The Legends of the Rocking Dutchman - episode 49

More public transport

I made a show on the many blues that sing about trains before, but there are so many of them that I could easily do another one - and that one is today. The train is iconic in the history of America - it allowed the colonization of the West, but for this program is more important that it brought hundreds of thousands of African-American workers from the rural South to the industrializing North, seeking for a better future and an attempt to escape the harsh discrimination of the Southern states. Of course, it brought the music up North too.

But this time we come and we go by bus - that other long-distance means of transport. That is, planes were there, but travelling by air was not within reach anyone but the rich.

Transcript

Playlist

  1. Amos Milburn - Grey Hound
  2. Esther Phillips - Mainliner
  3. Celestines - Waitin' For The Train To Come In
  4. Calvin Boze - Choo Choo's Bringing My Baby Home
  5. Lucky Thompson with Hot Lips Page - My Gal Is Gone
  6. Dick Davis - Memphis Train
  7. Lloyd Glenn & Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown - Slow Train No 1
  8. Muddy Waters - All Aboard
  9. Love Notes - Get On My Train
  10. Moonglows - 219 Train
  11. Papa Lightfoot - Mean Ol' Train
  12. Tarheel Slim - Number Nine Train
  13. Four Brothers & A Cousin - Whistle Stop Blues
  14. Cardinals - Choo Choo
  15. Joe Turner - Midnight Special Train
  16. Dossie Terry - Railroad Section Man
  17. Lightnin' Slim - Mean ole lonesome train
  18. Five Crowns - $19.50 Bus
Outtro:

  • Wild Bill Moore Sextette - Bongo Bounce
The following music served as background music during the spoken parts:
  • Kirk Kirkland - The Saxaphone Rag
  • Al Sears And His Orchestra - Now Ride 'D' Train
  • Buddy Lucas Band - Night Train
  • Lloyd Glen - Honky tonk train
  • Louis Prima - Night Train