“Ain’t nothing like a train. That’s what I say. You can keep all your (expletive) jet airplanes, and your fancy foreign automobiles too. Time was you jes’ hopped a train, lay back in some lonesome boxcar, maybe slept one off….. And, well, before you could say Jack Robinson you were pulling into St. Louis. Or Seattle, Washington. Or Albuquerque, New Mexico. Anywhere really. Well, thems were the good ol’ days. The railroad days.”
So spoke Willard “the Master” Maxwell just a few weeks before he died at age 94 last week in a San Diego nursing home.
So here are a couple of railroad songs for Willard – and for anyone else with a fondness for trains. Pick which one you like. It’s up to you.
Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie played by Preston Maybank and accompanied by Bumba
Evening Train, a Bumba “original” accompanied by Maybank
The ol’ Orange Blossom Special played by Bumba
An Occasional Story 
I love trains! And I particularly enjoyed Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie :0
We can hear a train here that passes not too far from our house, I feel so comforted hearing that train whistle during the day and especially during the night. Not sure why.
Paul Simon has a wonderful line: “Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance. Everybody thinks it’s true”. I grew up right next to a train station. It was noisy, but I still love trains.
Thanks for the audio and beautiful images.
Very welcome. Thanks for visiting.
I love this post 🙂 Thank you so much! Have a great week 🙂
Orange Blossom Special – female harp player in Paris:
Wow!!!!
She’s pretty good.
more about me on Broadway at
see you there!
now I’ve uploaded – like you – a music file to wordpress:
[audio src="http://flickrcomments.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/tumblr_ln708ifxbc1ql4e5xo1.mp3" /]
dear Stephen,
because I’m too old now (68) to learn violin (or blues harp or piano like you) I decided to use the kazoo = playing kazoo is like singing under the shower – or singing sitting on the roof of a train …
Hold on tight onto that train.
for you, Stephen,
with my orchestral kazoo
there will be a link to you:
that’s a fine post, Steve,
with funny music,
even 3 tracks on one site,
saw a photo of a three trains’ race:
Thank you. Good photo and gallery too.
Ah! Such a bliss! Great post! Thank you for this. 🙂
Ah, Stephen, you made my day with your railroad songs!
Happy weekend!
🙂
Thank you, Marina, for your kind words and encouragement. Have a Happy Weekend too!
Love that you provided the ambiance! I like to do that with my father’s story. I really enjoyed listening!
Thank you. Glad you liked it.