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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2009
- Hit song from 1957 recorded in black and white with authentic sound. From "Tommy Steele Story" film, but discovered on an old VHS tape. UPDATE - See later "Freight Train Supplement" by Balmesh for some stills from the set.
very proud of my sister Nancy she is soarly missed
Asteroid City brought me here, and I am very grateful. This is fantastic
Very glad you enjoyed it!
we must all remember the legendary Elizabeth Cotten of my sweet home of North Carolina who wrote this song when she was only 11 years old after years of teaching herself (in total secrecy) how to play the guitar.
That's interesting! It's a great song . . . very singable!
Pete See's nanny?
Hi from England, dear Elizabeth was ripped off regarding her song. Not unusual in the music business. No sleight on Nancy, she probably never knew.
@@johnporter3659Yes.
Every time I see a freight train pass through I think of this song. RIP Nancy, only 67 when she passed, too young really.
Much too young!
Can I just say....THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS! My grandpa was John Paul - the double bass player. I've seen stills of this session before but never a recording. It's so good to be able to sit down and watch him doing what he loved. He passed away when I was seven and I only have one memory of him playing his bass (although I'm sure there were plenty of times) at a family barbecue with Chas McDevitt. Think we lost the only home vid - good to have some of the memory back. thanks again
How lovely to stumble across this comment 10 years after you posted it Jess. Love ya, Dad x
Very sorry - I don't seem to have replied to this in the past. I'm very happy that you find it memorable! Thank you for telling me/
Congrats, it's in a Wes Anderson movie
My Mum was friends with Chas right up until her death a few years ago. They met in Camberley back in the 50’s where my Mum’s family lived. I remember always asking her who Chas McDevitt is (when reading her Christmas cards) and she would always just sing ‘freight train, freight train’. Just those two words. I will remember the expression on her face forever. Now feeling guilty that this is the first time I have listened to and seen the original!
@@balmesh Thank you so much. Number 5 in the UK charts in 1957 and the 33rd biggest selling single of that year I’ve read. Pretty impressive! I’ve now added an ‘Apple Essentials’ Skiffle playlist to my library so will look forward to listening to all of these soon.
My mum was friends with Nancy and we visited her home in Melton Mowbray in about 1973
I lived in Melton Mowbray in 1973 and Nancy regularly sang at a folk club at The Wheatsheaf pub (now demolished). It was explained to me when I first attended that one must NEVER request her to sing 'Freight Train' as her her voice had matured somewhat by then.
Thanks for that.
Asteroid City hype train!
Yus!
All I can say, is WOW. I never imagined that this song was covered so long ago by a British SKiffle group, one headed by a woman no less. Priceless. Thank you all for this!
You're welcome!
They performed it on the ed sullivan show, this performance is from the The tommy steele story 1957.
Believe it also featured in another movie, perhaps 6.5 special 1958
Well it was hardly a cover seeing as McDevitt/Whiskey were the first to record it. Libba Cotton recorded it in 1957, a year after the Brits had made it a hit, Ed Sullivan etc, but I get your point. Mike Seeger encouraged her, the songs author, to get her original styling down for posterity, a piece of American musical history. McDevitt had heard the song from Peggy Seeger who sung it around the Brit folk scene in 1956 from memory of Libby Cotton in her household back in the States. There was no recording of it at the time.
I only watched this because I've just started playing the washboard in a skiffle band and my great-uncle suggested I look it up because it was one of his favorites. Glad I did. What a haunting voice she has!
had--died in 2005
and what an amazing washboard player he was !!!
Blimey! The washboard player and ALL the guitarists are on speed. Insane.
Ah, those were the days!
but on song--so to speak.
The Chipmunks version of Freight Train 😅😂😅
Ha ! ha ! ha ! .... know what you mean ! He must have had an arm ache after that !!!
Yep they may well have been. My Dad was the double bass player, and he mentioned things got a little lively back then in the Soho coffee clubs.
Just one of those tunes that stick in your head 62 years ago. I was 11 going on 12. Me and some school mates had a go at playing it with our skiffle groop band
Thanks John. Same here, really, as it stuck in my mind for years, hearing it sometimes, and then coming across this old VHS tape!
I have never forgotten this song since the first time I heard it aeons ago and it pops into my head from time to time. The story of Elizabeth Cotten, its composer, is quite moving but Nancy Whiskey does it justice and immortalised it. Classical Stephen
Thanks Stephen. Same for a lot of us!
RIP Anne.
Nancy Whiskey was a Scottish folk singer, best known for the 1957 hit song, "Freight Train". She was born Anne Alexandra Young Wilson, at Bridgeton, Glasgow, Scotland.
Born: March 4, 1935
Died: February 1, 2003
monday 4 march 1935 monday 4 march 1963 monday 4 march 1991 monday 4 march 2019 monday 4 march 1985
@@caspercasper896 ???..
This is my earliest recollection of anything that resembled `rock music`. It showed my generation there was something else out there besides Mantovani, Perry Como, and Frank Sinatra. Thanks for posting
When I heard this I instantly was sucked back in time, beautiful the way some of these pieces do something like that.
Thank you very much! You're very right!
Yes skiffle music sure set a pace. Ah and the old washboard. I remember as a young child playing the washboard along with skiffle tunes on the radio. I used my mum's metal sewing thimble, to strike the corrugations. Those were the days..... chuckle.
They were, indeed. Remember the 6.5 Special?
Nancy Whiskey (born Anne Alexandra Young Wilson) was born on this date in 1935. {Mar. 4th}
Sadly, Ms. Whiskey passed away on February 1st, 2003... May She R.I.P.
Nancy's daughter is a friend of mine - met her on holiday last year! This was one of my dad's favourite tracks. It's a great one too.
Wonderfull! This was the first record I ever bought at 11! 5 years later I fell in love with my wife, Linda, (who I met at school) and married her in 1968 - because (I think) she was the spit image of Nancy. RIP Nancy.xxx
Why O why do we have to get old.........those were the days. RIP Nancy
My beloved father in law just passed away and he used to sing this to my lovely wife and her sister. I am just broken up. He was just a lovely lovely man.
Thanks for that.
Long time since I've heard this, brings back memories. I went to the same school as Chas, the Salesian College Farnborough, although he was a couple of years ahead his brother Paul and I were in the same class. I can remember Chas, on saturday mornings walking up and down Camberley high street in a dark flecked jacket, tight jeans and white winkle pikers. We all used to frequent the Roses cafe and the il Primo coffee bar and listen to this on the juke boxes, as I said memories
Wow. I’ve just posted a comment regarding my Mum being friends with Chas in Camberley etc. What amazing memories you must have?
I went to see the movie Astroid City and thuis song was the ending song and it stuck in my head... so i looked it up...
Good for you!
Buzzcocks brought me here, this really gets stuck in your head. RIP Amy.
Hear, hear!
WOW ,A gem like this is better than what comes out of the Kimberley diamond mines,,I was brought up on this kinda music,and besides always had a soft spot for Nancy Whiskey.Giant thank you for posting.
I'm 21, and completely aggree with some of you other cats commenting here, love the music from the 20s to 60s mostly, especially jazz and the vocal group sound. This was always one of my favourites as a kid, grew up hearing it from a really messed up 78
I was ten years old when I first heard this in 1957.
Wasn't that the day before yesterday?
Seems like yesterday :)
I was 13 and as balmesh says only seems yesterday!!!
yes
i was nine years born feb 14th 1948 good record
I was also ten years old when this song came out. The main thing is we are still here and still listening. Best Wishes!
My late father George had 78 record in the 60,so. Charles play this record all the time.they got tired of it two.❤
Many thanks! I haven't got tired yet . . .
I love this, the lyrics are so haunting, just a valuable piece of musical history.
I was a little lad listening to this on my cousin's Dansette record player - Lord, how long ago it seems now.
I remember Dansette!
Maureen Maynes
It was called Skiffle.
This song and performers have found new life in the movie "Asteroid City" Well done.
Oh, that's good to know!
@@balmesh th-cam.com/video/xhnxC9kNIz0/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=VariousArtists-Topic
Thanks for that!
Video now taken down but now found here th-cam.com/video/FkvpNmmNI68/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=NancyWhiskey-Topic
it was one of the first songs I learnt by heart and sang all the time. Don't recall it in The Tommy Steele story, but it was always on the radio - the BBC Light Service as it was then!
Same here (but it was BBC Light Programme - remember the announcer on the "Goon Show"?
I stand corrected!
@@balmesh This is the BBC and the roof leaks!
This is one of the All Time Greats in my opinion.
I agree
Haven't seen this is so many years. It was great then, it's awesome today. Wasn't Nancy brilliant? Thanks to whoever posted this, it brings back so many great memories of that time. I feel sorry for those today who have never enjoyed the sheer pleasure of skiffle. But looking at some of the postings for this clip, it's good to see that there are still some of us lucky ones around.
Another Great Hit single from Nancy Whiskey & Chas. McDevitt Skiffle Group as it is Called Freight Train as it came in 1958
Yes, indeed.
omg this is the stuff! OMG This is REAL MUSIC!!!!!!!! :O
With real dedication and energy into a song! It was all in the old times! Golden ages!!! :O
One of the most perfect records ever made! It was released on the Chic label in the States, and I've still got my original copy. Love it!
Thank-you, incredible video, & marvellous is your strong support ,..☘️☘️Cheers
Many thanks.
I still have my 45 record of this Nancy Whiskey and Chas. McDevitt Skiffle Group version, in New Zealand it was released on Prestige records. Always loved this version.
Many thanks. It always pleases . .
What a great performance by Nancy Whiskey. This version of Freight Train is excellent, she MADE that song sound so good, with the Chas McDevitt Skiffle group including the washboard player, completed a great showing. Marvellous!
My thoughts entirely. Chas. has a lot to do with the success of that song.
balmesh. Chas may have had a lot to do with the song but it would not have been nowhere near as good had it not been for Nancy Whiskey who graced that particular record
Christopher Dalton
Agree entirely. I was throwing a bouquet in the direction of Chas., because he is still with us. And active.
And now, as you can see, the video has been blocked on copyright grounds. But it was nice to watch while I had the chance!
I'm very glad you approve! For me and many others it just ticks all the boxes!
Asteroid City brought me here , too!! Thanks!!
Cheers!
I remember this, oh wow, bless them all, ❤
Indeed!
Sadly Nancy is no longer with us, having passed away on the 1st February 2003.
However this song is one of the greats of skiffle, mainly due to her superb voice coupled with Chas McDevitt's arranging.
And thanks to the original composition, by Miss Elizabeth Cotten. Who, sadly, was not credited on this version.
Me too. Loved the 6.5 Special with its "over the points" refrain! This clip is currently no.2 in my list of nearly 400 videos.
Alan
I'm British & it's part of our historic musical past as well
Definitely!
Thank you for sharing this with us. I am so glad that it brings happiness.
Went to see the Tommy Steele Story at a flea pit in Leeds in 1961.Hated it.
Why did you watch this film, then?
Absolutly love this , they must all have burns on their fingers
Great - I still do! Fingers? I think they must have steel fingers!!
@@balmesh cant get enough of it , raw talent .
Beautiful memories xx
Yes they are! From WAY back!
What a great find! In 1957 I was 10 and I heard this first on a 78 that, I think, my much older sister had bought. I played it over and over learning the words and the whistling (I still whistle today!). Like others here I think it kick started my deep love for music, going on to play (guitar) and have a career in the music business. Fantastic. Thank you!
Chas is playing The Jive Aces this Sunday (7th august) at Summertime Swing in Sussex. Experience awesomeness in the flesh!
I'm here because of Wes Anderson s Asteroid City
That's good . . . .
this is memories,i was 15 years old then.
I think I was 17 !!
Nagyon kedves emlék ez a feldolgozás - 1961-ben a magyar TV bemutatta a Tommy Steele története című filmet és abban hallottam először. Tommy Steele volt az első nyugati híresség akit filmen láthattam a rock and roll nagyjai közül.
Köszönöm. Tommy Steele volt az első lemez, amit valaha is szerettem a "rock" korszakról.
I was at a broadcast of 6.5 Special around this time. The camera work looks very early BBC to me and the audience could well be dubbed in after the show! That's one of my favourite tracks too.
Remember going into The Freight Train Coffee house in Soho London.bought with the royalties from the record great days the fifties
Good grief - I never even knew that there was one!
Coffee was around the corner from 2eyes and heaven and hell coffee bars opposite la macabre ,this was late 50/early 60s
@@davidgillmore1017 I missed it too although I went in the two eyes and Heaven and hell I may have been in le macabre if that was the one with gravestone tables It had a sign pointing downstairs saying Le Fin
no, it was in a classic western movie, there are so may different versions of this with diferent lyrics. This version was used in a western and l would love to find it again, memories of being a small child and watching itv as a 5/6 year old
I have been seeing this version on the Beatles Anthology disks and am glad to have found the full version here.
Never tire of this great song. Love it❣
Thanks a lot - me, too!
How well I remember hearing (and loving) this version on the radio in the U.S.! Seems like yesterday.
Still good listening!
Brilliant, one of my early favourites, as I was just beginning to learn what music was all about. Then we hit the sixties, and it all took off. I was 15 in 1960.
@1942acer an absolute LEGEND mate and what a beuty XXXX
Great song
Thank you very much!
This takes me back to the days of the good old "Six-Five Special"!
Thanks balmesh, it was much appreciated, I still have a copy of the record, safely tucked away, & to me it's a treasure. And although I listen to "Freight Train" often on my iTunes list, I haven't seen the performance since the song was released.
Sorry to say that I hadn't heard of The Chas McDevitt Sktffle Group and simply Googled the name when I came across a 78 of this song amongst a cache of old records I'd kept over the years. Of course, I'd always known and liked the song. On the other side of the 78 is The Cotton Song, which I'm just about to look up, too. What a great facility is TH-cam!
you tube has got its uses it has a vast amount of clips on vintage music
and clips from various shows and films the nancy whiskey freight train
is availiable on a 45 rpm oriole label greenback dollar was her other release
same label keep the music alive you-tubers
stanley tomlinson
Thanks Stanley. This was a one-off for me but I agree with you.
hiya francis it was also released on a 45 oriole label because the juke boxes
of that time were changing from 78 to 45s i believe that the uk was a bit behind
in changing to 45s about 2 years i think try e-bay or record fair to find the 45.....
Have loved this record since the 50s. Nancy never quite achieved the status she deserve and Chas deserted her. She made a record of Freight Train solo which appears unavailable. Anybody?.
Not me, I've never heard of it.
This version actually made Elizabeth cotton well known, This version made it high in the charts and they performed it in the film The Tommy Steele story, that's where this clip is from, you can hear Tommy introduce them at the start, they also performed it or mimed to it in another film " 6 5 special I think" and there is also footage of them performing this on the Ed Sullivan show, they made it popular, this version was recorded late 1956
Thanks! Better late than never!
.Great performance.Great voice.....Many thanks for this video...keep up the good work......
@balmesh `These days Americans in their 40`s havent heard of Skiffle !., but thats not surprising. Back then we took a lot of their music, and in my opinion, improved it !
memories o so sweet memories, and my motorcycling days as a youth of 16 (1959
0
Yes, good times!!
Ha I was biking in 1959 age 16 and still biking 2018 age 75 (800 Honda lol) great days of skiffle
Thanks so much for showing this clip on youtube, one of the best.
@HandyHomeGuy If you watch this clip from the very beginning, just as Tommy Steele is announcing "Freight Train" you get a very brief glimpse of him. You may have to go back to the start a few times to catch him! I was about 11 when this film came out, and still remember the scene.
I remember this so well. My Cousin Dennis carter is one of the guitarists on the stage behind the singer.
To JDAS6995
Thanks very much. It's made my day to know that there are teenagers who don't like the modern rubbish and who can tell me so succintly! . . . . Alan
You're on your own there! That's what makes it for many of us!!
Great great song. Brings back such good memories. This was from the film The Tommy steel story
Yes, indeed, and thank you!
Thanks for that - it's wonderful all the memories that this evokes.
Ah! Another collector! It's good to know I'm not alone!
Definitely from "The Tommy Steele Story", known in America as "Rock Around The World". There are many versions of the whole film around on the internet, both official and unofficial!
loved this record at that time in my thirteenth year.
Me. too, and I was even younger!
Thank you very much Must say how I enjoyed the interview with Lonnie Donegan, and you, about the fifties, among your favourites. (With Michael Aspel, for anyone out there reading this)
Alan
Finely.....i know hos playing the song from tha film Astroid City! I love in! In a sweden version we named it " Train, train...my old friend......its abot some railroads that been shot down! Love from Sweden!!! you know....something about " The night the drow old dixie down"....!
Thanks a lot! Glad you enjoyed it.;
Well, I could but why? It's this version which brings back the memories!
Wonderful memories of great days. Thank you
Ho is the sister of Nancy that was just. Great song. From Charles I play that every day.❤
Many thanks Charles.
@balmesh
I can remember my dad buying this when I was a nipper.... great sounds....great memories
Thank you for this,an important part of our musical heritage,wonderfully evocative
To spiritfired
Truly those were the days, my friend!
Thanks for that info - it's interesting to get to know about these things one comes across after so amny years.
Alan
a lot of this material has been remastered but you have to search around for it
and on dvd they are not copies play it cool billy fury just been released on
dvd remastered clear as bell will not tell you where to buy on somebody elses
post thats not right this is clearer than some clips you get on youtube nancy
whiskey also did greenback dollar also a good track like to see people putting
oldie clips on youtube memories are a good thing to treasure look after them i say
thanks you guys im a devoted collector of the 50s 60s film and vynyl could say
i am a vintage teddy boy but cant dance the aerials anymore the wifes 15 stone now
see yas all....
To brightonrox96
Wonderful! I hope there are many more like you two! Long live real music!!
A portion of this clip (from about 2:20 until about 2:40) was included in the Beatles Anthology series, as an example of skiffle. I understand that the Beatles covered this song as part of their act in the late 50s. That Nancy was a cutie :) She was probably about 22 y/o or so in this video. She did pass away in 2003 about a month short of her 68th birthday :(
68 is so young these days, she was cheated.
Oh, yes, I've seen the kit advertised. All I have is a kit that connects a trannie with the PC and digitises a cassette. Even then it's amazing how the quality improves.
The best quality edition of this historic video recording is a part of the film “The Tommy Steele Story” some 90 minutes in. That quality footage also appeared in the BBC4 programme “Rock Island Line” on 12th April 2019. Worth looking around for.
Thanks for that.
@balmesh .Great performance.Great voice.....Many thanks for this video...good work......
Cheerydavie
Long time since I heard this ,brilliant
Yes, it's one of the all-time greats!
Thanks for that. My old records hit the dust long ago!!