Lyrics Language: English Song writer/composer(s): A P Carter
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Roy AcuffWabash Cannonball Lyrics:
From the great Atlantic Ocean to the wide Pacific shore
From the queen of flowing mountains to the Southbell by the shore
She's mighty tall and handsome and known quite well by all
She's a combination on the Wabash Cannonball
She came down from Birmingham one cold December day
As she rolled into the station you could hear all the people say
"There's a girl from Tennessee, she's long and she's tall
She came down from Birmingham on the Wabash Cannonball"
Our eastern states are dandy so the people always say
From New York to St. Louis and Chicago by the way
From the hills of Minnesota where the rippling waters fall
No changes can be taken on the Wabash Cannonball
Here's to daddy Claxton may his name forever stand
And always be remembered round the courts of Alabam
His earthly race is over and the curtains round him fall
We'll carry home to victory on the Wabash Cannonball
Listen to the jingle the rumble and the roar
As she glides along the woodland through the hills and by the shore
Hear the mighty rush of the engine, hear the lonesome hoboes call
You're travelin' through the jungle on the Wabash Cannonball
The lyrics on the most recent version are sanctioned by the composer, or owner of the rights to the lyrics, however, there may be lyrics that are more complete on the prior version(s) that have been submitted by a contributor to mp3lyrics.org
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Roy Acuff Wabash Cannonball Lyrics Information:
WABASH CANNONBALL3
Written by: Traditional/A. P. Carter
Performed by: Roy Acuff & His Smoky Mountain Boys 45
First released: 6
Single: 1938
Album: 1949 7
1 Many variations of the lyrics exist, including:
* 'Courts' instead of 'Hearts'
* 'Glory' instead of 'Victory'
* 'Merry' instead of 'lonesom' hobo
* 'Dixie' instead of 'Victory'
* 'Daddy Cleaton', 'Danny Claxton', 'Daddy Clayton', or 'Boston Blackie'
instead of 'Daddy Claxton'
* 'While' or 'We're' instead of 'You're', in the final line of the chorus.
* There are several known versions of the final line of the first stanza.
Some believe that "she's the 'boes accommodation called the Wabash
Cannonball" was most likely the original final line. However, it is the
least popular today. One common variations calls her a "streamlined
combination."
* There are alternative versions in which the second and third stanzas are
changed significantly, particularly on the 1966 recording by Johnny Cash.
2 Alabam is short for the U.S. state of Alabama.
3 The following story is part of the lore surrounding this song and the
train named the Wabash Cannonball:
"The youngest of the Bunyan boys, (Paul's family), Cal S. Bunyan, built the
most wondrous railroad in the world: The Ireland, Jerusalem, Australian &
Southern Michigan Line. It took the largest steel mill in the country two
years operating on a schedule of 36-hour days and a nine-day week to produce
one rail for Cal. Each tie was made from an entire redwood tree. The train
had 700 cars. It was so long that the conductor rode on a twin-cylinder,
super deluxe motorcycle to check tickets. The train went so fast that, after
it was brought to a dead stop it was still making 65 miles an hour. After
two months of service, the schedule was speeded up, so that the train
arrived at its destination an hour before it left its starting point.
"One day Cal said to the engineer, "Give 'er all she's got!" That was the
end of the I.J.A.&S.M. Railroad. The train traveled so fast that the
friction melted the steel rails and burned the ties to ashes. When it
reached the top of the grade, the engine took off just like an airplane and
carried itself and the 700 cars so far into the stratosphere that the law of
gravity quit working. That was years and years ago, but the I.J.A.&S.M. is
still rushing through space, probably making overnight jumps between the
stars.
"Old time hoboes had a name for this "Flying Dutchman" of a train. They
called her 'The Wabash Cannonball,' and they said there was no station in
America that had not heard her lonesome whistle."
4 From 1934 to 1935, Acuff's backup group was named The Tennessee
Crackerjacks , 1935 to 1938, they were called The Crazy Tenneseeans. In
1938 their name was changed again to The Smoky Mountain Boys. Depending
upon the time records were pressed, the labels reflect the change of name.
Personnel performing on this recording:
* Roy Acuff (guitar)
* Jesse Easterly (guitar)
* Red Jones (bass)
* Beecher Kirby aka: Bashful Brother Oswald (Dobro guitar 8 )
5 : Covered by:
Eddy Arnold
Chet Atkins
Norman Blake
Boxcar Willie
The Carter Family (of which June Carter-Cash was a member)
Mother Maybelle Carter
Johnny Cash
The Charlatans
The Countdown Kids
Floyd Cramer
Danny Davis & the Nashville Brass
Little Jimmy Dickens
Lonny Donnegan
The Easy Riders
Travis Edmonson
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Flat & Scruggs
Lester Flatt
The Four Lads
The Front Porch String Band
Valentine Green
Groovegrass
Arlo Guthrie
David Holt
Wanda Jackson
Jim & Jesse
The Lawmen
The Limeliters
Hank Locklin
The Louvin Brothers
Claire Lynch
Leroy Mack
Marty Maggio
Joey Muskulin
The Moms & Dads
Bill Monroe
Patsy Montana
Moon Millican
The Nashville Superpickers
Willie Nelson
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Bonnie Owens
Dolly Parton
Fiddlin' Mutt Postun
Boots Randolph
Jerry Reed
Jean Ritchie
Leon Russell
Earl Scruggs
Percy Sledge
Hank Snow
Kay Starr
Mike Stevens
Billy Strange
The Tennessee River Authority
Hank Thompson
Merle Travis
Ernest Tubb
Townes Van Zandt
The Ventures
Billy Walker
Doc Watson
Lawrence Welk
Hank Williams Jr.
Mac Wiseman
The Wood Brothers
Glenn Yarborough
Dan Zanes
et al.
6 Released on: *
SINGLE(s):
(1)Roy Acuff:
A-side: "Wabash Cannonball"
B-side: "Freight Train Blues"
(a) Vocalion, 10-Inch, Vinyl, 78rpm Single, #04466, US-1938.
(b) Columbia, 10-Inch, Vinyl, 78rpm Single, #37008, US-1946.
(c) Columbia, 10-Inch, Vinyl, 78rpm Single, Reissue, #37598, US-1947.
(d) Columbia, 10-Inch, Vinyl, 78rpm Single, Reissue, #20034, US-1947.
(e) Columbia, 10-Inch, Vinyl, 78rpm Single, Reissue, #20197, US-1948.
* The album(s) and record(s) listed here may have different versions
of the song than the one that was transcribed. Also, this list is not
intended to be the complete discography on which this song appears.
7 There may be earlier issues that contain this song, but I haven't been
able to find written documentation of them.
8 Dobro is a trade name now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for
a particular design of resonator guitar, often called a Hawiian Guitar. The
name, Dobro, was coined by the Dopyera brothers when they formed the Dobro
Manufacturing Company in 1928. In time Dobro came to mean any resonator
guitar, or specifically one with a single inverted resonator.
