Freight Train Blues (II)

DESCRIPTION: "I was born in Dixie in a boomer's shack, Just a little shanty by the railroad track...." "I got the freight train blues... When the whistle blows, I got to go...." The singer tells of how the rails have always ruled his life; he cannot outgrow them
AUTHOR: John Lair
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recording, Billy Brooks)
KEYWORDS: railroading rambling love
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cohen-LongSteelRail, pp. 524-527, "Freight Train Blues (II)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 22, #2 (1973), p, 19, "Freight Train Blues" (1 text, 1 tune, apparently learned from tradition by Derroll Adams)
Roud #16393
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff, "Freight Train Blues" (Vocalion 04466/OKeh 04466/Conqueror 9121 [as Roy Acuff & his Smoky Mountain Boys], 1938; Columbia 37008, 1946 [vocal may be by Sam Hatcher]; Columbia 20034/Columbia 37598, c. 1947 [vocal apparently by Acuff, but may be Hatcher]; rec. 1936) [It appears that some releases of this song, including Columbia 20034 and 37008, used the same record number for the Hatcher and Acuff masters]
Billy Brooks, "Freight Train Blues" (Columbia 15614-D, c. 1931; rec. 1930) [Note I'm guessing this is the same song; I have not heard it. - PJS]
Pete Cassell, "Freight Train Blues" (Decca 5954,1941; Decca 46084/Decca 46103, 1947)
Homer & Walter Callahan, "Freight Train Blues" (ARC 6-09-53/Conqueror 6831/Okeh 03171/Vocalion 03171, 1936; Columbia 37613/Columbia 20200, 1947)
Richard O. Hamilton, "Freight Train Blues" (on USWarnerColl01)
File: LSRai524

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