Rock Island Line is a mighty good road
October 29, 2016 2:04 PM Subscribe
In 2014, to mark the 90th birthday of Robert Frank (previously), the Aperture Foundation commissioned "Alec Soth, Billy Bragg, and Joe Purdy to take a road trip and create a live performance of music, photography, and video. They drove from Rock Island, Illinois, to Little Rock, Arkansas, performing and gathering material along the way." This trip would go on to inspire Bragg to team up with Joe Henry to record Shine a Light: Field Recordings from the Great American Railroad. "The two hopped on an Amtrak train and recorded these songs acoustically at various stations and junctures around the country." NPR Tiny Desk Concerts: Billy Bragg and Joe Henry perform "Rock Island Line" and other songs from Shine a Light.
Bragg told the New Yorker that he became interested in the Rock Island Line "thanks to the old Lead Belly song 'Rock Island Line,' a hit in England in 1955 for Lonnie Donegan, whose guitar playing ignited the skiffle boom. (Bragg argues that without the Lead Belly song, which was the first time a guitar showed up on the British pop charts, the Beatles, not to mention scores of other guitar bands, would not have existed.)"
Original 1934 John Lomax recording of 'Rock Island Line' by Kelly Pace and Prisoners
Lead Belly: Rock Island Line
Lonnie Donegan: Rock Island Line
Johnny Cash Rock Island Line.
Odetta: Rock Island Line
List of other renditions here.
The "Rock Island Line" itself, formerly the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, went bankrupt in 1980.
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad: Route of the Rockets!
Rock Island Railroad pictures at Railroadpictures.net
Youtube:
This was the Rock Island Railroad
Rock Island Line in the 1950s
Bragg told the New Yorker that he became interested in the Rock Island Line "thanks to the old Lead Belly song 'Rock Island Line,' a hit in England in 1955 for Lonnie Donegan, whose guitar playing ignited the skiffle boom. (Bragg argues that without the Lead Belly song, which was the first time a guitar showed up on the British pop charts, the Beatles, not to mention scores of other guitar bands, would not have existed.)"
Original 1934 John Lomax recording of 'Rock Island Line' by Kelly Pace and Prisoners
Lead Belly: Rock Island Line
Lonnie Donegan: Rock Island Line
Johnny Cash Rock Island Line.
Odetta: Rock Island Line
List of other renditions here.
The "Rock Island Line" itself, formerly the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, went bankrupt in 1980.
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad: Route of the Rockets!
Rock Island Railroad pictures at Railroadpictures.net
Youtube:
This was the Rock Island Railroad
Rock Island Line in the 1950s
Ah, brings back memories to older folks. I realize now, looking back at music I loved etc., that there was a change already taking place and we romanticized this past that was vanishing as we as a nation moved ahead...you know: we had giants in those days but now.....
posted by Postroad at 2:39 PM on October 29, 2016
posted by Postroad at 2:39 PM on October 29, 2016
My favorite version is The Knitters.
posted by gingerbeer at 3:57 PM on October 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by gingerbeer at 3:57 PM on October 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
This FPP is a mighty good thread
This FPP is the thread to read
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:14 PM on October 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
This FPP is the thread to read
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:14 PM on October 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
The Johnny Cash version brings me back to my childhood. Great cover.
posted by Splunge at 4:32 PM on October 29, 2016
posted by Splunge at 4:32 PM on October 29, 2016
I'm a native of Rock Island and this song--and seeing the crimson and gold color scheme--hit me right in the feels.
posted by drlith at 7:40 PM on October 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by drlith at 7:40 PM on October 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
Great song and post.
Lennon tried to rewrite Rock Island Line explicitly in 1957 with 'One After 909', and failed. There are maybe echoes of it in 'From Me to You' and 'A Hard Day's Night.'
But by 1965, my random theory is that Paul is so hyper-confident in his songwriting that he comes back to it unconsciously and writes 'I've Just Seen a Face', which finally is the song's successful update for modern ears.
posted by Coda Tronca at 2:38 AM on October 30, 2016 [2 favorites]
Lennon tried to rewrite Rock Island Line explicitly in 1957 with 'One After 909', and failed. There are maybe echoes of it in 'From Me to You' and 'A Hard Day's Night.'
But by 1965, my random theory is that Paul is so hyper-confident in his songwriting that he comes back to it unconsciously and writes 'I've Just Seen a Face', which finally is the song's successful update for modern ears.
posted by Coda Tronca at 2:38 AM on October 30, 2016 [2 favorites]
The moment when I felt most organically and happily American was sitting in the observation car of a train passing through North Dakota, at about 11:45 PM, with a group of maybe 15 folks playing guitars and singing the Folsom Prison Blues. Trains, and songs about them, are the best.
posted by ChuraChura at 6:08 AM on October 30, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by ChuraChura at 6:08 AM on October 30, 2016 [5 favorites]
Saw Billy and Joe on this tour in Boston a few weeks back. They were terrific (obv).
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 9:44 AM on October 30, 2016
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 9:44 AM on October 30, 2016
This post is missing a couple links.
Stan Freberg: Rock Island Line
Peter Sellers as "Lenny Goonagain": Puttin' on the Smile
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:50 AM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Stan Freberg: Rock Island Line
Peter Sellers as "Lenny Goonagain": Puttin' on the Smile
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:50 AM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Trains, and songs about them, are the best.
I assume one of the markers of the evolution from blues to rock is the switch from train to car. Not a clean break, but there does seem to be a shift into another world of sexy freedom when Chuck Berry starts shouting about 'air-mobiles' in the late 50s.
As for the Beatles, I always found it quite touching that they really had to try to pull off a USA style train song first ('One After 909') since none of them could actually drive when their songwriting started.
posted by Coda Tronca at 11:28 AM on October 30, 2016 [3 favorites]
I assume one of the markers of the evolution from blues to rock is the switch from train to car. Not a clean break, but there does seem to be a shift into another world of sexy freedom when Chuck Berry starts shouting about 'air-mobiles' in the late 50s.
As for the Beatles, I always found it quite touching that they really had to try to pull off a USA style train song first ('One After 909') since none of them could actually drive when their songwriting started.
posted by Coda Tronca at 11:28 AM on October 30, 2016 [3 favorites]
Oh this brings back my dad. He really loved this song. It was one of the first songs I remember him making me sit down and listen to. We had both the Leadbelly version and the Johnny Cash one, on his spools of American folk songs, along with Pete Seeger, the Brothers Four, and a bunch of cowboy songs for which we never knew the names of the singer.
Thank you for the trip down memory lane.
posted by bardophile at 11:46 AM on October 30, 2016
Thank you for the trip down memory lane.
posted by bardophile at 11:46 AM on October 30, 2016
Oh, how very relevant to my interests as a native Rock Islander!
One little addition you Rock Island train fanciers may enjoy: Full reprints of the Rock Island [railway] Employe[e]'s Magazine, from 1914 through 1922.
Fantastic period ads for rail equipment, clothing, guns, banks, doctors, and the like, in Rock Island, Chicago, and up and down the line. Not to mention the articles: "Safety First!" "Of interest to women!" "Rock Island Railway Club Banquet!"
posted by ariel_caliban at 2:40 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
One little addition you Rock Island train fanciers may enjoy: Full reprints of the Rock Island [railway] Employe[e]'s Magazine, from 1914 through 1922.
Fantastic period ads for rail equipment, clothing, guns, banks, doctors, and the like, in Rock Island, Chicago, and up and down the line. Not to mention the articles: "Safety First!" "Of interest to women!" "Rock Island Railway Club Banquet!"
posted by ariel_caliban at 2:40 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
I love this, they weren't anywhere remotely near me during the U.S. leg of their tour so I'm so glad to see this! I've loved his passion and music and storytelling for a long time, I would love to see him perform live someday. Billy Bragg looked a bit disconnected there, he usually looks so engaged with his audience & fellow musicians.
posted by headnsouth at 5:19 PM on October 30, 2016
posted by headnsouth at 5:19 PM on October 30, 2016
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posted by Halloween Jack at 2:12 PM on October 29, 2016 [1 favorite]