
Avg rating:
Your rating:
Total ratings: 1444
Length: 5:52
Plays (last 30 days): 3
By the railroad track
She's waiting for a train
Jimmy left town like a fade to black
In his Camero in the rain
She wrote it down and burned it
Jimmy loves who knows who
Well he wasn't from around this town
And mister neither are you
She was listening into that Monon line
For the Wabash Cannonball
Put your head on the rail
And you can hear her whine
Just like a caterwaul
She wrote it down and burned it
She clutched it flaming to her chest
It said Jimmy loves cars
And Jimmy loves trains
Ah but Jimmy, Jimmy loves me best
There's a dead girl's body
By the railroad track
Waiting for a train
Well I guess Jimmy never did come back
In his Camero in the rain
She wrote it down and burned it
Yeah the only way I know
You could still read some words
In the ashes there
But she could not watch him go
She wrote it down and burned it
He really is a master, isn't he? I saw him last year with Lyle Lovett. They were great together. Lyle was the talker, the funny entertainer. John was just the downright guitar, harmonica, whistling master. God I love this guy!
The best performers seem to be the ones who, if not up on stage, would be sitting on a porch somewhere doing the exactly the same thing. Minus electrification maybe.
Lyle and his friend Robert Earl even wrote a song about it: 'The Front Porch Song'.
c.
Maybe you're right but John Hiatt would not bother a fan of Tom Waits.
He really is a master, isn't he? I saw him last year with Lyle Lovett. They were great together. Lyle was the talker, the funny entertainer. John was just the downright guitar, harmonica, whistling master. God I love this guy!
I too like it when I get to do a Lvrlover post.
I'm feeling the love enough now to go +1 again to 8....Long Live RP and LOVERS not haters!!
I'll go +1 on this one, I'm finding (slowly) that I'm a fan of Hiatt. And it's good to read a post of yours that's not a reply to some #$%_}#@...LLRP!!
I too like it when I get to do a Lvrlover post.
Discovering John Hiatt is an awesome thing! So much material. So many great songs. The evolution of one of America's preeminent song writers. Wish I could go back and start over, but I've been a fan for 25 years. So I just wait for the next album and smile whenever I hear him on RP.
I'll go +1 on this one, I'm finding (slowly) that I'm a fan of Hiatt. And it's good to read a post of yours that's not a reply to some #$%_}#@...LLRP!!
It also wouldn't be the same song or meet the artistic vision intended by the author.
Hearing this track and obscure Hiatt's on RP are sort of black swan moments - if you do not own them or listen to RP you are very unlikely to hear them. You have already had the recommendation of the "Geffen" trio of Bring The Family, Slow Turning and Stolen Moments to which I'd add Master of Disaster among those that came later and Warming Up to The Ice Age and Slug Line as precursors. But in fact it hardly matters where you start. Wherever you start the difficulty will taking it one CD at time.
Discovering John Hiatt is an awesome thing! So much material. So many great songs. The evolution of one of America's preeminent song writers. Wish I could go back and start over, but I've been a fan for 25 years. So I just wait for the next album and smile whenever I hear him on RP.
I've always thought John Hiatt was decent, but never enough to buy some CDs. Maybe it's time to reconsider. There's a huge catalog... Where to start? Anybody have a favorite album?
Hearing this track and obscure Hiatt's on RP are sort of black swan moments - if you do not own them or listen to RP you are very unlikely to hear them. You have already had the recommendation of the "Geffen" trio of Bring The Family, Slow Turning and Stolen Moments to which I'd add Master of Disaster among those that came later and Warming Up to The Ice Age and Slug Line as precursors. But in fact it hardly matters where you start. Wherever you start the difficulty will taking it one CD at time.
Dammit. Now I can't unhear how ordinary the drumming is!
(Disagree about the speed, though. This slow grind is perfect.)
David Immerglück :)
I've always thought John Hiatt was decent, but never enough to buy some CDs. Maybe it's time to reconsider. There's a huge catalog... Where to start? Anybody have a favorite album?
Bring the Family was his turnaround masterpiece. Post wife's suicide and his getting clean/sober.
Riding with the King is great, with two distinct sides (different producers), and is the one that made me a fan.
Stolen Moments is full of greatness, too.
I've always thought John Hiatt was decent, but never enough to buy some CDs. Maybe it's time to reconsider. There's a huge catalog... Where to start? Anybody have a favorite album?
These three are gems:
Bring the Family, A&M Records (1987)
Slow Turning, A&M Records (1988)
Stolen Moments, A&M Records (1990)
I've always thought John Hiatt was decent, but never enough to buy some CDs. Maybe it's time to reconsider. There's a huge catalog... Where to start? Anybody have a favorite album?
You'll probably get half a dozen or more suggestions but for my money Bring The Family is hard to beat.
I've always thought John Hiatt was decent, but never enough to buy some CDs. Maybe it's time to reconsider. There's a huge catalog... Where to start? Anybody have a favorite album?
The pace is the point.
and tonight Bill follows this song with Shawn Colvin — Sunny Come Home. Sweet!
If you are not listening closely it sounds like a cover of Sunny...
oh, looking down I see this point has been covered.

I saw this tour. It was awkward, having four legends on stage that all looked like they were there for John Hiatt's performance.
This album is a great choice for a starting point. Bring the Family or Stolen Moments would be a good follow up.
and tonight Bill follows this song with Shawn Colvin — Sunny Come Home. Sweet!
YES! I was hearing that too, and had to see if anyone posted this comment. Good call.

Same with me! It's the wah-wah/bass combination, isn't it?


Could anyone ever ask for a better ensemble? Holy crap - Jim Keltner alone has two lifetimes of music with some very heavy hitters. Add Ry Cooder and Nick Lowe, and - in my opinion - you have the best go-to band since, well, The Band.
Thanks, Calypsus_1 - as always.

Agreed.

As always, not vouching for the accuracy of the lyrics, but you get the idea... What a dark song!
There's a dead girl's body
By the railroad track
She's waiting for a train
Jimmy left town like a fade to black
In his camero in the rain
She wrote it down and burned it
Jimmy loves who knows who
Well he wasn't from around this town
And mister neither are you
She was listening into that monon line
For the wabash cannonball
Put your head on the rail
And you can hear her whine
Just like a caterwaul
She wrote it down and burned it
She clutched it flaming to her chest
It said jimmy loves cars
And jimmy loves trains
Ah but jimmy, jimmy loves me best
There's a dead girl's body
By the railroad track
Waiting for a train
Well I guess jimmy never did come back
In his camaro in the rain
She wrote it down and burned it
Yeah the only way I know
You could still read some words
In the ashes there
But she could not watch him go
She wrote it down and burned it

Yo también, por lo pronto.
Edit: intriguing lyrics, by the way.

Pretty good song, I give it a solid 7.
Vocals by Roy Harper on that one.
I love John Hiatt - a great song writer (so is Roy Harper, for that matter!).

Pretty good song, I give it a solid 7.
YES! I was hearing that too, and had to see if anyone posted this comment. Good call.


7 — > 8
Pretty good song, I give it a solid 7.
Guess you have the same to say about Dylan, Neil Young et al.
It's all about you isn't it? Get over yourself.
Has it occurred to you that your opinion is irrelevant?
Mainstream, terrestrial radio don't play Dylan, Hiatt Young etc. Check it out!!! Please!!!!
I couldn't have said it better myself. John Hiatt is a living legend. For the songs he's written AND the songs that he's performed... and the unwashed that don't realize that should go back to their local FM radio and enjoy the Morning Zoo. Thanks RP for playing this hidden Hiatt gem.

Guess you have the same to say about Dylan, Neil Young et al.
It's all about you isn't it? Get over yourself.
Has it occurred to you that your opinion is irrelevant?
Mainstream, terrestrial radio don't play Dylan, Hiatt Young etc. Check it out!!! Please!!!!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2ENEL...