Conference moira::parenting_v3

    There's one on the Raffi Singable Songs collection.   I don't know
    all the words, but the chorus goes something like:
    
    "Riding on that new river train, 
     Riding on that new river train
     It's the same old train, that brought me here
     And gonna take me back again"
    
    Carol
    

Re: .0

The "Choo-choo Charlie" song is a knock-off of "Casey Jones" - the
words are probably easy enough to find in a folk song book.

There's the old "Charlie on the MTA" song that was recorded by the
Kingston Trio, though that's more about Charlie than about trains. He
was riding on the MTA when the fare went up, and he didn't have money
to pay the differece, so he couldn't get off the train...

Did he ever return?
No, he never returned,
And his fate is still  unlearned (Poor old Charlie)
He may ride forever
'Neath the streets of Boston,
He's the Man Who Never Returned.

Then there's the old;

Down by the station 
Early in the morning
See the little pufferbellies all in a row.

See the engine driver
Pulling on the throttle,
Puff, puff,
Toot! Toot!
Off they go.

    There's a train song on the Traveling Magic tape.  (Part of the XXX
    Magic series by Joanie Bartles--maybe I have her name wrong.)
    
    Anyway, there is a train song on it that has words as follows:
    
    Little red caboose, puff, puff, puff
    Little red caboose, chug, chug, chug,
    Little red caboose, behind the train, train, train, train.
    Smokestack on its back, back, back, back,
    Coming round the track, track, track, track,
    Little red caboose behind the train.
    
    There's more, but I can't remember it all.  It's a fun song to sing
    along with.
    
    judy

One of my alltime favorite kids songs is "Morningtown Train",
particulary appropriate here, since it is about a train, and it's
a sort of lullabye.

Train whistle blowin' makes a sleepy noise,
Underneath the covers go all the girls and boys.
Pulling from the station, out along the bay,
All bound for morningtown, many miles away.

Johnny's* at the engine, Susie* rings the bell,
Tommy* swings the lantern to show that all is well,
Rockin', rollin' ridin', all along the bay,
All bound for moriningtown, many miles away.

Maybe it is raining where the train will ride,
But all the little travelers are warm and safe inside.
Somewhere there is sunshine, somewhere there is day,
Somewhere there is morningtown, many miles away.

* of course you can substitute any child's name here.


If you don't know the music, there is a perfectly marvelous song
book/cassette by Nancy and John Cassidy called "Kid's Songs".  I've
seen it at many bookstores. 

Clay

    I'll type in the lyrics to "The Wabash Cannonball" tonight.
    
    Leslie

    Don't forget the old classic:
    
    I've been working on the railroad, all the live long day,
    I've been working on the railroad, just to pass the time away.
    Can't you hear the whistle blowing?  Rise up so early in the morn',
    Can't you hear the captain shouting:  Dinah blow your horn.
    Dinah won't you blow, Dinah won't you blow, Dinah won't you
       blow your horn, your horn?
    Dinah won't you blow, Dinah won't you blow, Dinah won't you
       Blow you horn!
    Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah, someone's in the kitchen 
       I know-ho-ho-ho
    Someone's in the kitchen with Diiiiiiiiinah, strumming on the
       old banjo.
    
    
    My son also likes:
    
    If you miss the train I'm on, you will know that I am gone,
    You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles,
    A hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles,
    You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.

    From the wide Pacific Ocean to the broad Atlantic shore
    She climbs the flowery mountains, over hills and by the shore
    Although she's tall and handsome, she's known quite well by all
    She's a regular combination, the Wabash Cannonball
    
    Oh listen to the jingle, to the rumble and the roar
    As she flies along the woodlands, over hills and by the shore
    Hear the mighty rush of the engine, hear the merry hobo's squall
    As she rumbles through the jungles, the Wabash Cannonball
    
    Now the eastern states are dandy, so the western people say
    From New York to St. Louis, Chicago by the way
    Through the hills of Minnesota where the rippling waters fall
    No chances to be taken on the Wabash Cannonball
    
    
    ******
    Hmm, this according to _The_Book_of_Kids_Songs_ by Nancy and John
    Cassidy (comes with a cassette).  Composer: "Traditional."  I don't 
    pretend to understand it ("though she's tall and handsome, she's
    known"__?!) but it's a real toe tapper.... they had to search from sea
    to shining sea for that first rhyme, huh?!
    
    Leslie             

    Not really a children's song about railroads, but my son just loves
    "last tray-eeeen to San Fernando".  Just wish I knew all the words.
    
    Greg.

    How's about a bit of Leadbelly (and similar people).  From memory it
    goes something like this;-
    
    <trains running onto the Rock Island line paid tolls according to what 
    they carried - livestock was cheap and iron was expensive>
    
    <slow train rhythm>
    I've got sheep
    I've got goats
    I've got all livestock
    I've got all livestock
    
    <beginning to speed up>
    I fooled you
    I fooled you
    I've got iron
    I've got iron
    I've got all pig iron
    
    <accelerating to full speed - "highballing">
    Oh the Rock Island Line is the train to ride.
    Oh the Rock Island Line is the only line.
    Oh the Rock Island Line is the train to ride    
    If you gonna ride it, gotta ride it like you're flying.
    Get your ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line.
    
    Greg.
         

    Peanut, Peanut, on the track
    His heart was full of flutter
    Along came a train and
    WOOO WOOOO (sound of a train)
    Peanut Butter!!!
    
    Actually this song is song while you are bouncing your child on your
    knees and when you say WOOO WOOO, you open your legs and let him/her
    drop in (of course you are holding on to their arms)
    
    Maybe this isn't so good for bedtime, but it's fun for other times.
    
    Joyce
    

    Thanks for the train songs so far -- it gives me a far better
    selection.  I thought of something yesterday that's not quite a song,
    but I thought I'd put it in here anyway.  It's one of those "choosing
    up" games -- like einy meiny miney moe -- used to decide who's "it" for
    tag or hide-and-seek.  It goes
    
    	Engine engine number nine.
    	Going down Chicago line.
    	If the train goes off the track,
    	Do you want your money back?
    	Y-E-S spells yes (or N-O spells no)
    	And you shall not be it!
    
    I also thought of a couple more songs, but I dont know the words.  One
    is the "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and the other has a refrain something like
    
    	Little red caboose, little red caboose,
    	Little red caboose behind the train.
    	Going round the bend...
    
    But I can't remember any more.  Any help out there?
    
                                                    Tracy

    How about that song Arlo Guthrie did?  The City of New Orleans.
    
    I don't know all the words, but the refrain is:
    
    "Good morning America, how are you?
    Said don't you know me, I'm your native son?
    I'm the train they call the city of New Orleans.
    I'll be gone 500 miles before the day is done."
    
    Laura

(Sorry about the .... in the last verse, there are some words that have 
been lost in my memory.  Cheryl)


Riding on the City of new Oleans
Illinois Central, Monday morning rails
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
Two conductors, twentyfive sacks of mail

And on its southbound odyssy
The train pulls out of Kankekee
Riding on past houses, farms, and fields
Passing cars that have no name
Freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.

Good morning America how are you?
Heh don't you know me I'm your native son
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
And I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done

Old men playing poker in the club car
Penny a point ain't no one keepin' score
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Feel the engine rumbl'in beneath the floor

And the sons of coleman porters and the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers magic carpet made of steel
Mothers with their babes asleep
Rockin to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.

(refrain)

Nighttime on the City of New Orleans
Rollin' down past Memphis, Tennessee
Halfway home and we'll be there by mornin'
Through the Mississippi darkness rollin down to the sea

And ..... fades into a bad dream
Steel rails still ain't heard the news
......
The conductor sings his song again
This train has got the disappearin' railroad blues

Goodnight America how are ya
Hey don't you know me I'm your native son
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
and I'll be gone 10,000 miles when my work is done.

re .9:

I thought the reason that the engineer said he had livestock rather than
pig iron is that he'd get the right of way since animals are "perishable."