Freight Train

Freight Train

Instrumental and Song, US widely known. Words and tune by Elizabeth Cotton

ARTIST: Mac Wiseman;

CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: Early 1900’s;

SOURCES: Old-Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1964/1976), p120.

RECORDING INFO: Bachman, Johnny. Room at the Top, JHU, LP (197?), cut#A.07; Baez, Joan. Very Early Joan, Vanguard VSD 79446/7, LP (1982), cut#B.02; Blake, Norman; and Red Rector. Norman Blake and Red Rector, County 755, LP (1976), cut# 10; Bluestein, Evo. Deep Shady Grove, Swallow 2002, LP (197?), cut# 13; Cotten, Elizabeth. Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar, Folkways FG 3526, LP (1958), cut# 2; Cotten, Elizabeth. When I'm Gone. Elizabeth Cotton, Vol. 3, Folkways FA 3537, LP (1979), cut#B.01; Cotten, Elizabeth. 20th Aniversery Concert, Flying Fish FF 090, LP (1986), cut#A.04; Dick & Dee Dee. Turn Around, Warner Bros W 1538, LP (196?), cut#A.02; Emerson and Waldron. New Shades of Grass, Rebel SLP 1485, LP (197?), cut# 4 (Fast Freight); Hazell, Patrick; Band. After Hours, Blue Rhythm 04LP, LP (1981), cut#A.01; Morse, Peter. Goin' Down to Town, Philips PHM 200-059, LP (196?), cut#A.06; New Lost City Ramblers. Stanley, Peter. At the Sidekick, Talkeetna 25003, CD (1999), cut# 6.

NOTES: Key of C; One Part. The singing and playing of Elizabeth Cotten, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina is well-known to anyone interested in traditional guitar styles. Libba had very individual sound; perhaps so because she played the guitar left-handed, with a right-handed guitar held upside down. “Freight Train” is Libba Cotten’s most well known song. She composed it when she was about twelve years old, wondering where the train that ran past her farm might be headed and what the people there might be like. As an adult, Libba worked as a domestic and raised her own family, all the while keeping at her music. It wasn't until she retired at age sixty-five did Libba hit the road as a full time touring musician. Considered to be an authentic Piedmont region artist, Cotten enjoyed a thirty year career of performances and recordings.

The verse lyrics for Feight Train written/arranged by Libba Cotten circa 1907 are found in the "When I Die" songs. Here are some from Perrow:

WHEN I DIE
(A. From East Tennessee; mountain whites; recitation of F. Le Tellier; 1907.)

When I die, don' bury me a tall
But soak my body in alcohol.

When I die, bury me deep
En put a quart u' licker at my head en feet.

When I die, don' bury me a tall
But take me down to Bowery Hall
Take off my coat en open my vest
En tell all the girls I'm gone to rest.

(B. From Mississippi; negros; MS. of Mr. Harrison; 1909)

When I die don't bury me at all
Preserve my bones in alcohol
Fold my arms across my breast
Natural born . . . gone to rest.

Natural born . . . don't have to work
Carry a recommedation on the tail of my shirt.

(C. From Mississippi; negros; MS. of W.G. Pitts; 1909)

When I die, bury me deep
Tell all the gamblers that I've gone to sleep
Put a pair of bones in my right hand
And I'll throw seven in the promised land.

As printed by E.C. Perrow in 'Songs and Rhymes from the South,' The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 28, No. 108 (April 1915), p. 130.

Brown Colection: 466 Train . . . Run So Fast

From Blake B. Harrison, Trinity College student. December 5, 1919, with music. As in White ANFS 402 (without music).

1 Train, train, train, train, run so fast,

Couldn't see nothing but de trees go past.

Refrain: Don't tell mama where I'm gone.
Cause I'm on my way back home.

The above version is another early variant. Although this is a blues/folk/bluegrass song, it is frequently played as a guitar instrumental. Related also to: Boat's Up the River.

LYRICS: 

Chorus: Freight train, freight train going so fast
        Freight train, freight train going so fast
        Please don't tell what train I'm on
        So they won't know where I've gone

1. When I die Lord bury me deep
   Way down on old Chesnut Street
   So I can hear old Number Nine
   As she goes rolling by

Chorus

2. When I'm dead and in my grave
   No more good times here I'll crave
   Place the stones at my head and feet
   And tell them all that I've gone to sleep

Chorus

Chorus