| "Rock Island Line" | ||
|---|---|---|
| Song first recorded by Lead Belly | ||
| Recorded | 1937 | |
| Genre | Blues, Folk, Skiffle, Country | |
| Length | 2-4 minutes | |
| Label | Asch Recordings | |
| Writer | Lead Belly | |
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| Cover of the Leadbelly compilation Rock Island Line: Original 1935-1943 Recordings | ||
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| Johnny Cash's 1970s album, Rock Island Line | ||
"Rock Island Line" is an American blues/folk song performed and first recorded by Lead Belly in the 1930s. Versions have been recorded by other artists. The song is ostensibly about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.
The chorus to the old song reads:
The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road
The Rock Island Line is the road to ride
The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road
If you want to ride you gotta ride it like you find it
Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Line
The verses tell a humorous story about a train operator who smuggled pig iron through a toll gate by claiming all he had on board was livestock.
Contents |
History
According to Harry Lewman Music,
| “ | Lead Belly and John and Alan Lomax supposedly first heard it from [a] prison work gang during their travels in 1934/35. It was sung a cappella. Huddie sang and performed this song, finally settling on a format where he portrayed, in song, a train engineer asking the depot agent to let his train start out on the main line.[1] | ” |
- Lonnie Donegan's recording, released in 1955, signalled the start of the UK "skiffle" craze. Donegan "did nothing to credit Lead Belly as the author, even though he simply copied Huddie's entire arrangement".[2] However, although it only featured Donegan, Chris Barber on double bass and washboard player (Beryl Bryden), it was a band recording so he made no money from it beyond his original session fee.
- Pete Seeger recorded a version a cappella while he was chopping wood, to demonstrate its origins.[3]
Versions
"Rock Island Line" has been recorded by:
1930s – 40s
- Lead Belly recorded the song at Washington, D.C. on June 22, 1937, the first of many recordings of it he made during his career, the last being live at the University of Texas on June 15, 1949.[4]
"Rock Island Line" appears in the Lead Belly compilation Rock Island Line: Original 1935-1943 Recordings (released 2003 [1]), among many others.
1950s
- Odetta as part of the duo Odetta and Larry The Tin Angel 1954
- Lonnie Donegan - single (1955)
-
- In July 1954, Donegan recorded this fast-tempoed version of "Rock Island Line", with Chris Barber's Jazz Band, featuring "John Henry" on the B-side. It was the first debut record to go gold in Britain, and reached the top ten in the United States.
- Bobby Darin - single (1956)
-
- Bobby Darin's debut single was a 1956 recording of "Rock Island Line", with 'rhythm accompaniment directed by Jack Pleis', featuring "Timber" (written by Darin, Don Kirshner and George M. Shaw) on the the B-side. It was released on the Decca Records label. For his first television performance (on Stage Show), he sang this song with the lyrics written on the palms of his hands as there were no cue cards provided for him.
- The Weavers - The Weavers' Greatest Hits (1957) [2]
- Milt Okun - America's Best Loved Folk Songs - Baton BL1203 (1957)
- Johnny Horton - 1956-1960 (1957) [3]
-
- Recorded in 1957, released posthumously.
1960s
- The Brothers Four - The Brothers Four Song Book CS8497 (1961)
- Stan Freberg - The Best of Stan Freberg (1963) [4]
-
- In Freberg's typical style, this is a "twisted" parody version.
- Ramblin Jack Elliot - "Young Brigham" (1968)
1970s
- Harry Belafonte on the LP 11-7701 which was later released on the CDs "All Time Greatest Hits Vol. 3" (07863-59771-2) and "36 All-Time Greatest Hits" (1130-15250-2).
- Johnny Cash - single on the album Rock Island Line (1970) [5], see image
-
- This single reached #93 (US Singles Chart), and #35 (US Country chart).
- John Lennon - acoustic and unreleased version found on the bootleg, The Lost Lennon Tapes.
1980s
- The Knitters - Poor Little Critter on the Road (1985)
- Mano Negra - Patchanka (1988)
- Little Richard & Fishbone - Folkways: A Vision Shared—A Tribute To Woody Guthrie And Leadbelly (1988)
1990s
- Devil in a Woodpile (with Jane Baxter Miller) - single (1999)
-
- On the album Poor Little Knitter on the Road - A Tribute to the Knitters.
2000s
-
- A children's version recorded with the Rocket Ship Review.
- Eleven Hundred Springs - Bandwagon (2004) [8]
- Peter Donegan Band - Live at the Elephant (2006) [9]
- Kickin Grass - On The Short Rows (2006) [10]
- The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band - The Gospel Album (2007)
- The Yorkshire Teabags - Have a Cup of Skiffle! (2007)
In popular culture
- Lonnie Donegan's recording of "Rock Island Line" was featured in an advert for the Vauxhall Astra Twintop and Tigra in 2006 in the UK.
- The 2005 computer game Civilization IV uses the lyric "I fooled you, I fooled you, I got pig iron, I got pig iron, I got all pig iron." when a player successfully gains the Railroad technology; the line is read by Leonard Nimoy.
- The 1999 film The General's Daughter featured the song in the closing credits.
- There is a book written by Ricky Tomlinson called Reading My Arse!: Searching for the Rock Island Line.
See also
External links
- "Rock Island Line" on Allmusic
- Oldielyrics.com, Lonnie Donegan's version of "Rock Island Line"
- A Mighty Good Road: Minnesota Public Radio
References
- ^ Harry Lewman Music - The Lead Belly Songbook
- ^ Ibid., Harry Lewman Music
- ^ Ibid., Harry Lewman Music
- ^ The Leadbelly Web Discography
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