The description for the Trains Magazine Forums says that this is a place to talk about all things train related. So- Are you familiar with the song Orange Blossom Special, made famous by people like Johnny Cash? If you ever get a chance to hear a good fiddler play this, it’s a real eye opener.
If you’re familiar with the song, it has a lot of either fiddle or harmonica music in it, made to imitate the sounds made by a steam engine. This includes the whistle, the chuffing sounds, and what Chuck Berry would call “the rhythm that the drivers make”. There is one sound I can’t seem to identify. I can’t tell if it’s supposed to be a train sound, or just a musical bridge between the other parts. On this video, which is pretty cool in itself, the sound is between 1:15 and 1:30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4-uoUpN1c4
Hats off to people who can make music like this. They have my admiration. To paraphrase an old joke, when God was handing out musical talent, I was probably at the train station instead.
I never thought that particular part of the music referred to anything but the rhythm of the exhaust & motion of the drivers. Interesting factoid: Shortly after Kris Kristofferson met Steve Goodman and heard Steve’s “City of New Orleans”, Kris told Johnny Cash he ought to record Steve’s song. Johnny said he didn’t want to be pigeon-holed in a “singer of RR songs” category, so he declined. Then Arlo Guthrie heard the song & made it famous. I guess it would have been hard to find film footage of SAL passenger steam, but why couldn’t they find something shot over here? That’s not to say the overseas stuff in the clip isn’t pretty. I especially liked the 4-8-0. Now look up any instrumental version by Vassar Clements.
Disappointed that you did no mention the Styling of Boxcar Willie[8D] and his version of the song" Orange Blossom Special"…plus the HO Trains add a little to the Modeler crowds appeal…[swg]
The most interesting version of “Orange Blossom Special” that I ever heard was played by mariachis at a birthday party that I was attending. It was pretty good, too.
Could be intended as the sound of the train going across/through a bridge.
In my experience, bluegrass pickers show off their speed or ability in sections like this - it’s a demonstration of technical ability. (An older, kinder, gentler version of shredding?}
From the title he gave this thread, I’ve gotta believe Murphy is acquainted with one of the all-time great train songs, “Way Out There,” by Bob Nolan, performed by the Sons of the Pioneers.
Truly, country music has given us many of these great songs, complete with train-sound effects. Besides Boxcar’s train whistle, which seemed to be a function of his throat, we had those by Roy Acuff and by Jimmie Rodgers, which were through their teeth.
All in addition to the great stuff accomplished by instruments. It is a real insight into American history to see what a hold trains have had on the American musical imagination!
I think it MIGHT represent the squealing of flanges. But there is nothing that says any of the musical phrases have to represent anything more than just music.
I think they picked a Daylight or fan special Daylight recreation because the train is painted basically orange . The real Orange Blossom Special was always a heavyweight Pullman green train. But even in WWII it alreay had two or three E-units pulling on the Seabord, and often through to Washington on the RF&P. The Orange Blossom Special never received lighweight cars. It was discontinued and sleepers were addeed to the Silver Meteor and Silver Star as a replacement.
I suppose there’s just not a lot of film footage of Seaboard trains around, and especially of the Orange Blossom Special. The only footage I’ve seen is from a Seaboard promo film done in the 1940’s, post-war, and I don’t know if any of the passenger trains shown are the Special or not.
Maybe there’s some railfan film of the Seaboard in someone’s attic or closet that’s yet to surface. Who knows? Only time will tell.
Never mind music videos, it’s always irked me to see children’s books published in the US that contain illustrations only of European prototypes. We see the same thing in fire-oriented kids books.
Not that I have anything against European prototypes, but I figure if one is turning out a book for kids, they ought to contain images the kids might see locally.
Hi Dave! I watched that rail video I mentioned and yes, there was a Seaboard train with diesel units pulling a consist of heavyweights, so I guess that was it.
By the way, you can see the film I saw if you search “You Tube Seaboard Railroad New Horizons”, that’s the name of the promo film. It’s a fun nostalgic time capsule.
fMaybe someone on this Forum with the right computer skills and equipment can do an editing job and subsitute the right train for those used as the visuals for the audio, and give it to us as a real gift!
It does sound pretty much in a bluegrass like vein. I’m wishing that I could find a recording of that so I could pick it apart and find what they are using…youtube has a tendency to ‘compress’ the songs…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range_compression