Ridin' on the Cotton Belt

[SSW9389]

My favorite train song is a Johnny Cash song goes like this:

Ridin' on the Cotton Belt

Spoken: "I recently went to a big homecomin' celebration
In Cleveland County Arkansas where I was born
Whole family went down and there was a great day for us
I felt like this day was special especially for my mother and my daddy. Though it was daddy's and mama's homecomin'
And I was so proud of 'em ridin' that carriage
Down the Main Street of Rison Arkansas Sometimes the songs I write sound like talkin' about myself. But actually in some of these songs Especially this one I'm writin' about my daddy)

Song:
Ridin' on the Cotton Belt Cleveland County's where I long to be
I got onto Brinkley and every mile I make is a memory
This boxcar's cold and windy and the dust goes around in circles in the air
But my hard times are behind me and I'm returnin' home so I don't care
And I'm ridin' on the Cotton Belt railroad line
In the pitchin' rolling rhythm and the noise
Railroad men are friends of mine and I'm ridin' on the Cotton Belt boys

Ridin' on the Cotton Belt across that little river called Saline
That's where I went fishin' and I hunted in her bottoms as a teen
Now just ahead's a farmhouse and in the kitchen window there's a light
And I've just got fourteen dollars but I'm taking it myself home tonight
And I'm ridin' on the Cotton Belt...

Jumpin' off the Cotton Belt ain't easy when she's going forty per
But I see my wife standin' there hoping that I'm coming home to her
I got a few new cuts and bruises but this old working hobo's made a home
So long to your Cotton Belt thank you for the ride keep rolling on
I'm ridin' on the Cotton Belt...


Comment:

Now a bit of Cash Family history. Johnny Cash was born in 1932 in a shotgun house in Kingsland, Arkansas that backed up to the Cotton Belt main line. His uncle was a Cotton Belt engineer and used to take young Johnny for rides in the cab of his steam locomotive. Cash moved away from Kingsland with his family when he was three years old and they settled in Dyess, Arkansas. But he never forgot his Cotton Belt roots.

Ed

[espeelover]

I think I cried about as hard for Johnny Cash, when I heard his beloved June passed on, as I did when the best friend I ever had was cut down in his prime. That's one pain you don't ever want to feel; not ever!

I knew he would follow her soon, you could hear it in his music.

God Bless Johnny Cash, and everybody who ever loved a railroad, or wrote about one.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpk3NfqIg4&feature=related

[espeelover]

Ed,

A Johnny Cash and a Cotton Belt fan, you deserve a karma just for where your story took me....

[SSW9389]

You can find this sign at the Arkansas Railroad Museum in Pine Bluff. It's old and rusty, but you can still read the name Kingsland and see the times that the Lone Star and Morning Star called on that little Arkansas town.