Mystery Train

For other uses, see Mystery Train (disambiguation).
"Mystery Train"
Single by Little Junior's Blue Flames
B-side "Love My Baby"
Released November 1953 (1953-11)
Format 10" 78 rpm & 7" 45 rpm record
Recorded September–October 1953 at Memphis Recording Service, Memphis, Tennessee
Genre Blues, electric blues, Memphis blues[1]
Length 2:20
Label Sun 192
Writer(s) Junior Parker
Producer(s) Sam Phillips

"Mystery Train" is a song written and recorded by American blues musician Junior Parker in 1953.

History

Junior Parker (aka Herman Parker), billed as "Little Junior's Blue Flames", recorded the song, considered a blues standard,[2] for producer/Sun Records owner Sam Phillips. The song was released on the Sun label. The song was written by Junior Parker, with a credit later given to Phillips.[3]

One commentator noted "One of the mysteries about 'Mystery Train' was where the title came from; it was mentioned nowhere in the song".[3] The song uses lyrics similar to those found in the traditional American folk music group Carter Family's "Worried Man Blues", itself based on an old Celtic ballad,[2] and their biggest selling record of 1930:[4]

The train arrived sixteen coaches long
The train arrived sixteen coaches long
The girl I love is on that train and gone

Parker's lyrics include:

Train I ride sixteen coaches long
Train I ride sixteen coaches long
Well, that long black train carries my baby home[5]

"Mystery Train" was the follow-up single to Junior Parker's 1953 number five Billboard R&B chart release "Feelin' Good" (Sun 187). Accompanying Parker (vocal) is his backup band the "Blue Flames", whose members at the time are believed to have included: Floyd Murphy (guitar),[6] William Johnson (piano), Kenneth Banks (bass), John Bowers (drums), and Raymond Hill (tenor sax).[3]

Elvis Presley version

"Mystery Train"
Single by Elvis Presley
A-side "I Forgot to Remember to Forget"
Released August 1955 (1955-08)
Format 7" 45 rpm & 10" 78 rpm record
Recorded July 11, 1955 at
Memphis Recording Service, Memphis, Tennessee
Genre Rockabilly[5]
Length 2:24
Label Sun 223
Writer(s) Junior Parker, Sam Phillips[7]

Elvis Presley's version of "Mystery Train"[5] was first released on August 20, 1955 as the B-side of "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" (Sun 223). Presley's version would be ranked #77 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list in 2003.[8] It was again produced by Sam Phillips at Sun Studios, and featured Presley on vocals and rhythm guitar, Scotty Moore on lead guitar, and Bill Black on bass. Moore used a country lead break,[9] and toward the end of the record is an echo of the 1946 "Sixteen Tons" by Merle Travis.[10] For Presley's version of "Mystery Train", Scotty Moore also borrowed the guitar riff from Junior Parker's "Love My Baby" (1953),[11] played by Pat Hare.[12]

Victor released a pop version of the song by The Turtles with backing by Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra (Victor 6356) in December 1955. These Turtles are unlikely to have been the 1960s pop group of the same name, since the lead singers of that group were eight years old at the time.

Paired with "I Forgot to Remember to Forget", the record was in the Top 10 in Billboard's C&W listings.[13]

RCA Victor rereleased this recording in December 1955 (#47-6357) after acquiring it as part of a contract with Presley.[14] This issue of the song peaked at # 11 on the national Billboard Country Chart.[15]

"Mystery Train" is now considered to be an "enduring classic".[16] It was the first recording to make Elvis Presley a nationally known country music star.[15][17]

Black, who had success with the Bill Black Combo, once said to a visitor to his house in Memphis, as he pointed to a framed 78rpm Sun Record of "Mystery Train" on the wall, "Now there was a record."[18]

Presley's version was ranked the third most acclaimed song of 1955, by Acclaimed Music.[19]

Presley's version also appeared in Jim Jarmusch's film of the same title.

The Band version

In 1973, with the approval of Sam Phillips, Robbie Robertson of The Band wrote additional lyrics for "Mystery Train", and the group recorded this version of the song for their Moondog Matinee album. They later performed the song with Paul Butterfield for their 1976 "farewell" concert The Last Waltz.[20]

Other recordings

A variety of musicians have recorded "Mystery Train", including:

Book

Main article: Mystery Train (book)

In 1975, rock author Greil Marcus published his widely lauded [22][23][24] book Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music,[25] inspired by the Elvis Presley recording of the Junior Parker song.[23]

References

  1. ↑ Bill Dahl. "Junior Parker | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-07-25.
  2. 1 2 Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). Encyclopedia of the Blues. University of Arkansas Press. p. 463. ISBN 1-55728-252-8.
  3. 1 2 3 Escott, Colin (1990). Mystery Train (liner notes). Rounder Records. pp. 1–2. CD SS 38.
  4. ↑ "American Experience | The Carter Family: Will the Circle Be Unbroken". Pbs.org. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
  5. 1 2 3 Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 8 - The All American Boy: Enter Elvis and the rock-a-billies. [Part 2]" (audio). Pop Chronicles. Digital.library.unt.edu.
  6. ↑ Floyd Murphy is a brother of Matt "Guitar" Murphy. Dahl, Bill (1996). All Music Guide to the Blues. Miller Freeman Books. p. 197. ISBN 0-87930-424-3.
  7. ↑ Burke, Ken and Dan Griffin. The Blue Moon Boys - The Story of Elvis Presley's Band. Chicago Review Press, 2006. pg. 48. ISBN 1-55652-614-8
  8. ↑ "Search Articles, Artists, Reviews, Videos, Music and Movies". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
  9. ↑ Blue Moon Boys. page 48
  10. ↑ Tosches, Nick. Country - the Twisted Roots of Rock 'n' Roll. DeCapo Press, 1985. pg 54. ISBN 0-306-80713-0
  11. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-06-14. Retrieved 2012-07-03.
  12. ↑ Gillett, Charlie (1984). The sound of the city: the rise of rock and roll (Rev. ed.). New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-72638-3. Retrieved 6 July 2012. "Love My Baby" in particular featured some blistering guitar playing by Pat Hare, which inspired the rockabilly style discussed elsewhere.
  13. ↑ Billboard, December 17, 1955. Reviews of New Pop Records. pp.56 and 61.
  14. ↑
  15. 1 2 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-02. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
  16. ↑ Burke, Ken and Griffin, Dan. The Blue Moon Boys - The Story of Elvis Presley's Band. Chicago Review Press, 2006, p.46. ISBN 1-55652-614-8
  17. ↑ Collins, Ace (1996). The Stories Behind Country Music's All-time Greatest: 100 Songs. New York: The Berkeley Publishing Group. pp. 94–96. ISBN 1-57297-072-3.
  18. ↑ Burke, Ken and Griffin, Dan. The Blue Moon Boys - The Story of Elvis Presley's Band. Chicago Review Press, 2006, p.152.
  19. ↑ "Acclaimed Music Top 3000 songs". Acclaimed Music. 27 May 2009.
  20. ↑ Moondog Matinee (1973) liner notes
  21. ↑ Gray, Michael (2006). The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia. New York-London: Continuum International. p. 127. ISBN 0-8264-6933-7.
  22. ↑ "Greil Marcus: a life in writing" by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 17 February 2012
  23. 1 2 "Just a Book? No, More Like a Trusty Companion" by Dwight Garner, The New York Times, September 2, 2015
  24. ↑ "A Conversation With Greil Marcus: 'Mystery Train' Keeps Rolling at 40" by Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, October 19, 2015
  25. ↑ Marcus, Greil. Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music; Plume; 5th edition: March 25, 2008; ISBN 978-0452289185
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