- published: 13 Oct 2008
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"Mystery Train" is a song recorded by American blues musician Junior Parker in 1953. Considered a blues standard, Parker, billed as "Little Junior's Blue Flames", recorded the song for producer/Sun Records owner Sam Phillips and it was released on the Sun label. The song was written by Junior Parker (aka Herman Parker), with a credit later given to Phillips.
One commentator noted "One of the mysteries about 'Mystery Train' was where the title came from; it was mentioned nowhere in the song". The song uses lyrics similar to those found in the traditional American folk music group Carter Family's "Worried Man Blues", itself based on an old Celtic ballad, and their biggest selling record of 1930:
Parker's lyrics include:
"Mystery Train" was the follow-up single to Junior Parker's 1953 number five Billboard R&B chart release "Feelin' Good" (Sun 187). Accompanying Parker (vocal) is his backup band the "Blue Flames", whose members at the time are believed to have included: Floyd Murphy (guitar), William Johnson (piano), Kenneth Banks (bass), John Bowers (drums), and Raymond Hill (tenor sax).
A train is a form of rail transport consisting of a series of vehicles that usually runs along a rail track to transport cargo or passengers. Motive power is provided by a separate locomotive or individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Although historically steam propulsion dominated, the most common modern forms are diesel and electric locomotives, the latter supplied by overhead wires or additional rails. Other energy sources include horses, engine or water-driven rope or wire winch, gravity, pneumatics, batteries, and gas turbines. Train tracks usually consist of two running rails, sometimes supplemented by additional rails such as electric conducting rails and rack rails, with a limited number of monorails and maglev guideways in the mix. The word 'train' comes from the Old French trahiner, from the Latin trahere 'pull, draw'.
There are various types of trains that are designed for particular purposes. A train may consist of a combination of one or more locomotives and attached railroad cars, or a self-propelled multiple unit (or occasionally a single or articulated powered coach, called a railcar). The first trains were rope-hauled, gravity powered or pulled by horses. From the early 19th century almost all were powered by steam locomotives. From the 1910s onwards the steam locomotives began to be replaced by less labor-intensive and cleaner (but more complex and expensive) diesel locomotives and electric locomotives, while at about the same time self-propelled multiple unit vehicles of either power system became much more common in passenger service.
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American country singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a vocalist and musician have placed him in high demand as a guest vocalist and a duet partner.
Gill has recorded more than 20 studio albums, charted over 40 singles on the U.S. Billboard charts as Hot Country Songs, and has sold more than 26 million albums. He has been honored by the Country Music Association with 18 CMA Awards, including two Entertainer of the Year awards and five Male Vocalist Awards. Gill has also earned 20 Grammy Awards, more than any other male country music artist. In 2007 he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. On February 4, 2016 Gill was inducted into the Guitar Center Rock Walk by Joe Walsh of The Eagles.
Vince Gill was born in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. His mother had a son, Bob Coen, from a previous marriage. He was Gill's half-brother, but was considered a full brother by Gill. His father, J. Stanley Gill, was a lawyer and administrative law judge who played in a country music band part-time and encouraged Gill to pursue a music career. His father encouraged him to learn to play banjo and guitar, which he did along with bass, mandolin, dobro and fiddle.
The Band was a Canadian-American roots rock group, originally consisting of Rick Danko (bass guitar, double bass, fiddle, trombone, vocals), Levon Helm (drums, mandolin, vocals), Garth Hudson (keyboards, saxophones, trumpet), Richard Manuel (piano, baritone, drums, vocals) and Robbie Robertson (guitar, percussion, vocals). The members of the Band first came together as they joined rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins's backing group, the Hawks, one by one between 1958 and 1963.
In 1964, they separated from Hawkins, after which they toured and released a few singles as Levon and the Hawks and the Canadian Squires. The next year, Bob Dylan hired them for his U.S. tour in 1965 and world tour in 1966. Following the 1966 tour, the group moved with Dylan to Saugerties, New York, where they made the informal 1967 recordings that became The Basement Tapes, which forged the basis for their 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink. Because they were always "the band" to various frontmen, Helm said the name "The Band" worked well when the group came into its own. The group began performing as the Band in 1968 and went on to release ten studio albums. Dylan continued to collaborate with the Band over the course of their career, including a joint 1974 tour.
Mystery, The Mystery, mysteries, The Mysteries, or mysterious may refer to: Something that cannot be explained or comprehended. Any action, affair, or event so obscure or concealed as to arouse suspense, curiosity, or fear is a mystery.
Train arrive, sixteen coaches long Train arrive, sixteen coaches long Well that long black train got my baby and gone Train train, comin' 'round, 'round the bend Train train, comin' 'round the bend Well it took my baby, but it never will again (no, not again) Train train, comin' down, down the line Train train, comin' down the line Well it's bringin' my baby, 'cause she's mine all, all mine (She's mine, all, all mine)
Crossroads Guitar 2010 - Vince Gill with Keb Mo, James Burton, Earl Klugh & Albert Lee Mystery Train
All rights reserved to Orion Classics, Janus Films and JVC.
Levon Helm, the drummer / vocalist for The Band, has died after a long battle with throat cancer. He was 71. Helm was born and raised in Arkansas. He grew up in a musical household where he learned to play multiple instruments. As a teenager, he became the drummer for rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins' band the Hawks. In the early 1960s, four Canadian musicians joined the Hawks: Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson. In the mid-1960s, Helm, Robertson, Manuel, Danko, and Hudson parted ways with Hawkins, at which point Helm became their leader for a short period, they were called "Levon and the Hawks." They made a few records, but none were hits. In 1965, Bob Dylan hired them as his backing band. Shortly after, Helm left the band when Dylan was famously booed during...
A detailed, accurate look at a rock 'n' roll classic. For tab and more info about the song please go here: http://www.anyonecanplayguitar.co.uk/mystery-train
Music video by Vince Gill performing Mystery Train. (C) 2006 MCA Nashville, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Sun record# 223. Flip-side is "I Forgot To Remember To Forget". Transferred to digital using stereo gear on background photo.
Rockabilly
Come on now mystery train
Bring her back to me again
I want to feel her hold me tight
And never be lonely at night
Roll down your mystery track
Pass the cities all blazin' black
I'm counting hours till she comes back
Not gonna be lonely again...
(chorus)
Oh I can hear you coming
Yeah & you're carrying something
Got my baby on your mystery train
(repeat chorus)
Yeah come on now mystery train
Through the mountains blowing rain
But when you get there mystery train
It'll never be rainy again...