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The Weathered Old Caboose Behind The Train/ Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane, The
Old-Time, Song Tune. Words & Music by William Shakespeare Hays, 1837-1907 Dedicated To George J. Cowan, Louisville, KY.
ARTIST: Words: Norman Blake. Tune: Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane; Source: Norman Blake 'Chattanooga Sugar Babe' Shanachie 6027 (1998);
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: Tune 187, words 1998;
RECORDING INFO: Carson, Fiddlin' John. Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's Gonna Crow, Rounder 1003, LP (1987), cut# 1. Clark, Carroll C.. Minstrels and Tunesmiths, JEMF 109, LP (1981), cut#B.07. George, Franklin/Frank. Swope's Knobs, Anachronistic 001, LP (1977), cut#3.07a. Kincaid, Bradley. Mountain Ballads and Old Time Solos. Album Number Six, Bluebonnet BL 123, LP (1963), cut#A.01. Mainer, Wade. Old Time Banjo Tunes, Old Homestead OHS-90168, LP (1984), cut#A.01 (Little Log Cabin in/by the Lane). Pegram, George. Union Grove, The Hub of the Universe, Union Grove SS-4, LP (1970), cut# 3. Pegram, George. George Pegram, Rounder 0001, LP (1970), cut# 3. Pegram, George. O Love Is Teasin', Elektra BLP-12051, LP (1985), cut#1.14 . Possum Hunters. Death on Lee Highway, Takoma A-1010, LP (196?), cut# 2 (Little Log Cabin in/by the Lane). Seeger, Peggy. Our Singing Heritage. Vol I, Elektra EKL-151, LP (195?), cut# 3. Tennessee River Boys. Good Old Mountain Music, Cumberland MGC 29505, LP (196?), cut# 1 (Log Cabin in the Lane)
OTHER NAMES: “Little Old Log Cabin Down the Lane;” “Hungry Hash House (Blues);” “Fiddle and Bow;” “Little Joe, the Wrangler,” “Lily of the Valley;” “Little Old Sod Shanty (on the Claim);” “Little Red Caboose Behind the Train,” “Another Fall of Rain” “Little Joe the Wrangler,” “Beans, Gravy and Bacon.”
SOURCES: Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1940/1965), p281. Levy site; A Fiddler’s Companion; Digital Tradition;
NOTES: The song was written and published in 1871 by a Kentucky riverman turned vaudeville songwriter, Will Hayes.
William Shakespeare Hays was born in Louisville, KY on July 19, 1837 and died there at the age of 70 on July 23, 1907. His parents were Hugh and Martha (Richardson) Hays. He married Belle McCullough in July of 1865. His known children are Mattie Belle Hays (dedicated to, in the song O, Let Me Kiss the Baby, 1867), Susie Hobbs Hays (dedicated to, in the song Kiss Me, Good Night, Mama, 1870) and Samuel Brown Hays (dedicated to, in the song How Much Does the Baby Weigh, 1880).
His most popular songs were Evangeline (1862), The Drummer Boy of Shiloh (1863), We Parted by the River (1866), The Little Old Cabin in the Lane (1871), Molly Darling (1871) [with 3 million copies published], Susan Jane (1871), Oh! Sam (1872), Angels Meet Me at the Cross Roads (1875). Early in de Mornin' (1877), Roll Out! Heave Dat Cotton (1877). He composed approximately 350 songs. Two significant collections, detailed as items 286 (manuscripts) and 813 (prints and photographs), are at The Filson Club Historical Society of Kentucky.
The “Little Old Log Cabin Down the Lane” melody has been adapted and used in a number of different settings and has spawned a number of parodies: “Hungry Hash House (Blues);” “Fiddle and Bow;” “Little Joe, the Wrangler,” “Lily of the Valley;” “Little Old Sod Shanty (on the Claim);” “Little Red Caboose Behind the Train,” “Another Fall of Rain” “Little Joe the Wrangler,” “Beans, Gravy and Bacon.”
Bob Bolton from DT: I just realised that the tune I know to this is virtually the same as Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane (known here as several songs, including a shearing song Another Fall of Rain or Waiting for the Rain - the lament of a bunch of worn out shearers, hoping for rain to bring a break in activity so their sore wrists and back can recuperate.
The southern gospel hymn, “Lily of the Valley,” with words by Charles W. Fry (1881) was adapted from Hays' “Little Old Log Cabin.” The earliest recording was by (Frank) Welling & (John) McGhee in Ashland Kentucky 1928 (Vo 5251). Charles W. Fry lyrics first appeared in the Salvation Army's The War Cry, December 29, 1881. Fry wrote the lyrics in Lincoln, England, while working with the Salvation Army there.
The “Little Old Log Cabin Down the Lane” was recorded in October, 1925 for Edison by Fiddlin' Cowan Powers and Family, who had waxed an earlier version for Victor, in August, 1924 (though for that particular side the Victor company brought in Carson Robison to perform the vocal). The piece was first released in 1923, however, when Fiddlin' John Carson's (north Georgia) version became the second best-selling country music record for that year. Yet another performance, Ernest Stoneman's, made the charts that decade, in 1926 when his version became the fifth best-selling country music record.
Here are the lyrics to “The Weathered Old Caboose Behind The Train:”
Oh I'd go back on the L&N and on the Southern too
If I only had my way again
I would ride that Seaboard Airline and Atlantic Coastline too
You would never hear me grumble or complain
I would ride that Georgia Southern and Florida railroad line
The Swanee River Route they called it too
I would travel down from Macon over to St Augustine
By the great Atlantic Ocean waves so blue
Chorus:
I am getting old and feeble and I cannot work no more
I've been out in the sunshine and the rain
And the only friend that's left now is this watch and chain of mine
And the weathered old caboose behind the train
It's the C&O and TP, the NC and St L
I've rode the Queen and Crescent and the Sunshine Special too
The New Orleans and North Eastern on down that Vicksburg route
Yes I've rode them all and many more it's true
I have seen the Katy Flyer from Texas to KC
The Red Ball freights beneath the prairie sky
And the dazzling scarlet Katy herald of the MKT
The Missouri Kansas Texas flashing by
Chorus
I have seen the fields and farm lands, the skyscrapers of Fort Worth
Come in sight of the engine's heading crew
And the MKT Bluebonnet southbound down that Texas line
On to Dallas now a-faster rollin' through
And the Rocky Mountain Rocket on the Rock Island Line
The Burlington-Denver Zephyr train
Towards the Queen City shining like silver in the sun
Where majestic mountains meet the windswept plain
Chorus
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