In the 21st century the train retains all its power as an image of personal renewal, but has now also become a symbol itself of an earlier time, a less frenzied time when things appeared to have been easier to comprehend. 71 minutes. The Cowboy’s Life. In 1803, Richard Trevithick in South Wales built the first steam locomotive to run on rails. A train song is a song referencing passenger or freight railroads. Songs used Biblical references and analogies of Biblical people, places and stories, comparing them to their own history of slavery. Trains, beginning in the early to mid-1800s and lasting over a hundred years into the early to mid-1900s, were the life's blood of America, transferring people, freight, and mail from one corner of the country to another. California Trail . The California Stage Company. The Cowboy’s Dream. Coded songs contained words giving directions on how to escape also known as signal songs or where to meet known as map songs. Since the railroad's rise in the 1800s it has een a thing of musical fascination and fodder for American musicians and songwriter. Liner Note Author: Norm Cohen. Work songs, ballads recounting riveting exploits, and instrumental echoes of the once familiar sounds of the steam locomotive have enshrined the railroad in our musical memory. Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-7816) Songs of Freedom: The Underground Railroad. In a December 10, 1813 newspaper ad, Oliver Evans of Philadelphia proposed building a railroad between New York and Philadelphia, guaranteeing a train speed of 12 miles an hour. Back in the Saddle Again. As it was illegal in most slave states to teach slaves to read or write, songs were used to communicate messages and directions about when, where, and how to escape, and warned of dangers and obstacles along the route. This intriguing collection of train songs recorded between the 1920s and the 1950s shows how deeply the train figured in popular song, sweeping across the genres from country to jazz. 36-page booklet. The Cowgirl. Buffalo Hunters. Cowboy Songs: Arizona Killer. British Broadside Ballads in Popular Tradition>, Sea Chanties and Forecastle Songs at Mystic Seaport>, Music Down Home: An Introduction to Negro Folk Music, U.S.A.>, North Carolina Mountain Folksongs and Ballads>, Excerpt from "Three Little Engines and 33 Cars", Sonny Terry, Woody Guthrie, and Cisco Houston. Billy the Kid. Find album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for Train 45: Railroad Songs of the Early 1900's - Various Artists on AllMusic - 1998 - Trains, beginning in the early to mid-1800s and… Some claim that songs of the Underground Railroad is an urban legend dating from the later 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Songs of the Underground Railroad were spiritual and work songs used during the early-to-mid 19th century in the United States to encourage and convey coded information to escaping slaves as they moved along the various Underground Railroad routes. Railroad work songs, ballads recounting riveting exploits and instrumental echoes of the once familiar sounds of the steam locomotive have enshrined the railroad in America's musical memory. The “Moses of her people”, Harriett Tubman was the Conductor of the Underground Railroad. Read more about Underground Railroad secret code language. 1800 To 1850 Railroad History . Also worth noting is a field-recorded version of "The Longest Train" by convicts from the Bellwood Prison Camp in Atlanta, GA. A haunting work song that confronts loss and distance while remaining a matter of utility, the rendition presented here perfectly illustrates the multiple levels of metaphor and meaning the train carries as a symbol when used in popular folk songs. Cowboy Songs & Frontier Ballads Cowboys and pioneers spent a lot of slow-moving time on the range and on the many trails westward. Grayson and Henry Whitter's poignant and disarmingly offhand "He's Coming to Us Dead" (bodies of the deceased were frequently shipped by train to hometowns for burial in the early 1900s), and Uncle Dave Macon's "Death of John Henry," complete with his trademark bubbling banjo work. The Cowboy. The song… The Cowboy at Work. Classic Railroad Songs mines the Smithsonian Folkways archives to create this tribute to a favorite American source of inspiration. 1813. He wrote, “Few folksong collectors in the United States have not encountered at least one railroad song…. Trains, beginning in the early to mid-1800s and lasting over a hundred years into the early to mid-1900s, were the life's blood of America, transferring people, freight, and mail from one corner of the country to another. Included are Wade Mainer's early bluegrass version of "Ruben's Train" (here called "Old Ruben"), G.B. The melody was a signal that the time to escape had arrived. Bucking Broncho. As 19th-century America expanded, so too did the "ribbons of iron" that crisscrossed the vast landscape and sparked the imagination of music-makers. Songs of the Underground Railroad were spiritual and work songs used during the early-to-mid 19th century in the United States to encourage and convey coded information to escaping slaves as they moved along the various Underground Railroad routes. Cole Younger. The haunting song popularized by Billie Holiday was written in … In 1968, folklorist Archie Green penned the preface for Railroad Songs and Ballads, a compilation of twenty songs dating back to the 1930s culled from the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song. Strange Fruit’ — Billie Holiday, 1939. Classic Railroad Songs mines the Smithsonian Folkways archives to create this tribute to a favorite American source of inspiration. To pass the time, numerous songs and ballads were made up … Trains were also easy metaphors for popular songs, signifying arrivals, departures, and other key stops on the long journey of life, and nothing, it has been said, makes a more lonesome sound than a far-off train whistle late at night. Work songs, ballads recounting riveting exploits, and instrumental echoes of the once familiar sounds of the steam locomotive have enshrined the railroad in our musical memory.