I was refered to this board by a friend on another board. I know almost nothing about trains (which is why I'm asking what is probably a really trite question). I am learning a lot of new music, and one of the "new" songs I just learned is called "9-Pound Hammer" (Merle Travis, I believe, although I know the song through John Prine).

OK, so I don't understand what a 9-Pound hammer is (besides it's literal interpretation) and also there's a passage in the song:

When I die,
You can make my tombstone,
Outta number 9 coal,
Outta number 9 coal

Is a 9-Pound hammer used to crush up coal? What is number 9 coal?

In another song I know called "Locomotive Breath" (Tull) there's reference to a hammer:

"Ol' Charlie stole the hammer,
And the train it won't stop going
No way to slow down"

Starting to think there's a whole train/coal/hammer thing I'm just not getting.

p.s. I also love "City of New Orleans" so while I don't seem to know anything about trains, I sure seem to have an affinity for train songs...

Paul

pablo@pablogames.com

> I was refered to this board by a friend on
> another board. I know almost nothing about
> trains (which is why I'm asking what is
> probably a really trite question). I am
> learning a lot of new music, and one of the
> "new" songs I just learned is
> called "9-Pound Hammer" (Merle
> Travis, I believe, although I know the song
> through John Prine).

> OK, so I don't understand what a 9-Pound
> hammer is (besides it's literal
> interpretation) and also there's a passage
> in the song:

> When I die,
> You can make my tombstone,
> Outta number 9 coal,
> Outta number 9 coal

> Is a 9-Pound hammer used to crush up coal?
> What is number 9 coal?

> In another song I know called
> "Locomotive Breath" (Tull) there's
> reference to a hammer:

> "Ol' Charlie stole the hammer,
> And the train it won't stop going
> No way to slow down"

> Starting to think there's a whole
> train/coal/hammer thing I'm just not
> getting.

> p.s. I also love "City of New
> Orleans" so while I don't seem to know
> anything about trains, I sure seem to have
> an affinity for train songs...

> Paul
I can't say for sure that this is what the songwriter was refering to but, in some of the coal mining states in the east the various coal seams are given numbers that identify them. 5,6,6A and yes number 9.

drotarinoh@webtv.net

Sweetie, if you like train songs. And it seems you go for some of the more contemporary artists. Try giving a listen to the Grateful Dead song "900,000 Tons". I think you'll appreciate.

Just train crazy,

-Angie

Ladypardus@cs.com

Rounder Records has a few volumes of Cds entitled "Classic Railroad Songs", it is easily found in Borders. Some of my favorites, Rhythm & Blues wise are:

Choo-Choo Ch' Boogie-Louis Jordan
Take The 'A' Train- Duke Ellington
Mystery Train-Junior Parker
Night Train-Bill Doggett or James Brown
My Baby Caught The Katy-Albert King
B&O Blues-Big Joe Turner
Mean Old Frisco-Junior Wells
All Aboard The Soul Funky Train-James Brown
All Aboard-Muddy Waters

I'm sure there are others I like, can't think...

Jeff Lisowski
West Chester, Pa

unfunkyufo76@hotmail.com

The old song "Sixteen Tons" also refers to

Number 9 Coal.

davew833@yahoo.com

Ok, sounds like a lot of grandfathers (who were coal miners) were consulted about this one. An answer has emerged:

A 9-pound hammer isn't special purpose, the name may be interpreted literally and we'd call it a "sledgehammer" today.

Number 9 coal is mountain coal. What I'm getting is this: the lower the number, the lower the elevation where the coal vein bottoms out. So a lower number in a given area usually means it's a deeper mine, and higher numbers would indicate mines at higher elevations.

Coal districts are also numbered, but the "elevation" metric seems to be the emerging collective wisdom.

Thanks everyone! Now I can play the song and at least have a clue...

This nine pound hammer,
Is a little too heavy,
Buddy for my size,
Buddy for my size,

So I'm going on the mountain,
Just to see my baby,
And I ain't comin' back,
No I ain't comin' back,

It's a long way to Harlan,
It's a long way to Hazard,
Just to get a little brew,
Just to get a little brew,

And when I'm gone,
You can make my tombstone,
Out of number nine coal,
Out of number nine coal,

So roll on buddy,
Don't you roll so slow,
Tell me how can I roll?
When the wheels won't go,

Yeah roll on buddy,
Pull your load of coal,
Tell me how can I pull?
When the wheels won't roll

pablo@pablogames.com

I would have guessed that the "number 9 coal" that Tennessee Ernie Ford sang about referred to coal as sized by a breaker. But the coal dug by a miner would have been of all sizes, wouldn't it? (Incidentally, who has noticed that the windows on the old enginehouse housing the East Broad Top standard-gauge 0-6-0 appear to be "boarded" up with the holed sheets from a breaker?)

Anyway, back to train songs. I think the words in "Locomotive Breath" are, "Old Charlie stole the HANDLE." That is the only rock-and-roll song about Freudian railroad dream symbolism, and the image of a backhead of a speeding locomotive with the throttle, er - regulator, handle missing is a great one. I started having nightmares about trains running off the end of a track very soon after I got involved with old locomotives, and since then I've been collecting these song references. Pop Freudianism says that the train is a symbol of death in dreams, and that missing the train (or jumping off it in the Ian Anderson song) signifies life or rebirth. A good song example is the line in "House of the Rising Sun" that goes, "I've got one foot on the platform, another foot on the train." A great symbol of a person hanging on the cusp of a life-changing experience.

Gee, doctor, I feel better now that we've talked.

Aarne H. Frobom

froboma@mdot.state.mi.us

To me missing a train IS a nightmare, because that means I have a miss call and am subject to discipline by the not so friendly trainmaster. And jumping from a train does not signify rebirth in my mind, it signifies lots of broken bones and time off work. I guess I'm just not a songwriter.


The Tod Engine
todengine@woh.rr.com

> I would have guessed that the "number 9
> coal" that Tennessee Ernie Ford sang
> about referred to coal as sized by a
> breaker.

My 2 cents is that "number 9" refers to the mine,
or mine entrance where the song writer works.

> That is the only rock-and-roll song about
> Freudian railroad dream symbolism,...

I'm not claiming any sort of authority, but I've
always considered Ian Anderson's lyric to be a
sexual metaphor. (Each listener is free to find
their own interpretation.)


Washington Steam Railroads and Locomotives
brianfr@speakeasy.org

Gang,

A budding singer-songwriter here has a few notes...

Fred Eaglesmith is probably the best train-song writer these days. "49 Tons," "I Like Trains" and many others. These are not novelty songs, but good old country music.

Fred is lumped in the alt.country (or Americana) genre which has produced GREAT train songs of late. The Bottle Rockets rock a few, and the wonderful band the Old 97's feature trains in song and in play... some of the band members are modelers.

If you think the Dead is "current" (I laughed hard at the post) try some of these bands for a new twist on train songs in the modern era.

Now coal mining songs, well that's another genre entirely. Not many bands do coal mining songs anymore. Too bad, as there is great fodder there.

Anyway, if you want to get current in your train song catalog, don't look back. There are wonderful under-40 musicians singing honest-to-gosh train songs that would make Johnny Cash proud.

Rob

thanks to Mr. Christopher D. Coleman who appeaars to be keeping his list (see link below) current.

Railroad Songs List
utweyesguy@aol.com

Ah, come on, Rob,have a heart. To some of us, anything post 50's is contemporary.And, face it, the Dead were always contemporary, they never got stale with the times. By the way, think screwed up that song title, should have been 500,000 tons.
Just Train Crazy,

-Angie

Ladypardus@cs.com

Stan Smaill, an engineer on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad (and also a CPR dispatcher) is a railroad songwriter and performer--- his "Rutland Milk" is a great one!

hpincus@mindspring.com

I kinda like "Long Train Running" (Without Love where would you be now?).

Or some old Hank,("I'm so lonesome I could cry") or Roger Miller (Engine, Engine #9)

Somehow a song about a jet aeroplane just isn't near as good. Heck, they haven't even wrote any decent car songs in years.

I went to college with a singer named Steve Hites who worked summers on the White Pass and Yukon in the days when they ran steam. He had an ad for railroad song CD's or tapes in TRAINS magazine for a while but I have lost track of him. Anyone else heard of him?

http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=35985
shawsinoly@aol.com