The Train Kept A-Rollin: How The Train Song Changed The Face Of Popular Music

Correct us if we’re wrong, but we think this is the first book about train songs. It’s high time for a book on a genre of songs that runs into the hundreds (probably thousands when you think of songs like “Wabash Cannonball” or “Rock Island Line” which have been covered by numerous artists).

It’s not surprising that there are so many songs about the subject, because there’s something about a lonesome train whistle, or the rattle of steel wheels on the tracks that stir emotions deep in the human soul. Trains symbolize freedom, travel, sad partings or joyful reunions, along with a yearning to see what’s around the next bend.

Small wonder then that songwriters from Birmingham, Alabama to Birmingham, England, have taken trains to their hearts, describing the whole gamut of feelings that the sights and sounds of locomotives evoke.

Here, longtime music and train fan, Spencer Vignes, marries his two passions in a book that gets to the heart of the genre. The idea came about as Spencer was driving with his 10-year-old daughter when Elvis’s “Mystery Train” came on the car radio. His daughter, Rhiannon, innocently asked, “Daddy, why are there so many songs about trains?”

A few years later and with over 40 interviews with leading musicians and songwriters, Spencer can finally give Rhiannon an answer to her question!

Painstakingly researched, Spencer looks at the “usual suspects” when it comes to train songs (he’d be run out of town on the midnight train to nowhere if he didn’t tip his cowboy hat to “Folsom Prison Blues” or “Hey, Porter”), but also some songs that we don’t normally think of as being about trains (The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset”, for example, with Terry and Julie meeting every Friday at the celebrated London Station).

Join this journey of discovery in the company of Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Eric Bibb, Nick Cave, Ray Davies (The Kinks), Chris Difford (Squeeze), Sheena Easton, Brian Ferry, Tom Johnston (The Doobie Brothers), Dennis Locorriere (Dr Hook), Graham Parker, Francis Rossi (Status Quo), Brian Setzer (Stray Cats), Rod Stewart and more.

It’s amazing how many famous musicians were more than happy to talk about the subject, with some going above and beyond the call of duty to ensure this book happens.

Spencer Vignes has primarily written about sport both as an author and journalist. However, he has always had a passion for music and trains. Half English/half Welsh, his unusual surname is of Norwegian origin.