Hobo Bill's Last Ride by Jimmie Rodgers (1929)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 พ.ค. 2012
- This video is presented as an historical reference by Empty Set Group, producers of "Waiting For A Train", the new Jimmie Rodgers musical.
Information on the musical can be found at www.waitingforatrain.com. - เพลง
I was a kid in Liverpool UK and my grandfather rebuilt an old windup gramophone for my 12th. birthday. We had some old acetate 78's which we used to play for laughs. (military marches and some old Hawaiian music.) One day I was at a loose end and found myself walking down a back alley behind my home. It was the day the local binman was calling to empty bins and some houses had put some stuff out, just next to their bins. I spotted a 78 record in it's original cardboard cover and I took it home. it was clean and in good condition. I played it on the old windup and it was Jimmie Rodgers singing Hobo Bill's Last Ride. I was mesmerised and had never heard anything like his mournful singing and yodelling. Some years later on I was in the British Army in Germany. There was an American Airforce outfit at our base and they had a services shop much like the British NAAFI. I was, by then a country music fan and this USAF shop stocked imported country music. I went there regularly to buy stuff. Jim Reeves, Hank Snow, Web Peirce, Hank Thompson, Ferlin Huskey, Hank Locklin, and Marty Robbins. I built up a good collection. I never forgot Jimmie Rodgers though and I was over the moon when I found some new RCA imports at the shop- A whole new remastering of Jimmies output had been reissued onto L.P's and I got the lot! Still got them all today, though I have JR on CD's now. I still have that old 78 I found too, a treasured item that started me off on a long and happy musical education. Many thanks for posting this song.
Many thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Many thanks for that little story Buzz.Fascinating stuff. Those tracks are great ones.. Gambling Barroom Blues is a favourite I love the mournful sound Jimmy managed to create on that recording.
I'm also a fan of Merle Haggard (RIP) and his Jimmie Rodgers tribute album was exceptional. Still available on CD. Same Train A Different Time. A favourite on that one is California Blues.
Thanks for sharing your story, pretty interesting. This man has fans all over the world
Belfast ni.
Johnny Cash said this was the first song he ever remembered hearing
Shawn D first country song* He knew lots of gospel songs before that.
Me too. I was 2 in 1953. My mom would play this song a lot. When I got old enough to understand it I would cry for Hobo Bill. lol Then she started playing Blood OnThe Saddle and that scarred me for life. hahaha Good memories.
Tex ole good ole Ritter lol !
Billy Murray Fan first of all Johnny cash isn’t ugly and even if he was it wouldn’t do anything to his amazing music and I doubt u ever even listened to one of his beautiful songs before
We love when you come here just because of that
Simply brilliant. Today's so-called 'celebrities' could learn a great deal from such an unpretentious performer
they could but they can't and won't
This was the first song Johnny Cash heard on the radio. We miss you Mr. Cash
Never heard this
Awesome autobiography, too!
Flower you obviously haven't read Johnny's book than
then, not than
Billy Murray Fan u really have to reply to every comment sayin cash sucks even tho he clearly doesn’t u obviously don’t have a good taste in music
Rodgers was prophetic with this song and others (including "Waiting For a Train - 1928). This precedes the crash of October '29 and the Great Depression of the thirties when the real hardships began.
This sort of life had been around for years by 1929. It was nothing new when the depression started.
jimmie Rodgers is the King of train songs
The singing brakeman
WAS the king of train songs...
If that song doesn't break your heart or cause a tear to flow you don't have a heart-have heard this all my life and I can still imagine Hobo Bill on that train.
Heard it first through a Hank Snow version. Found Jimmie Rodgers much later. Great C&W music acts like a prayer - It makes you better.
It is such a sad song. Goodbye Hobo Bill. (or H-oh-oh B-oh-oh Bi-lee[If you go by the yodeling pronunciation])
First time I heard it my dad and his brother was doing it back in the 60s but Hank Snows version was the first professionally released version of it I heard. Jim Reeves also did a version of it. Dad told me that Jimmy originally released it.
I'm only 59 so I can't say for sure that this was the best song ever written, but it's definitely on my short list.
I'm poor and alone but i listen Jimmie Rodgers ! Happy new year !
This song inspired me to learn to play the guitar in 1962. Always been one of my favorites. Lots of stories I could relate, but not today.
did you picture in your mind hobo bill laying in an old boxcar dead and shed a tear? if so that's the power of this song by Jimmy Rogers.
Jimmie Rodgers plaintive voice touches raw nerves you never even knew you had.
My Father used to play and sing this song when I was a kid, 1944. Always loved it. True Country. Since then I've always loved country music. Love the sad songs !!
i was born in 44, and still love this music
this type of music is real, not this garbage that is spewed out
I am 60 years old.I remember my dad playing those old 78s.thank you for making it possible for me to listen to these songs again. Tears in my eyes.Love that Jimmie Rodgers
Ditto!
Talent is talent no matter when it was.
buster brown absolutely! We are blessed to have the old music and the newer music
back in the 50s my daddy use to strum and sing hobo bill on his gibson..never forgot..
My Dad would play an album by him in the 60s when I was a little boy. My mom hated it, but Dad loved it. He was also from Mississippi just like Jimmie ... but from Philadelphia MS where I was born when he sent my mom with family when he was being transferred in the Navy. So I grew fond of Jimmie's music...especially this song
my dear Daddy rest in peace.this was your music. I love you and I cherish these old songs you used to sing.if only I could hear you sing again. I will when we meet in heaven. I love you.
This is the greatest song I know.
Marry me 💍
Then you're awesome.
There can never be any modern music that can compare with these very old classics even though one didn't live in that era. The voice, the calmness, the imagination and the memories are all just incomparable and so sweet. You wish were there then.
I will remember this song from when I was a young lad in the Falkland Islands. My adopted Father Ron Clarke got me to go and get this man who had come to Stanley fram tghe farms.He sang this song.I can still hear him singing it
Do you remember the Falkland Islands war?
My father "Rode the rails" as a kid . 1930"s It was a tough life. He talked about the difference between a HOBO, Which he was and a BUM. The Hobo wanted work and had pride. The Bum he said only wanted a hand OUT, The Hobo wanted a hand UP , As I work with homeless people I ask are they Hobo or Bum.
Love that train whistle- Jimmy did that himself- sounds good!
I was wondering if the train whistle was made with harmonica.
The first song Johnny Cash ever heard on the family's first radio.
I heard that he heard it on his family's victrola record.
Now I am 78, I yet enjoy listening to Jimmy Rogers; only because of a friend mentioning Jimmy to me in 1959 was he made known to me. Mom played Hank W., Hank S. and others when I was a boy_ Jimmy Rodgers was totally unknown, I guess, to me mother. My loss. Great lyrics well sung.
I run across a fella few decades ago an ole southern musician. He detested Jimmie Rodgers. I Was stunned, I ask him Why. He said when he was a lil fellar, his mom's milk cow was absconded by Jimmie Rodgers.!! My grandmother loved his music, my father was named after him. Great artist. Died way to young.
This was the first song I ever heard as an embryo.
I'll never forget the first time I heard this. I was about 6 or 7 and didn't fully understand it but it stopped me dead in my tracks. I knew it was good, just didn't know how good until I was old enough to understand it better.
Ilove this old song, Still enjoying Jimmie's songs 82 years after he left us so soon ~ Arthur
Townes Van Zandt does a wonderful cover of Hobo Bill.
what poetry
I can tell you without a doubt John Cash's favorite singer was Jimmie Rodgers.
Jimmie Rodgers was hard to beat ! Like Hank Williams he influenced alot of people !
Hank snow, hank williams, johnny cash and i think woody guthrie were all influenced by him
I love Jimmie's voice on this recording. Very tender and touching. Sounds a little like Dylan in the late sixties.
It could be that Jimmie Rodgers influenced Bob Dylan somewhat.
I found a copy of this on 78 at an old antique store... pretty pleased
Interesting, the "first song i ever heard" was while I was in my shell in the Allentown General Hospital -- pediatric division -- and Buffalo Springfield was performing at The Great Allentown Fair across the street, playing "Soul Man" which motivated and inspired me to start pounding on the walls of my shell and break out cuz I wanted to hear more classics!
I think I was 8 when I heard this song for the first time, and cried because of the loneliness of it. Ime 70 now and just played it for my wife and grandson, she instantly said that it was the lonliest song ever. But it tells a story and that's what sets country and bluegrass apart. Ray Charles said "I love the stories those cats write."
Townes brought me hear. You can definitely hear how much JR influenced Hank Sr.
great song,, my two passions,, railways and country music
Hi there?
Amen brother
I've been watching the Ken Burns special on country music and think Jimmie Rodgers was the best. Well Johnny Cash too. :)
R.I.P. STOBE THE HOBO
may peace be with you my friend ✌
"Peace."
Darkest hours of the jimmie Rodgers comments over here and there’s no beer store to be found
Old rail rider smiles on us all.
This is my most favorite song!! I relate to Hobo Bill a lot.
*"Hey, hey hey, let´s go to town !"*
-James Charles Rodgers, guitar picker, banjo plucker. uke player, Hawaiian steel player and yodeler.
words fail every time trying to describe this. Jimmie is was and always will be my hero. Thanks Jimmie for such powerful and raw lyrics
What is haunting Melody I remember hearing this when I was 15 AR 16 you never forget Jimmy Rogers song wonderful thank you
Probably around 1962 I first heard Jimmy Rogers, my older brother brought home a record or two. I think it would be wonderful if radios played him and Woody and James P and others from that era. What amazing talent. What beautiful stuff. Such underproduced wonders.
he was featured in the first video in 1928
his hobo songs told many stories
Genius in him time thanks Jim I 👍 like the song 🎵 👌 rest RIP to you sir 🙏!!++
I still have the album in working condition and play it regularly. I've been lucky to have heard it played many many times by my grandpa who left it to my mom who in turn has given it to me. I just had a birthday and turned 54 years young. I love every song on the album with a special affinity to hobo Bill.
Beautiful old songs ant artists. My dad loved this music in his days over 60 years ago and still it enchants us today too. wish there are more of these artists today
Being named Bill, this song caught my imagination as a little boy. As the song played, it wasn't hard to pretend being right in that Boxcar.
Recorded Nov 13, 1929 - New Orleans, Louisiana. Released Aug. 1, 1930 on Victor 224218.
If Bob Wills is still the king (as Waylon Jennings wrote), then surely that makes Jimmie Rodgers some kinda God.
LOL
Well ole son, there are more than one king & kingdoms, right ?
@@INDYOSKARS yes, but we are monotheistic. You do know that Jesus played the dobro?
Mississippi Blue Yodeler!!,
Jimmie Rodgers.👋🙏.
Old school country. Good stuff.
He loved that one riff
Hobo Bill-why
Riding on that eastbound freight train speeding through the night
Hobo Bill a railroad bum was fighting for his life
The sadness of his eyes revealed the torture of his soul
He raised a weak and weary hand to brush away the cold
Hobo Bill
No warm lights flickered round him no blankets there to hold
Nothing but the howling wind and the driving rain so cold
When he heard a whistle blowing in a dreamy kind of way
The hobo seemed contented for he smiled there where he lay
Hobo Bill
Outside the rain was falling on that lonely boxcar door
But the little form of Hobo Bill lay still upon the floor
While the train sped through the darkness and the raging storm outside
No one knew that Hobo Bill was taking his last ride
It was early in the morning when they raised the hobo's head
The smile still lingered on his face but Hobo Bill was dead
There was no mother's longing to soothe his weary soul
For he was just a railroad bum who died out in the cold
Ty...now I can sing it.
Thank you so much for posting this song. Otherwise I would’ve missed parts of it. Thank you 🙏
in
i.have.all.of.his.lps.and.some.of.his.78s.he.is.great.i.am.58.i.head.him.all.my.life
love.most.of.jimmie.songs
I love them ALL.
Jimmie, you are the one of the greatest country singers! The King!
PS how does he do that train sound with his mouth that is crazy!?
I read on a another TH-cam thread that he hummed and whistled at the same time to make that sound.
Jimmy could relate to the song as he was also fighting for his life with Tuberculosis.
Jimmy inspired a generation of youthful aspiring artists. He was a legend and I discovered him by being a Lynyrd Skynyrd fan who redid "T for Texas" and also wrote the "Hobo Song" inspired by Jimmie Rodgers who they mention in the song.
Hi Lupo
Ultimate hero.Recommend " Meeting Jimmie Rodgers"(book).Amazing.
👍👍It so great 👍👍
simple, evocative, wonderfuly lonesome. thank you
It’s the decent way for a Bo to go home to the by and by.
The Milwaukee Road Lombard Montana.
Ole Hobo inspired a lot of artists, both country and rock If youre ever in Meridian, MS, they have a museum there of Jimmy. He and The Carter Family are the reason Bristol is called the Birthplace of Country Music.
+Cuzbro100 I live in Bristol :0
+joerover22 Yea according to Johnny Cash, Jimmie cut his first record in Bristol the same day the Carter Family cut their first record there.
Cuzbro100 Cool! I am learning about all this in school right now.. taking some Appalachian courses at university. Specializing in it because I needed some extra credits to graduate this spring :[]
We are all gonna take that Last Ride someday just some peoples don’t know it yet.
Johnny Cash brought me here...what a great song! Better late than never.
Such a sad song--really eats at you
The first song Johnny cash heard when his families first radio arrived.
back in the 50s I grew up on the south side of Pgh. up 32nd st. in what was & is know as hunky hollow. we live close to the rail road, my Dad found a hobo's mark on our house, my Mom would feed any one that came to our door asking for a meal. well he wiped it off but with in a few days it was back on.
Thank you so much. Wow, if he only had the new recording technology. It still sounded great. RIP Jimmie!
i strangly like this song
First time I heard this song I was ´stunned´, listened to it ´stunned´.
Spiffy Model A Ford! The music's superb too!
¡Muchas gracias por acercarnos estas joyas!
I too was brought here by Johnny Cash...what a co-incidence
I was a wandering bum for over twenty years!
Love & Miss you Sir!!👋😀
Anyone interested in reading all about all these old time artist can do so by getting this book (Country Music Originals) writtin by Tony Russell. There are over 125 people listed in the book.LHW
Some of the guys he learned to play from must have been Civil War Vets. Think about that, you white Americans, and celebrate your heritage and history. I don't mean anything racist by that I'm just saying that cool music came from all over the USA, not strictly limited to the geniuses of black Americans (and there were many). You can really see where Woody Guthrie got his chops in this one.
The singing brakeman...2017....
Jimmie inspired Ole Hank. It's the Real Deal...moan' country/mountain folk.
Hi there?
You can't touch that!!🥲😊👍👏👏✌️
I only like when he says hobo billy
According to a new Johnny Ca$h bio the was the first-ever song he ever heard on the radio...!
Thanks to Ralph Peer at Victor
Dwight Yoakam's "I Sang Dixie" could have been inspired by this song.
This is nitpicking, but Cash said in a 1994 interview that he heard the record on the family's Victrola when he was about four years old, not on the radio.
Did you know that this was the first song Johnny cash ever heard ? It converted him to country music.
This is the song that made Johnny Cash a musician
kind of make u wanna cry tho...
Johnny Cash
Someone posted this.
chasles a larimer 1911-2002
Hobo Bill is Harry Mcclintock, lol.
Im quite new on county music; folk; americana; bluegrass etc. Im not american. And im wondering is this country or folk? Another question i want to hear stuff like this: old recordings of folk and country music. I want to know other artists like this from 1900 to 1940.
There is a thin and blurred line between this style of "country music" and the popular notion of folk music, so you could make a good argument either way about the music of Jimmie Rodgers. Most of his recorded songs were written by himself, his sister or other song writers. But some are also taken directly from or are influenced by folk music, with which he was undoubtedly familiar. Old recordings of music from the early 1900s is hard to find. The first recording of Jimmie Rodgers was made by a man named Ralph Peer, who was seeking to record some of the music of the rural South for RCA Victor. His "discovery" of Rodgers and of the Carter Family at a special session in Bristol, Virginia/Tennessee in 1927, led to recordings of them and are probably the first recordings of American "country" music. So, you are not likely to find any recordings of this style of music made before 1927. The only other signer of similar songs around that time that I can think of is Woody Guthrie. I am sure there were lots more and also sure that many of them never made any recordings.
@@richardwarren8138 Also Uncle Dave Macon was in the early to mid 20"s.
so long ago
The first punk rocker
Nothing racist by celebrating our white heritage, brother.
Can anybody tell me about the train whistle at the end? I'm curious if its a real whistle or the trick some vocalists can do with there throat.
It's done by whistling and singing in falsetto at the same time.
Jimmy is/was a 'nonpareil' in every sense of the word. I 'found him' by listening to Mississippi John Hurt's 'Let the Mermaids Swim with Me' which is the same tune as Jimmy's 'Waiting For A Train' and followed that thread back to Jimmy. I have his songbook and I find it HIGHLY amusing to listen to some of the lyrics such as those in 'T For Texas' all about disposing of Thelma with a shotgun and her boyfriend (that 'rounder') with a six-gun which would be unrepeatable in today's woke society! They would have to come with a 'All you wokies might be offended by the next song ...' warning. In addition, I could probably play 'Waiting For A Train' at every station here in England and make a fortune, as we have - without doubt - THE worst train service in the world (they're ALWAYS on strike).
And finally, its my humble opinion that Jimmy - growing up with his father working for the railroad as well has him being a 'water-boy' when he was young, would have had plenty of practice imitating train sounds and whistles etc. so his train effects might well have come naturally to him. That's only my opinion though, and you can disagree with it if you want.