banjer5 - Posted - 08/28/2009:  07:43:59

We all know the tune Reuben or Reuben's train but does anyone know if it has lyrics? If possible I have a request for the lyrics. Thanks to all

Fast Freddy the engineer says: Throttle in RUN 8 and highball, then don''t look back, something might be gainin'' on ya. 73,s de K5BGZ

Richard Dress - Posted - 08/28/2009:  08:00:10

Lots of lyrics, here is Bill Monroe's version:

Reuben

Oh, I thought I heard that train--how lonesome did blow
She blowed like she'll never blow no more
Oh, you ought to been up town and see the train come down
You could hear the whistle blow a hundred miles

Oh, I'm walking these ties with tears in my eyes
I'm trying to read a letter from my home
If my woman says so, I'm never gonna work no more
I'm gonna sidetrack my train and go home

If this train runs me right, I'll see my woman Saturday night
I'm tired of living this'a way
Oh, I thought I heard that train--so lonesome she'd blow
She blowed like she'll never blow no more

Oh, I thought I heard that train--how lonesome did blow
She blowed like she'll never blow no more

Edited by - Richard Dress on 08/28/2009 08:00:31

Seeders - Posted - 08/28/2009:  08:00:36

It's one of those tunes that I've heard many different versions of and has many various verses. Here's a version that I sing, these are not the only verses out there though. I've heard versions that almost every verse is different from these

Ol' Reuben made a train & he put it on a track
He ran it to the Lord knows where
Oh me, oh my ran it to the Lord knows where

Should been in town when Reuben's train went down
You could hear that whistle blow 100 miles
Oh me, oh my you could hear the whistle blow 100 miles

Last night I lay in jail had no money to go my bail
Lord how it sleeted & it snowed
Oh me, oh my Lord how it sleeted & it snowed

I've been to the East, I've been to the West
I'm going where the chilly winds don't blow
Oh me, oh my I'm going where the chilly winds don't blow

Oh the train that I ride is 100 coaches long
You can hear the whistle blow 100 miles
Oh me, oh my you can hear the whistle blow 100 miles

I got myself a blade, laid Reuben in the shade,
I'm startin' me a graveyard of my own.
Oh, me, oh lordy my, startin' me a graveyard of my own.

Repeat 1st verse

Daveasti - Posted - 08/28/2009:  08:00:42

There's quite a bit of different lyrics out there to this song. You can make them up too. Here's some that seem common:

http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/f...ns_Train.htm

bowfinger - Posted - 08/28/2009:  08:11:55

I thought Monroe called that first one 'train 45 ' though there's not much difference. I've never heard the pre-Earl tune.

mrmanley - Posted - 08/28/2009:  08:13:34

I'm most familiar with Doc Watson's version (which Seeders posted), but there are lots of other ones. Mudcat probably has them all.

Richard Dress - Posted - 08/28/2009:  08:18:22

Bill Monroe did call the song "Train 45". There are lots of names for this song.

Often played as an instrumental in bluegrass, this song is a version of “Reuben’s Train” popular in various forms since 1898. Fiddlin’ John Carson recorded it for OKeh in 1924 as “I’m 900 Miles from My Home”, Norman Gayle for Champion in 1927 as “Train No. 45” (crediting Whitter), George Banman Grayson & Henry Whitter for Victor in 1927 as “(Old) Train Forty-Five”--for Gennett in 1927 as “Train No. 45”--for Bluebird in 1927 as “Train 45” (County Records reissued their version for the 1999 album The Recordings of Grayson & Whitter, and Document Records reissued it for the 2000 Grayson & Whitter album The Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, Volume I: 1927–1928), Fleming and Townsend for Bluebird in 1927, David Foley for Challenge in 1928 as “Train Number 45”, Riley Puckett for Columbia in 1929 as “Nine Hundred Miles from Home, Emry Arthur for Paramount in 1931 under the title “Reuben oh Reuben”, the Carolina Ramblers String Band for Perfect/Banner in 1932 as “Reuben’s Train”, Wade Mainer, Zeke Morris & Steve Ledford for Bluebird in 1937 (crediting Zeke Morris) under the title “Riding on That Train Forty Five” (Rounder Records reissued it for the 1998 compilation album Train 45: Railroad Songs of the Early 1900s), Zeke Morris for Victor in 1941 as “Riding Train No. 45”, Wade Mainer & the Sons of the Mountaineers for Bluebird in 1941 under the title “Old Reuben”, and Woody Guthrie for Moses Asch in 1944. Sometimes, versions of this song appear under the titles “500 (or 900) Miles from my Home”. Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys released this version on a 45 rpm single for Decca Records in January 1968 (MCA Records reissued the song for the 1983 Bill Monroe album Bluegrass Collection, Volume IV, and Bear Family reissued it for the 1991 Bill Monroe box set Bluegrass: 1959-1969). He recorded it again at Bean Blossom in 1979 (MCA Records released it in 1980 under the title Bean Blossom 79 and Bear Family Records reissued it for the 1994 Bill Monroe album Bluegrass 1970-79). Among others, Sonny Osborne released the song (as an instrumental) for his 195? Gateway album Five String Hi Fi, the Laurel River Valley Boys for their 1958 Judson Records album Music for Moonshiners, the Stanley Brothers (instrumental) for their 1958 King Records album The Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys (Gusto’s Hollywood label reissued it for the 1997 Stanley Brothers album 16 Greatest Hits; King Records reissued it for the 1997 album The Stanley Brothers & the Clinch Mountain Boys; Westside for the 1999 Stanley Brothers album 1958-1961: Ridin’ That Midnight Train; and King Records reissued it for the 2000 Stanley Brothers album Complete Starday and King Instrumentals, for the 2002 Stanley Brothers album All Time Greatest Hits, and for the 2003 Stanley Brothers box set The King Years: 1961-1965), Country Gentlemen (instrumental) for their 1961 Folkways Records album Folk Songs & Bluegrass (Smithsonian Folkways reissued that album in 1991), the Osborne Brothers for their 1962 MGM Records album Bluegrass Instrumentals, Jimmy Martin (instrumental) for his 1962 Decca Records album Country Music Time (Bear Family reissued it for the 1994 box set Jimmy Martin), the Potomac Valley Boys for their 1970 GHP Records album Bluegrass from Virginia, J. D. Crowe & the Kentucky Mountain Boys (instrumental) for their 1973 King Bluegrass Records album Bluegrass Holiday (a reissue of their 1968 Lemco album of the same title), Ralph Stanley (instrumental) for his 1974 Rebel album A Man and His Music (Rebel reissued it for the 1995 Ralph Stanley album Classic Bluegrass and for the 1995 Ralph Stanley box set 1971-1973), Ola Belle Reed under the title “Ruben” in 1975 for Heritage Records, J. D. Crowe & the New South (instrumental) for their 1976 Towa Records album Live in Japan, Mac Wiseman for his 1990 CMH Records album Grassroots To Bluegrass, Benton Flippen (instrumental) for his 1994 Rounder Select album Old Time, New Times, the New Lost City Ramblers for their 1994 Vanguard Records album Old Time Music, Ralph Stanley for his 1996 Rebel Records Grayson & Whitter tribute album Short Life of Trouble, the Kentucky Colonels (instrumental) for their 1997 Hollywood Records album Livin In the Past, Raymond Fairchild (instrumental) for his 1997 Rural Rhythm Records album 31 Banjo Favorites (Volume I), Del McCoury & his Dixie Pals (instrumental) for their 2000 Vivid label album Stricktly Bluegrass Live, Doyle Lawson (instrumental) for his 2004 Crossroads Records album School of Bluegrass, the Stanley Brothers again (recorded in 1956) for their 2004 Columbia Records album An Evening Long Ago: Live 1956, and Tangleweed for their 2005 Squatney label album Just a Spoonful.

bango - Posted - 08/28/2009:  10:58:30

Ol' Reuben's train was swell
It was a Lionel
You could hear the whistle blow a hundred yards.

ramjo - Posted - 08/28/2009:  11:02:57

Richard, that's certainly an encyclopedic discography! We can add Richie Stearn's version of Reuben's Train on his album titled Solo. He includes the colorful verse:
Reuben had a wreck and he broke his frickin' neck
His poor body never was found.

Prof - Posted - 08/28/2009:  11:27:53

Regardless of the source, it's quite the cheery song!

Dan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I''ve got it made in the shade if the tree don''t fall...

banjer5 - Posted - 08/28/2009:  13:14:23

Much thanks to all who replied. I've been playing it bluegrass style since I learned it from Earl's book all those years ago. I never really heard it done with lyrics so was a bit surprised. I am guessing our lead singer wants to sing it as we have played it for years sans lyrics.

Fast Freddy the engineer says: Throttle in RUN 8 and highball, then don''t look back, something might be gainin'' on ya. 73,s de K5BGZ

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 08/29/2009:  00:25:37

ramjo
The lines you quote from Ritchie were on The Holy Modal Rounders lp when Ritchie was still in diapers

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