7369 old music 2402 - KET

Freight Train
(Elizabeth Cotton)
The fascination with trains has been a recurring theme in many American folk
songs, since the first train rolled down the track. There have been songs about
riding trains, working on trains (as in “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”), building
railroads (“John Henry”), wrecking trains (“Casey Jones” and “The Wreck of the Old
97”), and robbing trains (“Ballad of Jesse James”). Steam engines have been by
far the most interesting, with their belching smoke and steam whistle. They said
you could tell by the sound of the whistle who was at the throttle of the train. Can
you imagine trying to do that with a loud, brash diesel horn?
Elizabeth Cotton was an African-America woman born in North Carolina. When
she was a little girl, she would sneak in to play her older brother’s guitar. Since she
was self-taught, she played the guitar left-handed and upside down. It gave a
unique rolling bass sound to her playing.
While living in Washington, DC, she found a little girl wandering around in a
department store. She helped the little girl find her mother, Ruth Seeger, who
offered Elizabeth a job as a cook. “Libba,” as she was called by the Seeger
children, Mike and Peggy, soon started to play the guitar again. She is best known
for the song “Freight Train,” which she composed when she was 12 to 14 years
old.
Chorus:
Freight train, freight train, run so fast
Freight train, freight train, run so fast
Please don’t tell what train I’m on,
So they won’t know which route I’ve gone
When I die please bury me deep
Way down on old Chestnut Street
Where I can hear old Number 9
As it comes rolling by
(chorus)
When I’m dead and in my grave
No more good times here I’ll crave
Place the stones at my head and feet
So they’ll know that I’ve gone to sleep
KET, The Kentucky Network 21