Feb 122011
This should be a rich topic, a fierce battle to see who’s Last Man (or Woman) Standing. Our goal is to cite—one song per post—songs that specifically cite a train, boat, or plane by name, number, or departure time. Descriptive terms that do not meet these criteria will not be accepted (eg, “Big Black Train”). Specifically identified rockets will also be accepted, but NOT cars, off-road vehicles, helicopters, dirigibles, buses (sorry, “Rudie Can’t Fail” and your famed 19 bus), bikes, or motorcycles. Identification by reference to a specific previous departure time will be accepted.
The time is yours…
The Gord – Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Vegas odds had that choice the favorite for First Man Standing! Well done. Now let’s see if form holds true and andyr suggests what I predicted will be the Second Man Standing…
Yes, there were two that sprang to mind immediately, that was one.
Does The One After 909 count? It’s only referred to as what it is not.
The Beatles, The One After 909
out of my brain on the 5:15
The Band, Rockin’ Chair
Hear the sound, Willie Boy,
The Flyin’ Dutchman’s on the reef.
One After 900 is kind of like the Last Train To Clarksville.
I say Midnight Train To Georgia
909, whatever
Chuck Berry, The Promised Land
Straight off, I bought me a through train ticket,
Right across Mississippi clean
And I was on that Midnight Flyer out of Birmingham
Smoking into New Orleans.
Indeed! That is the Second Man Standing I had in mind.
You should have seen all the rock nerds scoffing at your typo!
“Midnight Train to Georgia” is accepted.
Speaking of New Orleans…
“I’m the train they call the city of new orleans
I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done”
something like that…
Cardiff Rose by Roger McGuinn
Does it count if only 12 people own the LP?
OMD – Enola Gay
Flight 505, Stones
One of my fave Stones “deep cuts,” BTW!
Hey I’m one of the 12!
Casino Queen by Wilco, a riverboat.
5:15 by Chris Isaak
There’s the song Southern Pacific on Neil Young’s Reactor album:
Roll on, Southern Pacific
On your silver rails
On your silver rails
I’m not sure this is specific enough, since Southern Pacific is the name of the company rather than the train itself. This song has special meaning for me, because my dad was a railroad man, and engineer working the Southern Pacific line between New Orleans and Lafayette, mostly freight. The passenger train on Southern Pacific that started in New Orleans and went to L.A. was (is?) called the Sunset Limited, which I always thought was a great name.
We’ll let that stand in honor of your dad.
Sunset Limited is something many of us know all too well at this time of year.
Assuming that the Chris Isaak song is not a cover of The Who’s entry in this LMS (that would be weird), The Who’s “5:15.”
Mississippi Queen by Mountain.
Chet Atkins – Titanic
Also a spoof of the Pixies’ “Gigantic” called “Titanic” by Self.
Grateful Dead, Casey Jones
Trouble ahead, Lady in red,
Take my advice you’d be better off dead.
Switchman’s sleeping, train hundred and two is
Is on the wrong track and headed for you.
A boat song — Capt. Beefheart, Upon the My-O-My:
Now tell me, good Captain,
How does it feel
To be driven away from your own steering wheel
Upon the My-O-My . . .
The Wreck of the Old 97
An even more famous boat:
The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed,
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The Minnow would be lost, the Minnow would be lost.
Speaking of boats: Sloop John B
From Visions of Johanna, “and the all-night girls whisper of escapades out on the D-Train.”
Engine 99 from the Monkees’ “Steam Engine”
From Lydia the Tattooed Lady by Groucho
“On her back is the Battle of Waterloo,
Beside it the Wreck of the Hesperus too…”
Spinal Tap –
Well, I’m sittin’ here beside the railroad track,
And I’m waitin’ for that train to bring her back.
If she’s not on the five-nineteen,
Then I’m gonna know what sorrow means.
And I’m gonna cry, cry, cry,
All the way home.
I get a handwritten thank you card every year from Roger …
Since you posted at exactly the same time as me but somehow got the precious lower spot, I’m stealing your ship:
“I’m not the Wreck of the Hesperus…” – George Harrison, Wreck of the Hesperus
There’s plenty more ships where that came from, like… oh, I don’t know… for instance… The Downeaster Alexa by Billy Joel! ka-POW!
Smithers-Jones by the Jam –
“to catch the 8 a.m. fast, it’s usually there on time…
or dead on time, i have a hard time understanding that other singer
I have Cardiff Rose, but on CD! As of a few years ago, he was still doing a song or two of it.
Calypso by John Denver
Driver 8 by REM, something almost not mumbley – “Locomotive 8, Southern Crescent, hear the bells ring again”
“Take the A Train,” anyone?
or Pennsylvania 6-5000?
PA6-5000 is the phone number of the Pennsylvania Hotel in NYC, or was.
Jellyfish – I wanna stay home
When you need someone, and there’s no one there
There is always the nine o’clock to take you out somewhere
I take the train in town, like i did for years…
Sorry, PE6-5000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEnnsylvania_6-5000
“Monday I’m gonna take a ride on
the N Train down to Coney Island”
Red Dragon Tattoo – Fountains of Wayne
Paul Simon – American Tune
We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
BTO laughs at you people taking the 8:15 into the city, cuz they be takin’ care of buisiness.
I meant to post the Chattanooga Choo Choo
Fogerty whips your ass right outta the gate – 737 comin’ outta the sky” – Travelin’ Band.
British Sea Power – The Spirit of St Louis
Is the morning train taken from Paris to Vienna on the Trans Europe Express mentioned in the Kraftwerk song specific enough?
/
Warren Zevon – Poor Poor Pitiful Me
“I’d lay my head on the railroad tracks
And wait for the Double “E”
Back in the USSR “Due in from Miami Beach B.O.A.C.”
I never understood this and looked it up years ago, it stands for the British Overseas Airways Corp.
Hmmm….what about the cripple creek ferry, cutting through the overhanging trees?
nah…that’s NEI (not enough info)!
First one that popped into my mind.
Different songs.
Challenger – American Music Club
Or Steve Miller’s mention of “that 707” on “Jet Airliner.”
Graham Nash riding on the “Marrakesh Express”.
that’s a phone number, kid! 🙂
woops
Good one!
Love and Rockets riding on the Kundalini Express.
In The Band’s version of Mystery Train, there’s this middle 8 that I don’t hear in any other version:
Come down to the station
Meet my baby at the gate
Asked the station master
If the train’s running late
He said “If you’re a-waiting
on the 444
I hate to tell you son
That train don’t stop here anymore”
Mad props, BigSteve! Just about an hour ago I looked up the lyrics of “Mystery Train,” thinking I remembered a specific train, but it must have been the standard Elvis lyrics. I actually know The Band’s version best. Damn!
Funny that ladymiss cites a Love and Rockets song. I figured “Rocket 88” would be a good play as this went along, but I think the rocket in the song is actually a model car. DISQUALIFIED!
Play on…
Johnny Cash – Orange Blossom Special
“The Wabash Cannonball”
Woah, how’d we go this long without “Midnight Special,” by CCR?
Ditto The Rock Island Line.
Sparks – Bullet Train
?
Joke entry: We don’t know when it leaves or where it goes, or it wouldn’t be the Mystery Train.
And, Rocket 88 refers to a V8 Ford engine.
I always thought the Midnight Special was the late night call from the governor to pardon a death row inmate.
James Brown’s “Night Train” starts in Miami and goes all the way up to Boston and then makes a thousand mile detour to New Orleans. (Steve Winwood’s does no such thing.)
I think you’re right. Sorry, I’ve got to leave this human pyramid.
I don’t think that’s a specific enough name.
I’m sorry, I need to overrule myself: The “night” part of that song is a clear reference to the departure time. Duh!
k. is currently LAST MAN STANDING.
“I ride on the mail train babe, can’t buy a thrill…” from Dylan’s It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry. Which also references “flagging down the ‘Double E.'”
I Heard That Lonesome Whistle Blow- Hank Williams “I was ridin’ Number 9 headin’ south from Caroline”. I think I have Johnny Cash’s version someplace.
Last Man Travelin’.
Did you ever see Dallas from a DC 9 at night? Jimmy Dale Gilmore
Last. Man. Standing!
Does Madness’ “Fireball XL5” count if it’s about a rocket in a kid’s TV show?
Similar question – would XTC’s Jason and the Argonauts count, since the Argonauts were on the ship, Argo?
I’ll throw out another song to make both questions moot: The Pogue’s “The Leaving of Liverpool” I’m bound on a Yankee clipper ship/Davey Crockett is her name…. My seven year old has taken to singing this one very loudly as she walks around the house…
Left my happy homeland in a Zero
I got engine trouble so I couldn’t be a hero
Hoodoo Gurus – I Was A Kamikaze Pilot
First entry from the Holy Trinity…but will it be the last?
The very first line of ELO’s “Last Train To London” specifically notes that said train, heading for London, is getting ready to leave at 9:29 (from a back street in the big city).
Man, how’d this one go unclaimed?
Proud Mary
Rage Against The Machine – Sleep now in the fire
“I am the Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria”
Yes, that counts. I hope you enjoyed your view from the top.
Same answer!
Damn it. I have a train identified by arrival time!
The judges will allow this entry!
There’s an early Kimberley Rew & the Waves song called I Caught the Milk Train. I always assumed the next line “she took the Deux Chevaux” referred to another train, but research (i.e., googling) indicates it refers to a 2CV car, specifically a Citroen 2CV.
http://www.2cvsrus.com/
Maybe some of you gearheads knew that, but it was news to me.
Shangri-Las/Shop Assistants/Neko Case “Train From Kansas City”
“Now I’m going down to the station
I’ll be there at ten after two
I’ll show him the ring on my finger
I don’t what else I can do
The train from Kansas city is coming into town
The train from Kansas city is a-coming
And there’s nothing I can do can make it turn around”
But also Tarheel Slim’s “Number 9 Train” for those who might object to the Shangri-Las….
Elvis Costello, “Coal Train Robberies,” from Spike.
Ugh, there’s that song “Like A G6” I had to hear for several months on the car radio (teenager in control of the dial) referencing the slang for a Gulfstream G650 private jet that rappers apparently buy.
I was thinking of holding on to this one for a few months and then posting it so that I could really be the last man…
but i’m astonished that noone has cited Rufus Thomas’s “Memphis Train”:
“Train number one is gone
Train number two is gone
Train number three is been gone
Now how long must I wait for you
Uh, all right
Time I laid my handkerchief on the floor
I’m getting ready to crawl, yeah
I’m getting down on my knees
I’m getting ready to crawl, yeah
I said, ooh, wee, the Memphis train
Hey, now, now, now, now
Ooh, wee, the Memphis train
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Train number one is gone
Train number two is gone
Train number three is been gone
Now how long must I wait for you, all right”
etc. etc. etc….
No doubt, someone will knock me off the hill
The O’Jays’ Love Train was a real train, right? It just happens to go all over the world.
In that case, let me point out that there’s a Slow Train Coming up around the bend…
And if that is ruled out, then Wilson Pickett, Engine No. 9.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTUAVfWaSU4&playnext=1&list=PLFA182D621CE92951
Nah, Love Train was a thinly-veiled metahpor for some kind of Super Orgy they O’Jays were trying to make happen. This was during that period where the group was struggling to balance its ties to Gamble & Huff with its devout attachment to the predictions of Criswell.
Here’s the original:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXGGuqXB8h4
Ha, how about this one:
The Monitor – Titus Andronicus
LWS! (At least for a few seconds)
Rush “Passage to Bangkok”
“I’m on the train to Bangkok / aboard the Thailand Express”
Try Rush “Passage to Bangkok”
“I’m on the train to Bangkok / aboard the Thailand Express”
Posted in the wrong place, sorry, see comment #76
A reference to one of Cher’s previous entries:
“Santa Maria” by Gotan Project
(ok, I have no idea if they are really referring to the ship)
Maybe you were thinking of the crazy train?
Does Coltrane’s Blue Train refer to The Blue Train in South Africa?
Will you take “Telstar” by the Tornados?
(The Joe Meek version is great, too)
Well the Illinois Central
And the Southern Central Freight
Got to keep on pushin’ mama
‘Cause you know they’re running late
Doobie Bros., “Long Train Runnin'”
Bostonhistorian namechecked Madness but not “Night Boat to Cairo” (very topical).
Extra Credit!
Little Deuce Coupe
“Big locomotive No. 99”
Monkey and the Engineer – Grateful Dead
LAST MAN STANDING!
“Station On Third Avenue” — Easybeats
L…M…S!
The 747 that just left from Gate 11 in ELO’s “Night In The City”. That’s right, the Holy Trinity just cost HVB the match.
We’ll probably need a ruling on this but it very much fulfills the spirit of the challenge:
Neil Young’s “Let’s Roll”. Doesn’t mention it but is very clearly about United Airlines Flight 93, leaving Newark airport 9/11/01.
Good try, but some kind of specific flight name or number (or arrival time) needs to be mentioned.
Understandable. That was probably one of the 1st 3 I came up with and held it out for that reason.