Johnny Cash - "Wabash Cannonball"

"The Wabash Cannonball" is an American folk song about a fictional train, thought to have originated in the late nineteenth century. Its first documented appearance was on sheet music published in 1882, titled "The Great Rock Island Route" and credited to J. A. Roff. All subsequent versions contain a variation of the chorus:

Now listen to the jingle, and the rumble, and the roar,
As she dashes thro' the woodland, and speeds along the shore,
See the mighty rushing engine, hear her merry bell ring out,
As they speed along in safety, on the "Great Rock-Island Route."

A rewritten version by William Kindt appeared in 1904 under the title "Wabash Cannon Ball".

The Carter Family made one of the first recordings of the song in 1929, though it was not released until 1932. Another popular version was recorded by Roy Acuff in 1936.

It is a signature song of the Stephen F. Austin State University Lumberjack Marching Band, the Kansas State University Marching Band, the University of Texas Longhorn Band, and of the Indiana State University Marching Sycamores, as ISU is close to the Wabash River. It was also used as the theme song by the USS Wabash (AOR5).

The song "The Wabash Cannonball" is part of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list

In addition to The Carter Family's 1929 recording and Roy Acuff's 1936 recording, many hillbilly artists recorded "The Wabash Cannonball" during the Great Depression era of the 1930s and 1940s. Bing Crosby recorded the song for his album "Bing Crosby Sings The Great Country Hits". The song increased in popularity during this time.

In the wake of the song's popularity, the Wabash Railroad named its express run between Detroit and St. Louis as the Wabash Cannon Ball in 1949, the only actual train to bear the name, which it carried until discontinued in 1971. However, the train was named after the song, not the other way around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabash_Cannonball

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Johnny Cash
• The Wabash Cannonball

[12myoung]

Why are there clips of trains in Europe? WTF

[theqamman]

@12myoung at first I was a little offended by your comment but the more I thought about it the more I agreed. This is an American Folk song and I should have stuck with that theme. Truth is I am just learning how to make videos and was experimenting. thanks for your comments....

[Gryphonbard]

Very nice international collage to go with one of my favorite renditions of this song. :) Well done.

[ThePuglover7]

talk about pollution

[lou4tea]

ive loved this song since i was 2yrs old RIP grandad 4 introducing me to a fantastic song yay xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[rayunseitig]

shoot fire, heck yeah.

[TheElvoz]

my grandchildren 3 and 4 love watching and hearing steam engines -- must be an archetype that goes back to the dragons roaring at us --

[CubsFanJohn]

It was an Actual Train Detroit-St.Louis until the early 70's.

[lastswordfighter]

@theqamman I thought it worked. It's an old time song about a steam train. Europe I'm sure has songs similiar to the Wabash Cannonball.

[tprjj49707]

@theqamman In your defense, there are not a lot of trains left in the USA. The "smarter" we got as a country the more tracks we ripped out. Now we are starting to rethink our choices, as new track costs one million a mile to lay.

[TheCatskillHillbilly]

I don't care if they are european those old locomotives kick ass!

[arrowguy173]

A great song, which had a great American train named after it.

[mbabist01]

What was that one at the beginning with the long wheelbase? A Mountain?