Chattanooga Choo Choo
"Chattanooga Choo Choo" | |
---|---|
Single by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra with Tex Beneke and The Four Modernaires | |
A-side | "I Know Why (And So Do You)" |
Published | August 20, 1941 |
Released | July 25, 1941[1] |
Recorded | May 7, 1941[2] |
Genre | Big band, swing |
Length | 3:27 |
Label | Bluebird |
Composer(s) | Harry Warren |
Lyricist(s) | Mack Gordon |
"Chattanooga Choo Choo" is a 1941 song written by
Background
The song was an extended production number in the 20th Century Fox film
The song opens up with the band, sounding like a train rolling out of the station, complete with the trumpets and trombones imitating a train whistle, before the instrumental portion comes in playing two parts of the main melody. This is followed by the vocal introduction of four lines before the main part of the song is heard.
The main song opens with a dialog between a passenger and a shoeshine boy:
- "Pardon me, boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?"
- "Yes, yes, Track 29!"
- "Boy, you can give me a shine."
- "Can you afford to board the Chattanooga Choo Choo?"
- "I've got my fare, and just a trifle to spare."[9]
The singer describes the train's route, originating from
The
The composition was nominated for an
In 1996, the 1941 recording of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Inspiration
The song was written by the team of Mack Gordon and Harry Warren, allegedly while traveling on the Southern Railway's Birmingham Special train. This was one of three trains operating from New York City via Chattanooga. The Tennessean continued to Memphis while the Pelican continued to New Orleans via Birmingham. The Southern Railway operated these trains in cooperation with the Norfolk and Western Railway and the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Details in the song do not align with The Birmingham Special, however, which suggests that the writers took some artistic license. Specifically:
- The train is described as departing from Track 29 in Pennsylvania Station. At the time, the facility only had 21 tracks.
- "You leave the Pennsylvania station 'bout a quarter to four", but The Birmingham Special departed at 12:30 p.m.
- "Dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer than to have your ham 'n' eggs in Carolina", but none of these three trains passed through the Carolinas. They passed through western Virginia directly to East Tennessee.
Personnel
On the May 7, 1941 original recording by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra in Hollywood on RCA Bluebird, the featured singer was Tex Beneke, who was accompanied by Paula Kelly, the Modernaires (vocals), Billy May, John Best, Ray Anthony, R. D. McMickle (trumpet), Glenn Miller, Jim Priddy, Paul Tanner, Frank D'Annolfo (trombone), Hal McIntyre, Wilbur Schwartz (clarinet, alto saxophone), Tex Beneke, Al Klink (tenor saxophone), Ernie Caceres (baritone saxophone), Chummy MacGregor (piano), Jack Lathrop (guitar), Trigger Alpert (bass), and Maurice Purtill (drums). The arrangement was by Jerry Gray.[10]
Cover versions
The song has been recorded by numerous artists, including
Other notable performances include:
- Cab Calloway and His Orchestra recorded a cover version of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" for Conqueror Records in 1941.
- Carmen Miranda recorded a cover on July 25, 1942, and sang it in the movie Springtime in the Rockies.
- Bill Haley & His Comets released a cover of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" as a 45 single on Essex Records in 1954.
- Pianist Floyd Cramer recorded a single version on RCA Records in 1962.
- UK instrumental group Dance with the Shadows, which reached number two in the UK album charts in 1964.
- The American musical group Harpers Bizarre released a cover version of the song, which reached No. 45 on the U.S. pop chart and spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart in 1968.[12] In Canada, the song reached No. 34.[13]
- An instrumental version of the theme was released 1975 in Germany under the name "Maddox", produced by Dicky Tarrach.[14]
- In the 1974 film Young Frankenstein, when Dr. Frederick Frankenstein asks a local boy for directions to the Transylvania Station, their dialogue closely follows a lyric from the song.
- In 1978, the jazz-influenced disco group Tuxedo Junction recorded a disco version that hit the American Top 40; it peaked at No. 32 Pop and No. 18 on the Easy Listening chart.[15] In Canada, it reached No. 55 on the Pop charts and No. 6 on the Dance charts.[16][17]
- Haruomi Hosono released a half-Portuguese, half-Japanese cover of the song (based on Carmen Miranda's interpretation) as the opening track on his 1975 album Tropical Dandy.
- In the 1970s, the tune was used in the UK on an advertisement for Toffee Crispcandy bars, starting with "Pardon me, boy, is that a Toffee Crisp you chew, chew?", and ending with the punch line "Chew, chew Toffee crisp, and you'll go far."
- A cover by Steve Lucky & the Rhumba Bums was featured in the 2005 film Be Cool.
- The song's intro was sampled by That Handsome Devil in their song "Damn Door" for their 2008 debut album A City Dressed in Dynamite.
- In 1994, Barry Manilow recorded a version on the album Singin' with the Big Bands.
- A modern interpretation of the song was recorded by Herb Alpert for his In the Mood album of 2014.
German and Dutch versions
- The tune was adopted twice for German songs. Both songs deal with trains, and both songs start with (different) translations of "pardon me". The first was created and performed in 1947 by the German pop singer Bully Buhlan (Zug nach Kötzschenbroda). The lyrics are humorously describing the bother of a train ride out of post-war Berlin: no guarantee to arrive at a destination due to coal shortage, passengers traveling on coach buffers, steps and roofs, and never-ending trip interruptions including a night stop for delousing.
- The second,
Nevertheless, Lindenberg finally succeeded in getting an invitation to the GDR rock festival Rock for Peace on October 25, 1983, on the condition that Lindenberg would not play Sonderzug nach Pankow at the concert. Honecker, a former brass band drummer of
- Lindenberg's version was adapted by Dutch singer Willem Duyn as Ik Neem De Eerste Trein Naar Zandvoort (free translation; "I'll Take The Morning train to Zandvoort") who made it a summer-hit in 1983. In the lyrics Duyn chronicles chaos and mayhem on the morning seaside-train.
Italian versions
- There is an Italian version sung by Domenico Loreti entitled Il treno della neve (The Snow Train) and one by Sorelle Marinetti included in the 2010 album Signorine novecento (Atlantic, 5051865974321).
Finnish version
- A Finnish song based upon the Chattanooga Choo Choo was made in 1963 about "Ukko Pekka", one of Finland's most famous locomotives. It was sung by Finnish band Eero ja Jussi & The Boys.
Wartime release
In October 1944, a new recording by Captain Glenn Miller and the Army Air Forces Training Command Orchestra featuring Sgt. Ray McKinley and the Crew Chiefs on vocals was released as a V-Disc by the U.S. War Department, one of a series of recordings sent free by the U.S. War Department to overseas military personnel during World War II.
Legacy and popular culture
This article needs to be updated.(January 2022) |
Trains have a pride of place in Chattanooga's former
The reputation given to the city by the song also has lent itself to making Chattanooga the home of the
Choo Choo DME, a radio aid to navigation, is sited near Chattanooga at 34°57′41″N 85°9′12″W / 34.96139°N 85.15333°W.[21]
See also
- List of train songs
- List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1968 (U.S.)
- Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy
References
- ^ "Bluebird B-11230 (10-in. double-faced) - Discography of American Historical Recordings". adp.library.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
- ^ "Victor matrix PBS-061245. Chattanooga choo choo / Tex Beneke ; The Four Modernaires ; Glenn Miller Orchestra - Discography of American Historical Recordings". adp.library.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
- ^ Harry Warren. "Original versions of Chattanooga Choo Choo written by Harry Warren, Mack Gordon - SecondHandSongs". SecondHandSongs.
- ^ a b Miller, Mike (February 10, 2017). "How 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' Became The World's First Gold Record". NPR.
- ^ ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- ^ Zebrowski, Carl (April 2006). "Number One on Pearl Harbor Day". America in WWII. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
- ^ "Song title 328- Chattanooga Choo Choo". Tsort.com. January 27, 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
- ^ "Song artist 11 - Glenn Miller".
- ^ OCLC 31611854. Tape 2, side B.
- ISBN 0-87000-161-2. p. 289.
- Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-11-27.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 111.
- ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - December 16, 1967" (PDF).
- ^ "Chatta Nooga 75 at Discogs". Discogs. 1975. Retrieved 2016-08-13.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 281.
- ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - July 22, 1978" (PDF).
- ^ "RPM Top 30 Playlist - April 22, 1978" (PDF).
- ^ a b c d e "DDR: Hallo, Erich - DER SPIEGEL 16/1983". www.spiegel.de (in German). 18 April 1983. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
- ^ Langebartels, Rolf. "Rolf Langebartels-Internetprojekt Soundbag". www.floraberlin.de (in German). Retrieved 2 June 2017.
Pictures of the exchanges of presents. Lindenberg later gave Honecker a guitar with the inscription Gitarren statt Knarren (Guitars not guns) which was not answered.
- ^ Keane, Maribeth (February 20, 2009). "An Interview With National Model Railroad Association Library Director Brent Lambert". Collectors Weekly. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
- AirNav. Retrieved 2016-05-06.