Elizabeth Cotten: “Freight Train”

Cotten Freight Train Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten was born on January 5, 1895 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, although some sources list the year of her birth as 1893. Cotten began playing the banjo at the age of eight and soon thereafter turned to the guitar and at the age of twelve wrote “Freight Train,” a timeless folk song that would eventually stand beside other classics in the canon of great train songs.

Early Life, Discovery, and “Freight Train”

As a young woman, Cotten put aside any hopes of being a musician for marriage, motherhood, and work. But after a divorce in 1940 led her to Washington, D.C., Cotten’s work in a department store led her to be discovered by the world, according to Nigel Williamson’s The Rough Guide to the Blues.

While working in Landsburgh’s Department Store around the mid-1940s, Cotten found a lost girl and helped reunite the girl with her mother. The mother turned out to be Ruth Crawford Seeger, and the little girl was Peggy Seeger, who was the sister of Pete Seeger. The chance encounter led Cotten to working in the Seeger household, where the family’s interest in music rekindled Cotten’s own musical talents.

Eventually, Peggy’s brother Mike Seeger produced Cotten and her unique finger-picking guitar playing for an album with Folkways, Folksongs And Instrumentals With Guitar (1958). The album included the song about death that Cotten wrote as a 12-year-old, “Freight Train”: “When I die, oh bury me deep / Down at the end of old Chestnut Street, / So I can hear old Number Nine / As she comes rolling by.”

Music Career

Audiences came to love Cotten’s performances at folk festivals, where she would tell stories about her life and perform songs with her distinctive guitar playing. As her friend and musician Dana Klipp would later explain, “It wasn’t just her music; it was her entire personality and her spirituality. It was a very gentle and graceful spirituality.”

Still, she kept her day job of doing domestic work until 1970. She made additional recordings, and the album Elizabeth Cotton, Live won a Grammy award in 1984 when Cotten was 89.

Later Life and Death

Cotten spent the last years of her life in Syracuse, New York, which in 1983 named a small park “The Elizabeth Cotten Grove” in her honor. But Cotten still continued to perform in her later years. Cotten’s last performances occurred at the 1986 Philidelphia Folk Festival and at a New York City performance arranged for her by Odetta in 1987.

Cotten passed away on June 29, 1987, and although in “Freight Train” she asked to be buried “Down at the end of old Chestnut Street,” her body was cremated.

Cotton’s music and spirit, however, live on. Cotten left behind a lot of fans, while others are still discovering her today. Below is one of her late interviews, when she was interviewed by Aly Bain for his 1985 series Down Home.

Cotten’s songs have been covered by many performers, including Jerry Garcia and Peter, Paul and Mary. Another of her many honors is that she was included in Brian Lanker’s book I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America.

What is your favorite performance by Elizabeth Cotten? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Spotlight On the Four Magnificent Artists Behind “Sweet Soul Music”

    One of the great pop songs “Sweet Soul Music” was created by Arthur Conley and Otis Redding starting with a Sam Cooke song and adding a little touch from the movie “The Magnificent Seven.”

    Sweet Soul Music
    Arthur Conley

    Singer-songwriter Arthur Conley was born in Georgia on January 4, 1946 and died of cancer on November 17, 2003.  Conley is best known for his singing of the wonderful song “Sweet Soul Music.”

    Conley helped create the classic recording with Otis Redding, but the song’s creation comes from a history of digressions.  Similarly, Conley’s life had its own digressions.

    The Singer and Co-Writer

    Arthur Conley started off his career as the lead singer of Arthur & the Corvets in 1959, recording three singles with the group in the early 1960s. But he went on his own and eventually had his biggest hit with “Sweet Soul Music” in 1967.

    Conley had hit singles in the U.S. through the early 1970s, with some ups and downs in the music industry. In 1975, he moved to Europe, eventually settling in the Netherlands and changing his name, using his middle name and his mother’s maiden name, to Lee Charles.

    After his relocation, Conley became a successful entrepreneur and continued to work in the music industry and promote other bands. His moves likely were prompted by discrimination he faced for being gay, and he died in relative obscurity in a small village near the German border.

    Still, most people remember him for the great joy he brings to his recording of “Sweet Soul Music.”



    The Co-Writer Otis Redding

    Conley had some help in writing “Sweet Soul Music.” The great Otis Redding, after hearing Conley’s earlier music, asked Conley to record on his label and the two men later worked on writing “Sweet Soul Music” together.

    Conley admired Redding, who mentored Conley in the music business. While name-dropping the great soul singers in the song, Conley insisted they include Redding’s name.

    Redding died tragically in 1967, the same year “Sweet Soul Music” became a big hit.  Reportedly, Conley never got over the death of his friend and mentor Redding.

    The Original Inspiration: Sam Cooke

    But “Sweet Soul Music” was not created by only Conley and Redding. The two men wrote the song while jamming on the work of another great singer-songwriter, Sam Cooke.  Cooke’s song was “Yeah Man,” which had appeared on Cooke’s album Shake when the album was released after Cooke’s death.

    I first heard “Yeah Man” years after “Sweet Soul Music” and initially thought Cooke had created a variation on “Sweet Soul Music.” But the truth was the other way around. “Yeah Man” created the foundation for “Sweet Soul Music.”

    Listening to “Yeah Man,” one is not surprised that Cooke is listed as a co-author of “Sweet Soul Music” (following a lawsuit by Cooke’s surviving business partner).

    The Movie That Inspired the Opening Riff

    Our story does not end here, because there is still that great opening riff of “Sweet Soul Music” to discuss. Cooke’s “Yeah Man” was not the only tune that influenced the creation of “Sweet Soul Music.” The opening riff of “Sweet Soul Music” comes from one of the great movie scores, Elmer Bernstein’s score for the Western The Magnificent Seven (1960).

    Although like many, I know the movie’s riff by heart, I had never made the connection to “Sweet Soul Music” until reading about it. But after listening to them side-by-side, it now seems obvious. You may hear the riff in this video, set to start where the riff first appears at the 23-second mark.

    Other Versions of “Sweet Soul Music”

    The lively “Sweet Soul Music” has been performed by a number of great artists. There are wonderful recordings by artists like Sam & Dave, whose song “Hold On, I’m Comin'” is referenced in Conley’s version.

    Wilson Pickett, who is mentioned in “Sweet Soul Music” along with his song “Mustang Sally,” also has performed a version of “Sweet Soul Music.” Cyndi Lauper, Ben E. King, and Billy Joel joined forces to perform a version of the song as part of a medley on the Sixth Anniversary Late Night with David Letterman special.

    Similarly, Bruce Springsteen has performed the song a number of times in concert. I remember hearing him sing it during the 1980s at a concert in Cleveland during his Tunnel of Love tour.  Springsteen made a few lyric changes (as in the July 1988 performance below), highlighting his band and his audience.  Interestingly, Springsteen does begin by spotlighting one great singer not mentioned in Arthur Conley’s version, which had highlighted Lou Rawls, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, and James Brown. Springsteen, perhaps aware of the history of the song, begins with a mention of Sam Cooke.

    At the time I heard Springsteen’s cover, I knew the original, but knew little about the songwriters or that “Sweet Soul Music” started out from a Sam Cooke song. I just knew it was incredibly fun.

    We’re still dancing to one of the greatest songs compiled by a committee of geniuses. Oh yeah, oh yeah.

    Photo of Arthur Conley via public domain.

    What is your favorite version of “Sweet Soul Music”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Here’s a Little New Year’s Song

    Over the Rhine New Year

    The Ohio-based band Over the Rhine and lead singer Karin Bergquist capture the happiness and sadness in the beginning of a new year with their “New Year’s Song.” In the lyrics, Bergquist reminds us, “Our future’s bright, the past is checkered.” The song appeared as the closing track on the band’s 2014 holiday album Blood Oranges in the Snow.

    Over the Rhine was formed by Bergquist and her husband, pianist/guitarist/bassist Linford Detweiler. Check out their “New Year’s Song,” and have a happy and safe new year.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Know the Song But Not the Writer: Peaceful Easy Feeling Edition

    Around the early 1970s, Jack Tempchin was playing guitar and singing in coffee houses in San Diego when he got a gig in El Centro, California. It was his first time in the desert, and the sky inspired him to come up with the line “Peaceful Easy Feeling” for a song. He continued working on the song back in San Diego.

    While attending a street fair, Tempchin saw a beautiful woman with tan skin and turquoise earrings. While he did not speak to her, he put her in the opening stanza of the song he was writing on his $13 Stella guitar: eagles

    I like the way your sparkling earrings lay,
    Against your skin, it’s so brown.
    And I wanna sleep with you in the desert tonight
    With a billion stars all around.

    The Eagles

    After finishing the last verse at a Der Weinerschnitzel fast food restaurant in San Diego, Tempchin was hanging around with a number of up-and-coming singer-songwriters. He was staying with Jackson Browne when Glenn Frey overheard Tempchin playing the song.

    Frey liked the tune and told Tempchin that he had a band called “the Eagles” that had only been together eight days. Tempchin gave Frey permission for his band to work up the song and the rest is history.

    A few months later, Frey played for Tempchin the band’s version of the song with Frey singing lead vocal.  Tempchin loved it.

    The tune ended up on the Eagles’ first album, Eagles (1972), and it was released as a single in December 1972.  It went to #22 on the charts. Tempchin heard his song on the radio for the first time as it played on a small transistor radio on top of a refrigerator in the house of someone he met while taking a road trip.

    Anyone who was around in the 1970s can probably sing along to the song, which was everywhere on the radio. The film The Big Lebowski (1998) even played off the song’s ubiquitousness when the Dude heard the song playing in a cab and complained about the Eagles. The cab driver then threw him out of the cab.

    Tempchin After “Peaceful Easy Feeling”

    As for Tempchin, he continues to write and perform. He co-wrote other songs for the Eagles, including “Already Gone.” And his songs have been covered by others, including “Slow Dancin’ (Swayin’ to the Music),” a 1979 hit for Johnny Rivers.

    Tempchin tells more of the interesting story behind “Peaceful Easy Feeling” in a post on No Depression and on his website.  The site also features stories from fans about what the song means to them.

    You have heard the original version by the Eagles, so now give a listen to the songwriter singing his song. You may hear Tempchin sing “Peaceful Easy Feeling” from his recent CD Live At Tales from the Tavern (2012) above or watch him sing the song in the video below.

    Inspirations for the Song

    It is interesting to think of the woman who inspired the opening of the song, never knowing it. Like everyone else, she must have heard the song many times, never knowing that it is her in those lines.

    Tempchin has explained, “I guess I was trying to distill the beauty of every girl I saw into words on paper and then into a song.” So, maybe it is appropriate that there is no one person out there claiming the song.

    Real people and relationships are messy, so it is only an idealized lover that eternally can inspire lines like: “‘Cause I get a peaceful easy feeling/ And I know you won’t let me down.”

    And that is the story behind the song.

    What is your favorite memory of hearing “Peaceful Easy Feeling”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Lucinda Williams Explores “Just the Working Life”

    Ghost of Highway 20 One of my favorite CDs of the last few years is the double album Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone (2014) by Lucinda Williams. The album revealed that Williams is still at her peak eleven studio albums into a long career and still producing her best work. So, we are excited that Williams will soon release a new album, which includes a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Factory” as well as a Woody Guthrie song.

    Williams’s new album, entitled The Ghosts of Highway 20, focuses on characters who live along or travel on I-20, the highway that runs across the northern part of Williams’s home state of Louisiana. The album features fourteen songs, including twelve originals.

    The decision to include Springsteen’s “Factory” is relevant to the theme of the album. Springsteen wrote the song for his father, and the song first appeared on Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town in 1978. But nearly four decades later, even as more and more factory workers have lost jobs due to automation and other reasons, the struggles of working people to get by still resonates.

    Below, Williams performs “Factory” at one of Springsteen’s own stomping grounds, the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Check out this performance from 2014.

    In addition to the Springsteen cover, the album includes “House of Earth,” a song where Williams put music to lyrics written by Woody Guthrie. The haunting song is in the voice of a prostitute: “So come to my house of earth and learn its worth / A few green folded bills to learn of birth.”

    In a way, Guthrie’s song is a companion to Springsteen’s “Factory.” One might imagine Springsteen’s factory worker on the other end of the conversation, as the woman recounts her own sad working life and makes promises that she may or may not fulfill: “I’ll furnish red hot kisses and the hole/ That wakes up sleeping sickness in your soul.” Below is a version of “House of Earth” that Williams performed at the Kennedy Center in honor of Guthrie’s 100th birthday.

    Like Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, the new album is produced by Williams, Tom Overby, and pedal-steel player Greg Leisz. One of my favorite jazz guitarists, Bill Frisell, also makes a guest appearance on the album. Ghosts of Highway 20 hits stores on February 5, 2016.

    What is your favorite Lucinda Williams album? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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