More theme CDs - swap at Minnstf today?

[dreamshark]

I still have an extra copy of my Road Trip CD waiting for cakmpls. Is anybody else interested? Dave, did we swap already? I can't remember. If not, please bring a copy of yours to Minnstf today.

I also have a beautiful CD of songs about horses ready to go, if anybody is interested in that. I really made it for my sister, who loves both horses and songs with stories. As one might expect from that intersection of interests, it leans rather heavily to the country/cowboy side of the musical spectrum. Potentially it could also tilt towards coded songs about heroin, but it turns out I don't have a copy of "Horse with No Name."

Others that I have in progress include:

• Summer in the City - (playlist complete, haven't done the labels yet)


• Every Must Get Stoned (playlist more than complete - still trying to pare this one down. Songs about drugs ... not exactly hard to come by).


• Getting in Touch (songs about phone calls and letters). No, really. For no particular reason except that I realized I actually had enough songs on this theme to just about fill a CD. Your Collection May Vary


• Train Songs (another one that just about anybody cold participate in, especially if they have any Johnny Cash songs at all).


• BeBopaLula (songs with nonsense words). This is another one where I have too many songs to choose from, from the title song to Harry Belafonte to Bobby McFerrin.

Actually, I have dozens of other theme playlists, but many of them are either too short or too long for a CD. The reasons I have all these theme playlists is because I have an iPod shuffle. This leads you down a completely different pathway than people who have the kind of iPod where you can load your entire song collection once and just leave it there.

Comments

Train songs

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

I would be very interested in a copy of the "train song" CD. Cannonball Paul, my bandleader friend who is planning/expecting to book us gigs all around the country, is not remotely hurting for songs about trains, but we will probably need to learn at least one more hour of songs about trains to do some of the showier gigs we have in mind, and I would consider it quite likely that you will be able to find some songs Paul doesn't know about yet. (I brought in "Glendale Train" by the New Riders of the Purple Sage, just for instance, and played Paul the first verse of "Monkey and the Engineer," recorded by -- I think -- the Grateful Dead but originally written by Jesse Fuller. "Glendale Train" is now a regular part of the show, and the monkey song will probably be worked in, in a few months.)

Nate

Re: Train songs

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Cool! Okay, I'll CD-ify that one. The problem is: I've currently got 29 songs in that playlist and a CD holds only about 20 (especially if you include things like the 7-minute "Canadian Railroad Trilogy!)

Here's the list of possibilities. Are there any that you'd particularly like to have? (And yes, I do have three copies of "Freight Train." It's such a classic. I'll probably put only one on the CD, but I can't decide which one I like best.) The two versions of Casey Jones are COMPLETELY different songs, by the way. The second one is actually a continuation of the story - how Mrs. Jones reacts when she hears the news. I think the pair of them would sound great in a band set.

1) Bringing in the Georgia Mail 2:31 Norman Blake
2) Canadian Railroad Trilogy 7:05 Gordon Lightfoot
3) Casey Jones 4:25 Grateful Dead
4) Casey Jones 4:04 Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
5) City of New Orleans 4:45 Arlo Guthrie
6) Engine 143 3:32 Joan Baez
7) First Train Headin' South 2:20 Johnny Horton
8) Folsom Prison Blues 2:50 Johnny Cash
9) Freight Train 5:22 Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
10) Freight Train 2:48 Peter, Paul & Mary
11) Freight Train 3:18 Taj Mahal
12) Hey Porter 2:15 Johnny Cash
13) The Hobo's Last Ride 4:29 Norman & Nancy Blake
14) Hobo's Lullaby 4:25 Joan Baez
15) Homebound Train 4:25 Tom Paxton
16) Homeward Bound 2:30 Simon & Garfunkel
17) It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry 4:09 Bob Dylan
18) Leaving Train 3:22 Smith Sisters
19) Lonesome Whistle 2:28 Hank Williams
20) Long Train (Guy Davis) 4:27 Guy Davis
21) Longest train I Ever Saw 3:19 Joan Baez
22) Monkey And The Engineer 2:38 Grateful Dead
23) Orange Blossom Special 3:08 Johnny Cash
24) Rock Island Line 2:11 Johnny Cash
25) Something About Trains 3:45 Jane Siberry
26) Steel Rail Blues 2:50 Gordon Lightfoot
27) This Train Is Bound For Glory 0:30 Arlo Guthrie
28) Wabash Cannonball 3:23 The Chieftains
29) The Weathered Old Caboose Behind The Train 4:14 Norman Blake

Re: Train songs

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

We already have "Rock Island Line" and "Wabash Cannonball," and I don't think "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, it Takes a Train to Cry" is more than marginally a train song, though there are a few references (notably the first verse) and the title. "Homeward Bound," ditto, but I think virtually all the other ones are at least possibilities. Let me know when you have it done.

Nate

Re: Train songs

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Well, some train songs are about actual trains and some are about trains as metaphors or symbols. Interestingly, trains as symbols or metaphor are always in a melancholy mood, whether they are head towards home or away. There are several others of that ilk in this list, exact number depending on how hard-nosed you want to be about it.

It sounds like Cannonball Paul is going for literal train songs, none of that "Don't say I never warned you when your train gets lost" stuff. I do love that line though. :-)

Are you familiar with "Bringing Home the Georgia Mail?" I know it from Norman Blake, but I think it's a bluegrass standard. If you have an audience that likes (or even tolerates) bluegrass, that one's pretty much irresistible. And it's really about driving a train.

O but related T

[eileenlufkin.livejournal.com]

The vid I talked to you about is here:

http://flummery.org/

It's a little less than halfway down the page. I hope you like it.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have your Road Trip CD and I'm reasonably certain you have mine. If not, let me know.

And when it comes to train songs, it turns out that I'd started a playlist called "Nate Train Songs" and a little adding and tweaking got to a full CD. Not duplicating your list was a priority, though of course different versions are legit. This might not be the final order,

Working On The Railroad Rooftop Singers 2:26
Petticoat Junction Flatt & Scruggs 2:32
Midnight Train To Georgia Gladys Knight & The Pips 4:42
Railroad Lady Willie Nelson 2:41
Love Train Keb' Mo' 4:28
Here Comes The Santa Fe Riders In The Sky 3:09
Big Ball's in Cowtown Sturr, Jimmy & Willie Nelson 2:46
Cannily Cannily Tim Hart & Maddy Prior 2:24
D Train Washington Squares, The 2:48
The Train Roches, The 3:30
Hobo Bill Cisco Houston 2:49
Orange Blossom Special Voit, John 1:49
Peace Train Stevens, Cat 4:04
Prairie Song Bill Staines 3:14
Mobile Line Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band 3:28
500 Miles Peter, Paul & Mary 2:46
Mary's Rainbow Isabelle Delage 4:04
Machine #2 Leo Kottke 3:02
This Train Peter, Paul & Mary 2:11
Rock Island Line Little Richard / Fisbone 2:32
Rock Island Line The Lonnie Donigan Skiffle Group 2:29
Midnight Special Howlin' Houndog & The Infamous Loosers 4:39
Locomotive Breath Jethro Tull 4:23
Casey Jones Pete Seeger 1:52
Ezekiel Rooftop Singers 2:10