Rock Island Line

For other uses, see Rock Island Line (disambiguation).
"The Rock Island Line"
Song by Cummins State Farm inmates
Released1930 (1930)s
RecordedOctober 1934
VenueCummins State Farm, Lincoln County, Arkansas
GenreAmerican folk music
Length1:48
LabelArchive of Folk Culture (no. AFS 248)
Songwriter(s)see text
Producer(s)John A. Lomax

"Rock Island Line" is an American folk song. Ostensibly about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, it appeared as a folk song as early as 1929. The first recorded performance of "Rock Island Line" was by inmates of the Arkansas Cummins State Farm prison in 1934.[1]

The beginning of the most popular version of the song tells the story of a train operator who smuggles pig iron through a toll gate by claiming all he had on board was livestock, but this episode was a later addition not present in the traditional, 1929 version. The song's chorus includes:

The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road
The Rock Island Line is the road to ride
The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road
If you want to ride you gotta ride it like you find it
Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Line

Many artists subsequently recorded it, often changing the verses and adjusting the lyrics.[2]

History

The earliest known version of "Rock Island Line" was written in 1929 by Clarence Wilson, a member of the Rock Island Colored Booster Quartet, a singing group made up of employees of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad at the Biddle Shops freight yard in Little Rock, Arkansas. The lyrics to this version are largely different from the version that later evolved and became famous, with verses describing people and activities associated with the yard.[3]

The first audio recording of the song was made by folklorist and musicologist John A. Lomax at the Tucker, Arkansas prison farm on September 29, 1934. Lead Belly accompanied Lomax to the prison. This version retains some lyrical features of the 1929 version, but also features key elements of the "classic" version. A similar version was recorded by Lomax in October 1934 at Cummins State Farm prison in Lincoln County, Arkansas, performed by a group of singers led by Kelly Pace.[3]

The Penguin Book Of American Folk Songs, compiled and with notes by Alan Lomax, published in 1964, includes "Rock Island Line" with the following footnote:

John A. Lomax recorded this song at the Cummins State Prison farm, Gould, Arkansas, in 1934 from its convict composer, Kelly Pace. The Negro singer, Lead Belly, heard it, rearranged it in his own style, and made commercial phonograph recordings of it in the 1940s. One of these recordings was studied and imitated phrase by phrase, by a young English singer of American folk songs [referring to Lonnie Donegan], who subsequently recorded it for an English company. The record sold in the hundreds of thousands in the U.S. and England, and this Arkansas Negro convict song, as adapted by Lead Belly, was published as a personal copyright, words and music, by someone whose contact with the Rock Island Line was entirely through the grooves of a phonograph record.[4]

According to Harry Lewman Music,

Lead Belly and John and Alan Lomax supposedly first heard it from [a] prison work gang during their travels in 1934/35. It was sung a cappella. Huddie [Lead Belly] sang and performed this song, finally settling on a format where he portrayed, in song, a train engineer asking the depot agent to let his train start out on the main line.[5]

Lonnie Donegan's recording, released as a single in late 1955, signaled the start of the UK skiffle craze. This recording featured Donegan, Chris Barber on double bass and Beryl Bryden on washboard. The Acoustic Music organization makes this comment about Donegan's version. "It flew up the English charts. Donegan had synthesized American Southern Blues with simple acoustic instruments: acoustic guitar, washtub bass and washboard rhythm. The new style was called 'Skiffle' .... and referred to music from people with little money for instruments. The new style captivated an entire generation of post-war youth in England."[6]

Pete Seeger recorded a version a cappella while he was chopping wood, to demonstrate its origins.[5]

Renditions

"Rock Island Line" has been recorded by:

1930s–1940s

  • Prison inmates in Arkansas – Recorded by John Lomax in Arkansas twice in 1934. The October 1934 recording, by Kelly Pace and a group of convicts, was released on the compilation album A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings (released 1997)[7]
  • Lead Belly – Recorded in Washington, D.C., on June 22, 1937, the first of many recordings he made during his career, the last being live at the University of Texas at Austin on June 15, 1949.[8]
    "Rock Island Line" appears on the Lead Belly compilation Rock Island Line: Original 1935-1943 Recordings (released 2003),[9] among many others.
  • Arkansas prisoners – Also recorded by John Lomax in 1939. This performance is included with his 1939 Southern States Recording Trip.[10]

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

  • Devil in a Woodpile (with Jane Baxter Miller) (single 1999) – On the album Poor Little Knitter on the Road - A Tribute to the Knitters

2000s

2010s

References

  1. ^ Some times identified as "Kelly Pace and Prisoners"
  2. ^ "Rock Island Line (I), The". Csufresno.edu. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  3. ^ a b Wade, Stephen (2012). The Beautiful Music All Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. pp. 49–50, 55.
  4. ^ Lomax, Alan, ed. (1964). The Penguin Book of American Folk Songs. Penguin. p. 128. ISBN 9780140708196.
  5. ^ a b "Rock Island Line". Hlmusic.com. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  6. ^ "Timeline of Musical Styles & Guitar History". Acousticmusic.org. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  7. ^ Unterberger, Richie. "Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings - Various Artists : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  8. ^ [1] Archived December 8, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "Rock Island Line [Naxos] - Leadbelly : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  10. ^ "The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip". Memory.loc.gov. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  11. ^ "The Tin Angel - Odetta | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  12. ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The book of golden discs (2 ed.). London: Barrie & Jenkins. p. 73. ISBN 9780214204807.
  13. ^ Stratton, Jon (2010). "The Englishness of Skiffle". Britpop and the English music tradition. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate. pp. 32–34. ISBN 9780754668053.
  14. ^ Winick, Stephen (23 August 2017). "From "Mule-een" to New Orleans: Just What Was Lead Belly Saying?". Folklife Today. Library of Congress.
  15. ^ Bragg, Billy (1 July 2017). "1 Rock Island Line". Roots, Radicals and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 9780571327768.
  16. ^ "Don Cornell -". 45cat.com. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  17. ^ "Stan Freberg - Heartbreak Hotel". 45cat.com. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  18. ^ "Merrill Moore - Rock Island Line". 45cat.com. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  19. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "Greatest Hits - The Weavers: Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  20. ^ Jurek, Thom. "1956-1960 - Johnny Horton : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  21. ^ "The Tarriers - The Tarriers | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  22. ^ "Young Brigham - Ramblin' Jack Elliott | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  23. ^ "Blues Masters - Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  24. ^ "Poor Little Critter on the Road - The Knitters | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  25. ^ "Patchanka - Mano Negra | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  26. ^ "Folkways: A Vision Shared - A Tribute to Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  27. ^ Widran, Jonathan. "Looking for a Home - Odetta : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  28. ^ "Family Dance - Dan Zanes : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  29. ^ "Remembering Leadbelly - Long John Baldry | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  30. ^ "Johnny's Blues: A Tribute to Johnny Cash - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  31. ^ "Bandwagon - Eleven Hundred Springs : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  32. ^ "The Gospel Album - The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  33. ^ "Ringo 2012 - Ringo Starr | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  34. ^ "Shine a Light: Field Recordings from the Great American Railroad - Billy Bragg, Joe Henry | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  35. ^ "61 Days in Church, Vol. 3 - Eric Church | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2021.

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