A local maritime museum is having a Sea Shanty gathering (come hear the songs, learn a bit about them and sing along...) For those not in the know, aboard sailing ships (wooden ships and iron men era...) there were a groups of tunes sung to keep the crew in rhythm, when doing certain duties (mainly to keep everyone pulling or rowing in time), and to make the menial work pass quicker (mentally). Some of the daily drudgery shanties would be accompanied by a concertina (the small hexagonal or octagonal accordion about the size of the musician's hand).

I was wondering if there was a collection of Gandy Dancer & Railroad Shanties around, either as audio recording or even video to show what motion was done when? The few I have heard the tools were usually the rhythm section of the song, especially when shifting a track. I figure most are trackwork related, but would think there might be some others around, maybe in the blacksmith shop for forging teams, similar to those used by the tent circus roustabouts (when driving in the big tent spikes, before machinery was used, 3-4 inch logs driven 3 feet into the ground).

Thanks,
Rich C.

Hi,

The network (NBC?) had a show "On the Road with Charles Kurault (SP?)?.

He caught the Mississippi Export(?) Railroad track crew aligning track in the traditional way with a dozen men and pinch bars and recorded hour(?) of the singing and aligning of the track in the mid1970s - late1970s.

I always thought it waold be a good Video Tape but other than a minute or two on the news, I do not know if it was ever shown.

There was a group of track layer re-enactors at Stone Mountain GA but the state had privatized the park and so a local DJ and boom box set-up that hurt my ears and masked the chanting was terrible.

I do not know if there are track crew re-enactors around. It would make a great offering.

Doug vV

I've long been fond of this short documentary on gandy dancers and their work songs, filmed in 1973 on the Clinchfield:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r_cI3kYYhM

-Philip Marshall

Check out Norm Cohen's 700+ page tome Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong . In Appendix I (pages 645-649) he discusses the difference folklorists make between 'work songs' and 'occupational songs'. He mentions the efforts of several individuals in the 1930's and 40's (including Alan Lomax mentioned in a post above) to gather field recordings of section gang work songs. He points out that we have primarily the examples of the work songs of the black track crews and some occupational songs of the Irish crews of the Union Pacific, but "regrettably, we have nothing, as far as I know, from the Chinese laborers of the Central Pacific in either category." He concludes the discussion by listing all of the Library of Congress field recordings of railroad work songs that he had been able to identify (over 60 listed).

Hope this is helpful.

sc 'doc' lewis

In the 1990s and early 2000s there was a group of mostly retired railroaders, "The Buckingham Lining Bar Gang," out of Buckingham County, Virginia that did reenactments of old track crew songs. There are recordings of them on YouTube.

The shop guys were trying to get us to sing when we were setting spikes on a new shop lead ... My repertoire is too short.

Having heard them for real growing up, many were made up on the spot, some were quite bawdy, some about the boss...make it rhyme and make it keep time....

Railfair 99 had a visiting black group that chanted along while lining a track panel with lining bars as a demonstration . They were great . I don't remember who they were or where they came from.

Here is another video that shows coordinating physical work by the use of chant singing. Notice that they add rhythm to the chant by using the lining bars to produce a drum beat leading up to the physical exertion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1O2X890tig

One thing I have noticed in observing gandydancers is the short swing arc sometimes used for diving spikes with a maul. The typical inclination when swinging a maul or axe is to swing a circle with arms fully extended for maximum swing travel speed. However, the short arc method closes the elbows hinge as the maul head is pulled off the spike just after impact. Then the short arc brings the maul back almost even with the shoulder height. The elbows hinge is then opened as the maul comes down on the spike.

I guess the point is to shorten the interval between strikes by spending less time in the swing arc, as results from using a shorter swing radius. In any case, it appears quite graceful and counterintuitive. Generally, it seems to have been more rarely practiced than the full radius swing. I don’t know if there is a name for this short-radius swing.

You can see this technique in some of the Clinchfield RR video posted above.

I think the only song that might have been sung out on track at Black River in the early 90's was... uh... "The Rodeo Song".

I guess Cole Porter's "I Get A Kick Out Of You" wouldn't count.

i always thought it was called "roundhousing". by the looks of the fellows in several videos, it looks like it's plenty exhausting, too.

I remember the Gandy Dancers at Railfarir 99, and they were amazing. They had about 3 different songs as I remember, one about "Boss man don't pay."
That was a long time ago, I doubt if any of them are still with us, I don't think the youngest member was under 60 at the time. I was impressed with their ability to do hard work still at their ages. Of course, by working in rhythm, the work was easier.

I'm involved with the living history community and working on an accurate portrayal of a Rio Grande Western section man in 1895. True railroad reenactors are a rare breed, but we're out there. The problem is finding places that will accept our skills as historical interpreters and put them to good use.

On the topic of this thread, it seems that music has always had a very important part in railroading. Even during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad the Mormon grading contractors in Utah sang regularly during work, both hymns and popular songs, and even wrote their own music about railroad work, most famously the song "Echo Canyon".

B A Botkin & Alvin F Harlow compiled "A Treasury of Railroad Folklore" . Part 5 is "Blues, Ballads & Work Songs". There are about 30 pages of material including lyrics and music.

"If I could, I surely would
Stand on the rock where Moses stood
Hey boys, can ya line 'em?
Hey boys, can ya line 'em?
Hey boys, can ya line 'em?
See Eloise go lining track."