The Train I Ride RW Gordon field recording [anon. Californian 1] (1920-23)
CD 4, track 20
Today’s reveal is a little *folklore* for you. “The Train I Ride” is the first of three short field recordings on Before the Big Bang made by Robert Winslow Gordon ca. 1920-23 of unknown Californians in the Bay area. Gordon had left Harvard for a teaching job at the University of California at Berkeley, indulging his interest in vernacular song as a side pursuit. The lyrical basics of this song can be found repurposed all over popular music, from Lee Morse’s “Mail Man Blues” to Elvis Presley’s “Mystery Train.”
