On July 21, 1877, the Great Railroad Strike ignited in Pittsburgh, as striking Baltimore & Ohio Railroad workers gathered at the 28th Street crossing in the Strip District to protest wage cuts.
As local and state authorities attempted to quell the demonstrations, the standoff spiraled into one of the most destructive and violent labor uprisings in American history.
Over the next two days, angry crowds and striking workers burned the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Union Depot, destroyed over 100 locomotives and 500 rail cars, and torched 39 buildings.
Rioting resulted in approximately 61 deaths across the city as local National Guard units and federal troops were able to restore order.
To mark the anniversary, here are some of the many American songs about the country’s fascination and relationship with rail transportation. But first, here’s some background on the events surrounding the strike, courtesy of the Civics & Coffee Podcast.
Grateful Dead, ‘Big Railroad Blues’
“I went to the depot, never got there on time/Well my train done left, she’s a-rollin’ down the line.”
Originally an old blues song by Noah Cannon’s Jug Stompers, “Big Railroad Blues” was updated as a rollicking, high-energy cover by the Grateful Dead, making regular appearances in the band’s setlist over the years.
Flatt & Scruggs, ‘Big Black Train’
Lester Flatt has had enough of his woman. She’s worn him down and told him lies, and there’s only one thing left to do: Hop a big black train and head out of town. Bluegrass has a great way of making sad songs sound like fun, and this is a perfect example.
Vashti Bunyan, ‘Train Song’
Bunyan is an English singer-songwriter who got her start in the mid-1960s. “Train Song” tells the story of her riding the rails to meet a romantic partner, with no idea what she’ll even say when she gets there.
Elvis & the Jerry Garcia Band, ‘Mystery Train’
Here’s an interesting juxtaposition. The Grateful Dead covered a wide variety of songs throughout their half-century of playing music, from Chuck Berry to Janis Joplin.
One of them was a song originally popularized by Elvis. “Mystery Train” tells the story of trying to find your lady, only to discover she’s hopped a train and left town. Elvis’ version swings with the rockabilly style that characterized his early music.
In sharp contrast, Garcia’s version takes the oddly metered, two-and-a-half-minute song and stretches it out beyond the 20-minute mark, adding in some funky piano and blues harmonica by Mark Kelly at this New Year’s Eve 1976 show in Berkeley, Calif.
Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Railroad Song’
Coming from “Nuthin’ Fancy,” Skynyrd’s 1975 album and the band’s first to crack the U.S. Top 10, “Railroad Song” tells a simple story about the local police politely asking a railroad hobo to get back on the train and get out of town.
Blackfoot, ‘Train, Train’
Is this a thinly disguised cover of “Mystery Train”? There’s a long tradition in music of hearing an old song and adapting it in a more-modern context, even if that includes changing the lyrics and structure a little bit. Blackfoot’s Rickey Medlocke (who also played in Lynyrd Skynyrd at one point) isn’t around to ask, but it’s hard to listen to “Train, Train” and not think that they were listening to “Mystery Train” at some point.
‘This Train,’ Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins & Jerry Lee Lewis
Let’s close things out with a world-destroying line-up of old-school music icons.
The old spiritual “This Train,” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, gets some upbeat treatment on an old episode of “The Johnny Cash” show.
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