Why did johnny cash like trains so much ?

Question

Why did johnny cash like trains so much ?

Answer 1

Mr. Cash had his roots in folk music, which helped to spawn country music.

Folk music and bluegrass music has long focused on trains and the men who operate them, as evidenced by diddies such as the "Ballad of Casey Jones," several songs about John Henry, the "Orange Blossom Special," "Wreck of Old 97" and its engineer Steve Broady, "Big Rock Candy Mountain," "Hobo's Lament," the list is long.  Then there are trains in songs that aren't train songs, like Mr. Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" and many other songs singing of the "lonesome whistle" as a metaphor.

And to a lesser extent, trains have a small niche in pop music as well, such as the Dead's "Casey Jones," "Morning Train," and a couple others, in the Blues genre with Buddy Guy's "Midnight Train," Little Feat's "New Delhi Freight Train," CCR's "Midnight Special," and this list goes on as well

Then there was the southern rock song "Train, Train" by Blackfoot and the current band called "Train."

So, it's not just country songs, but It would have been strange if the Man in Black hadn't sung any train songs........................

Answer 2

I echo what many have said about JC being a folk singer and there are lots of folk songs about trains.  You have to understand that the train was the outlet to the world for most of the country until the advent of radio in the late 1920's.  It took you in and out of town, plus it had a telegraph that connected you to an information network.  They were the most advanced piece of technology that a lot of people ever saw.  Not suprisingly, it figured into the popular music of the day.  JC brought back a lot of that music

Answer 3

he related to train wrecks.

Answer 4

It was the child in him. I love all his songs. How about you ?

Answer 5

I'm guessing you're thinking stuff like 'john henry', 'orange blossom special' that line from 'folsom prison blues' - "I bet there's rich folk eatin' in a fancy dining car, they're probably drinkin' coffee and smokin' big cigars"

(and that's just off of live from folsom prison)

i'm gonna guess that trains took a variety of roles in the post depression south. one it demarcated the line between rich and poor (being from "the other side of the tracks").

it was usually the fastest way to get from point A to point B and represented as such a way to make a change in life equally as fast.

there are probably tons of reasons

one from his autobiography is that he used to live at the the foot of a hill where people riding on empty freight cars for rides would frequently disembark, one of these people was his father, ray cash who was a kind of travelling preacher early in life.

Answer 6

Country singer..HELLO!   Trains...trucks....

Answer 7

When Johnny Cash grew up in the 30s near Dyess, Arkansas, the old Frisco Railroad ran next to his 40 acre cotton field and he listened to that lonesome wail of the old steam engine every day. It never gets out of your blood.

Answer 8

All boys like trains. Our apartment is too small for a train set, but I tell my kids that's why I moved us all by the train track, they get to watch the train go by every day.