Very interesting to hear this version of Down Bound Train, however, Chuck Berry didn't write this song even though he's been credited for years with its composition. It is an old traditional American folk ballad recorded as The Hell Bound Train by Frank Hutchinson in the twenties and several others including Glenn Ohrlin, Charley Hendren, Sunset Jubilee Singers, Elder Charles Beck and Rev. Barney Pierce. The lyrics vary (some refer to a Texas cowboy lay down on a barroom floor) but essentially it's the same song. So really the credit should be Traditional arr. Berry.
Ooops! Chuck writes about the origens of this song in his Autobiography at page 149. "It took little to bring the thoughts of a sinner worrying over his destiny and coordinate the circumstance in a dramatic display of contrast to the average person's life-style. I could say my father, in many ways, really wrote the foundation for "Down Bownd Train" in his constant preachying of the horrors of hell..." Or, I guess, you could say someone else wrote it! Repent! Mr. Berry! Repent!
Very interesting to hear this version of Down Bound Train, however, Chuck Berry didn't write this song even though he's been credited for years with its composition. It is an old traditional American folk ballad recorded as The Hell Bound Train by Frank Hutchinson in the twenties and several others including Glenn Ohrlin, Charley Hendren, Sunset Jubilee Singers, Elder Charles Beck and Rev. Barney Pierce. The lyrics vary (some refer to a Texas cowboy lay down on a barroom floor) but essentially it's the same song. So really the credit should be Traditional arr. Berry.
ReplyDeleteFred rothwell
Ooops! Chuck writes about the origens of this song in his Autobiography at page 149. "It took little to bring the thoughts of a sinner worrying over his destiny and coordinate the circumstance in a dramatic display of contrast to the average person's life-style. I could say my father, in many ways, really wrote the foundation for "Down Bownd Train" in his constant preachying of the horrors of hell..." Or, I guess, you could say someone else wrote it! Repent! Mr. Berry! Repent!
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