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Long steel rail:

the railroad in American folksong
Front Cover
1 Review
University of Illinois Press, 2000 - Music - 710 pages
Impeccable scholarship and lavish illustration mark this landmark study of American railroad folksong. Norm Cohen provides a sweeping discussion of the human aspects of railroad history, railroad folklore, and the evolution of the American folksong. The heart of the book is a detailed analysis of eighty-five songs, from ""John Henry"" and ""The Wabash Cannonball"" to ""Hell-Bound Train"" and ""Casey Jones,"" with their music, sources, history, and variations, and discographies. A substantial new introduction updates this edition.
  

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One summer day I ventured into the photo archives of the Public Library in New York looking for vintage costume designs and found a photo of rails set on ties in a piculiar perspective where a wide width of rail move round a turn into a single point far off. The perfect illusion of time itself built in railroad track of great strenght in its beginning and fading there after.Now, at this time I'm thinking of developing a poem dedicated to the early railroad builders I have a vague feeling for at this time, found material being a good way to set forth a poem of a hitorical nature. I truly value things found by chance and specially knowing nothing is without reason, is it.  

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Selected pages

Contents

The Railway Cars Are Coming A Brief History of the Railroads in the United States
3
Americas Music Written and Recorded
21
Railroad March to City of New Orleans A Sesquicentennial of Railroad Songs
39
Heroes and Badmen
58
John Henry
61
Jim Fisk
90
Jesse James
97
Cole Younger
117
Hobo Bills Last Ride
393
In a Boxcar around the World
397
Ive Got the Railroad Blues
400
KC RailroadKC Moan
406
Cannonball BluesWhitehouse Blues
413
The Train That Carried My Girl from Town
426
That Lonesome Train Took My Baby Away
431
Special AgentRailroad Police Blues
435

Railroad Bill
122
Casey Jones
132
Ben Dewberrys Final Run
158
J C Holmes Blues
163
The Crime of the DAutremont Brothers
166
The Fatal Run
169
The Fatal Run
181
The Wreck on the C OEngine 143
183
The Wreck of the Old 97
197
The New Market Wreck
227
Billy Richardsons Last Ride
232
The Wreck of the C O Number Five
236
The Wreck of the 1256
240
The Freight Wreck at AltoonaThe Wreck of the 1262
243
The Wreck of the Royal Palm
247
The Wreck of the Virginian Number Three
250
The Wreck of Number Four
254
The True and Trembling Brakeman
257
The Little Red Caboose behind the Train I
261
The Wreck of the C O Sportsman
264
The Wreck of Number Nine
267
Asleep at the Switch
275
Asleep at the Switch
276
Bill Mason
282
Papas Billy GoatRosenthals Goat
288
Hes Coming to Us Dead
296
Hes Coming to Us Dead
300
In the Baggage Coach Ahead
304
Going for a PardonThe Eastbound Train
316
Please Mr ConductorThe Lightning Express
321
The Red arid Green Signal LightsThe Engineers Child
326
Jim Blakes Message
332
29
338
The Evening Train
341
In a Boxcar around the World
343
Because He Was Only a Tramp
347
The Poor Tramp Has to Live
351
Waiting for a TrainWild and Reckless Hobo
355
The Dying Hobo
367
The Wabash Cannonball
373
The Little Red Caboose behind the Train II
382
Milwaukee Blues
385
The Railroad Boomer
390
How Long How Long Blues
437
The Southern Blues
441
I Hate That Train Called the M O
444
Freight Train Blues I
446
Railroad Blues I
450
Train Whistle Blues
452
Railroad Blues II
456
A Railroader for Me
459
A Railroader for Me
461
New River Train
466
The Rock Island Line
472
The Midnight Special
478
On the Dummy Line
485
The Longest TrainIn The Pines
491
Reubens TrainTrain 45900 Miles
503
Blow Yo Whistle Freight Train
519
Freight Train
521
Freight Train Blues II
524
Railroading on the Great Divide
528
Working on the Railroad
530
Ive Been Working on the Railroad
537
Jerry Go Ile That Car
543
Paddy Works on the Railway
547
Drill Ye Tarriers Drill
553
Way Out in Idaho
560
The Night Express
567
Nine Pound Hammer
571
The Little Red Caboose behind the Train III
583
The Virginian Strike of 23
591
Lifes Railway to Heaven
596
Im Going Home to Die No MoreThe Railway Spiritualized
605
Lifes Railway to Heaven
611
The Gospel Train Is ComingGet on Board
619
Little Black Train
625
This TrainSame Train
629
When the Train Comes Along
633
The Gospel Cannonball
636
The HellBound Train
638
Worksongs and Instrumental
645
Recommended Albums of Railroad Songs
652
Bibliography
659
Index
691
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Long steel rail: the railroad in American folksong
Long steel rail: the railroad in American folksong
Norm Cohen
Snippet view - 1981

Common terms and phrases

Acuff album American Archie Green ballad Banjo Billy blow Bluegrass Boys brakeman broadside Brothers Cannonball Carter Family Casey Jones Charlie Chorus City Cohen Cole Younger Collection Columbia copyrighted Country Music Cowboy Decca discussion Drill early engineer fireman Folklore folksong Folkways Freight Train George gonna Gordon guitar harmonica hillbilly recording Hobo Jesse James Jimmie Rodgers John Henry Leadbelly Little Red Caboose Lomax master Miles Mountain never Nine Pound Hammer OKeh Original Key piece Pines poem popular printed published rail Railroad Bill Railroad Blues Railroad Songs Railway RCA Victor references reissues Released Reuben Rhythm ride road Robison Rock Island Roy Acuff RRManM sheet music singer Sings Southern stanza story sung track tradition Train 45 Train Blues Tramp transcribed tune Vernon Dalhart verse Virginia vocal Vocalion whistle Whitter Wreck York

References to this book

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References from web pages

JSTOR: Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong
Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong. By Norm Cohen. Music edited by David Cohen. A volume in the series Music in American Life. ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0021-8715(198304%2F06)96%3A380%3C211%3ALSRTRI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y

Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong
Long Steel Rail: the Railroad in American Folksong. by Elaine Bradtke. By Norm Cohen, music edited by David Cohen. 2nd edn. Urbana, IL: University of ...
www.questia.com/ PM.qst?a=o& se=gglsc& d=5000657464

Norm Cohen / Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong ...
The biggest, best, and most authoritative source on Railroad Folksong
www.press.uillinois.edu/ books/ catalog/ 48etw3qg9780252068812.html

Midnight Special (song) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong. University of Illinois Press (2nd ed), 2000. ISBN 0252068815. Oliver, Paul. Songsters and Saints: Vocal ...
en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Midnight_Special_(song)

John Henry: The Ballad and the Legend, Paul Garon - ABAA ...
ABAA promotes ethical standards and professionalism in the antiquarian book trade in America. ABAA also promotes these values internationally, ...
www.abaa.org/ books/ abaa/ news_fly?code=49

What's a dummy train
Quick Links, Login, Log Out, Order Mudcat cds! Product Request, Max's Blues Museum, Song Origins & Info, Unanswered Requests, Member Photos & Info ...
www.mudcat.org/ thread.cfm?threadid=29196

Old Songs: The Wreck of Old 97
Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong, by Norm Cohen. University of Illinois Press, 2nd edition, 2000. Scalded to Death by the Steam, ...
www.lizlyle.lofgrens.org/ RmOlSngs/ RTOS-Old97.html

Tmecca : Long Steel Rail : The Railroad in American Folksong by ...
Long Steel Rail : The Railroad In American Folksong. 정가, 39500원. 판매가, 39500원 + 수수료 (0% DC). 적립금, 700(2%). ISBN10, 0252068815 ...
www.tmecca.co.kr/ detail/ detail_book.html?isbn=9780252068812

Midnight Special - Wikisource
Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong. University of Illinois Press (2nd ed), 2000. ISBN 0252068815. Oliver, Paul. Songsters and Saints: Vocal ...
en.wikisource.org/ wiki/ Midnight_Special

Burgin Mathews - "Looking for Railroad Bill": On the Trail of an ...
Both Norm Cohen, Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong (University of Illinois Press, 1981), 122-31, and James Penick, "Railroad Bill," Gulf ...
muse.jhu.edu/ journals/ southern_cultures/ v009/ 9.3mathews.html

About the author (2000)

NORM COHEN is the author of Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong (1981) and Traditional Anglo-American Folk Music: An Annotated Discography of Published Recordings (1994). He has edited and/or annotated two dozen albums, and written extensively on various aspects of folk, country, and popular music. He is a retired chemist and currently teaches physical science in Portland, Oregon. His previous book for Greenwood is Folk Music (2005).

Bibliographic information

QR code for Long steel rail
TitleLong steel rail: the railroad in American folksong
Music in American life
AuthorNorm Cohen
EditorsNorm Cohen, David Cohen
Edition2, illustrated
PublisherUniversity of Illinois Press, 2000
ISBN0252068815, 9780252068812
Length710 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Biography & Autobiography / Composers & Musicians
Music / Genres & Styles / Folk & Traditional
Music / History & Criticism
Social Science / Folklore & Mythology
  
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