Blog 1987 – 03.04.2021

I’ve Been Working On the Railroad

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I’ve Been Working On the Railroad

“All the live long day” what better way to spend it than singing about working on the railroad. My son Jonathan like most little boys and girls too was fascinated with trains. Thomas the Tank Engine was one of his favorite TV shows and how thrilled he was anytime we were out riding in the car and the flashing arms came down across the road and we had to wait while a long freight train passed in front of us. I think he dreamed as many of us did of growing up and getting to work on the railroad.

When I was a boy, more than sixty years ago there was no Thomas the Tank Engine to watch on our black and white TV. One of my favorite shows was the short lived, Casey Jones, starring Alan Hale, who would a few years later become more widely known as the Skipper on Gilligan’s Island. Casey Jones was a real life railroad engineer than inspired the famous song by the same name. It was the theme song of the program that aired from October 1957 through December 1958 and then in reruns in syndication for several years after that. That song and Casey Jones’s steam whistle still ring in my head, my heart, and my ears. As Benjamin Button was proud to announce when asked what he did for a living, “I am a tugboat man” one of my first dream jobs was that one day I would get to be a railroad man. Alas, this life did not work out that way for me, nor did getting to be an astronaut, but nevertheless I have had a wonderful live, probably many before this one, and many yet to come. Perhaps I have already been a railroad man and may be yet one again.

If we meet in this life or a future life perhaps we can sing a duet of some of our favorite childhood songs. I’ve Been Working On The Railroad will certainly be one of my picks.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White

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City Of New Orleans