Waiting for a Train

"Waiting for a Train" is a song written and recorded by Jimmie Rodgers and released by the Victor Talking Machine Company as the flipside of "Blue Yodel No. 4" in February 1929. The song originated in the nineteenth century in England. It later appeared in several song books, with variations on the lyrics throughout the years. Rodgers, who was familiar with the tune, reworked it with producer Ralph Peer. Complementary to Rodgers' characteristic blues guitar, the recording session featured a jazz combo the singer found while visiting a bar in Atlanta, Georgia, just before the recording session. It became one of Rodgers' most popular songs, as the Wall Street Crash of 1929 made the composition relatable to everyday life during the Great Depression. Rodgers became the best selling act of the year. Since then, "Waiting for a Train" has been recorded by several other artists. Boxcar Willie, who also sang I'll Fly Away, recorded this song. Origins The origins of the song were traced by D. K. Wilgus, a music scholar and professor at UCLA, to a mid-nineteenth-century broadside ballad printed by Catnach Press in London, entitled "Standing on the Platform", with the subtitle "Waiting for the train". The song recounted the story of a man who met a woman at a railway station, who later falsely accused him of assaulting her. Modified versions of the ballad appeared in diverse songbooks of the era, such as Billy Newcomb's San Francisco Minstrels' Songster (1868), Billy Cottons Ethiopian Songster (1870), a sheet music published by S. Brainard Sons (1870) and Coming Through the Rye (1871). In the 1880s, a version called "Wild and Reckless Hobo" was published. In July 1909, the request of a reader for a complete version of a poem was published in the Railroad Man's Magazine. The man only knew the first two verses: