Today’s Fiddle Tune a Day comes from Magnolia Music Studio in Fort Collins, CO, where I teach fiddle lessons.

One of my favorite stories I tell my fiddle students involves the first time I met my ex-wife’s family. They lived in rural Illinois, and I was instructed to bring my fiddle, as that was a sure way to get them to like me.

After playing a few tunes, I asked her grandma if she had a request, and she asked me to play Wabash Cannonball. After playing it a couple of times through, I asked her if there was anything else she would like to hear. She responded, “Could you play Wabash Cannonball?” It was at that moment that I realized that she was in the early stages of Alzheimers.

History of Wabash Cannonball According to Wikipedia:

“The Wabash Cannonball” is an American folk song about a fictional train, thought to have originated in the late nineteenth century. Its first documented appearance was on sheet music published in 1882, titled “The Great Rock Island Route” and credited to J. A. Roff. All subsequent versions contain a variation of the chorus:
Now listen to the jingle, and the rumble, and the roar,
As she dashes thro’ the woodland, and speeds along the shore,
See the mighty rushing engine, hear her merry bell ring out,
As they speed along in safety, on the “Great Rock-Island Route.”
A rewritten version by William Kindt appeared in 1904 under the title “Wabash Cannon Ball”.

The Carter Family made one of the first recordings of the song in 1929, though it was not released until 1932. Another popular version was recorded by Roy Acuff in 1936. The Acuff version is one of the fewer than thirty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) copies worldwide.

It is a signature song of the Indiana State University Marching Sycamores and the Purdue All-American Marching Band as the ISU and Purdue campuses are near the Wabash River. It is also associated with the Stephen F. Austin State University Lumberjack Marching Band, the Kansas State University Marching Band, the University of Texas Longhorn Band. It was also used as the theme song by the USS Wabash (AOR-5).

The song “The Wabash Cannonball” is part of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.

In addition to The Carter Family’s 1929 recording and Roy Acuff’s 1936 recording, many hillbilly artists recorded “The Wabash Cannonball” during the Great Depression era of the 1930s and 1940s, and the song was also recorded by Piedmont Blues legend Blind Willie McTell. Bing Crosby recorded the song for his album “Bing Crosby Sings The Great Country Hits”. The song increased in popularity during this time.

There are many theories of the origin of “The Wabash Cannonball”. Utah Phillips states that hobos imagined a mythical train called the “Wabash Cannonball” which was a “death coach” that appeared at the death of a hobo to carry his soul to its reward.

The song was then created, with the lyrics and music telling the story of the train. Another theory states that the song is based on a tall tale in which Cal S. Bunyan, Paul Bunyan’s brother, constructed a railroad known as the Ireland, Jerusalem, Australian & Southern Michigan Line.

After two months of service, the 700-car train was traveling so fast that it arrived at its destination an hour before its departure. Finally, the train took off so fast that it rushed in to outer space, and for all is known, it is still traveling through space. When the hobos learned of this train, they called her the “Wabash Cannonball” and said that every station in America had heard her whistle.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabash_Cannonball

Wabash Cannonball Lyrics

Verse:

Out from the wide Pacific to the broad Atlantic shore

She climbs flowery mountain, o’r hills and by the shore

Although she’s tall and handsome, and she’s known quite well by all

She’s a regular combination of the Wabash Cannonball.

Verse:

Oh, the Eastern states are dandy, so the Western people say

Chicago, Rock Island, St. Louis by the way

To the lakes of Minnesota where the rippling waters fall

No changes to be taken on the Wabash Cannonball.

Chorus:

Oh, listen to the jingle, the rumor and the roar

As she glides along the woodland, o’r hills and by the shore

She climbs the flowery mountain, hear the merry hobos squall

She glides along the woodland, the Wabash Cannonball.

Verse:

Oh, here’s to daddy Cleaton, let his name forever be

And long be remembered in the courts of Tennessee

For he is a good old rounder ’til the curtain ’round him fall

He’ll be carried back to victory on the Wabash Cannonball.

Verse:

I have rode the I.C. Limited, also the Royal Blue

Across the Eastern countries on Elkhorn Number Two

I have rode those highball trains from coast to coast that’s all

But I have found no equal to the Wabash Cannonball.

Chorus:

Oh, listen to the jingle, the rumor and the roar

As she glides along the woodland, o’r hills and by the shore

She climbs the flowery mountain, hear the merry hobos squall

She glides along the woodland, the Wabash Cannonball.