Never Returned.”) The song told of the September 27, 1903, crash of the Old 97, a.k.a., “the Fast Mail,” which ran between Monroe, Virginia, and Spencer, North Carolina, and had legendarily never once been late. “The Wreck of the Old 97.” Reportedly, Vernon Delhart made this America’s first million-selling country-music hit, in 1924, although David Graves George, one of the first people to actually reach the wreck site, made a long and dogged fight in court to claim the song was his. drinkin’ coffee and smokin’ big cigars.” In the end, “those people keep a-movin’, and that’s what tortures me.” And isn’t that the American lament in a nutshell, whether we’re doing hard time on a murder rap, or a mortgage-and-family?ħ.
#Paddy on the railway lyrics free
We can see not only free people but rich ones, “in a fancy dinin’ car . . . It’s immensely visceral: we can hear the train rolling, can hear its whistle. But it also speaks to the heart of how we feel about trains, that pang we feel when we see them taking other people to other places - even if you’re not in prison. “Folsom Prison Blues,” by Johnny Cash. Yes, I know it’s about prison. Really: outside of the basics - sex, death, love, God, food, dances, and drugs - have so many popular songs ever been written about anything else? Particularly an inanimate mode of transportation? I don’t think so.ġ. Folk, rock, blues, big band, gospel, show tunes, skiffle, bluegrass, Newgrass - you name it. My list was selected to reflect the incredible variety of musical genres in which train songs have been written. Scoff at it, hate it, love it, add to it - you’ll probably be right. Note: When you embed the widget in your site, it will match your site's styles (CSS).“Ascending the Alleghanies,” Harper’s Magazine (June 1859)īelow, my list of the best train songs ever written.
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Get the embed code The Dubliners - The Best of Irish Pub Songs Album Lyrics1.Black Velvet Band2.Finnegan's Wake3.I'm a Rover4.Molly Malone5.Mountain Dew6.Muirsheen Durkin7.Poor Paddy Works on the Railway8.Rocky Road to Dublin9.Seven Drunken Nights10.Spanish Lady11.Whiskey in the Jar12.Wild RoverThe Dubliners Lyrics provided by Poor Paddy was thinkin' of goin' ta heaven, to work upon the railway, the railway In eighteen hundred and forty seven, poor Paddy was thinkin' of goin' ta heaven In eighteen hundred and forty six, I changed me trade from carryin' bricksĬhanged me trade from carryin' bricks to workin' on the railway In eighteen hundred and forty five, when Daniel O'Connell he was aliveĭaniel O'Connell he was alive and workin' on the railway Me belly was empty, me hands were rough with workin' on the railway, the railway In eighteen hundred and forty four I landed on the Liverpool shore In eighteen hundred and forty three, I broke me shovel across me kneeĪnd went to work with the company in the Leeds and Selby Railway I was wearing corduroy britches, Digging ditches, pulling switches,ĭodging hitches, I was workin' on the railway In eighteen hundred and forty two, from Bartley Pool I moved to CreweĪnd I found meself a job to do, workin' on the railway I'm weary of the railway, poor Paddy works on the railway
Me corduroy breeches I put on, to work upon the railway, the railway In eighteen hundred and forty one, me corduroy breeches I put on