Songs The Yardbirds Taught Us (#3): The Johnny Burnette Trio - The Train Kept A-Rollin'

Rip Roaring Rock-N-Roll is embedded in this post. You've been warned.

Day three of On The Flip-Side getting Under The Covers with The Yardbirds and their many cover versions of songs takes us to Tennessee where The Johnny Burnette Trio recorded and released The Train Kept A-Rollin' in 1956 for Coral Records. True, this is not the first version. Tiny Bradshaw gets that credit. Listen to it here. But it is this version that Jeff Beck heard. This record inspired Beck to radically reimagine the song as he and his bandmates hit Tennessee on a tour and squeezed in a recording session at Sun Records in '65. The Yardbirds' version was released in the US Germany on Epic in November of '65. As a Flip-Side we might point out. In the US it was part of the Having A Rave Up long player released in '66.

The Johnny Burnette Trio give us a very different version than what The Yardbirds gave us. But I think you'll agree, it's pretty dang amazing.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: Screaming Lord Sutch - The Train Kept A-Rollin'

The Train is still A-Rollin', for one more day, at least. Today we bring the train into the station with a Joe Meek production. And, like our last Joe Meek production with Heinz, this number features none other than Ritchie Blackmore on guitar. Screaming Lord Sutch released his (and Joe Meek's) take on The Train Kept A-Rollin' in May of 1965 for CBS Records in his native UK. It's a unique version, and, I have to say, like Mikey from the Life Cereal commercials in the 70s, I like it, I like it, I really do. I love the way the fuzz guitar and the saxophone blend seamlessly together both in tone and attack. Screaming Lord Sutch stood firmly on the silly/gimmick side of music, but he delivers earnestly here. He did seem to have a problem translating some of the lyrics, however. How did he get from Albuquerque to "Al-Kentucky"? Did they not have an Atlas in 1965?

Interestingly, the Flip-Side of the single is Honey Hush, the same Flip-Side as Johnny Burnette's single. Gee, I wonder where Joe Meek picked this one up?

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: Scotty McKay Quintet - The Train Kept A-Rollin'

Scotty McKay was a Texan who had been trying to make it in the music biz since he was 15. He was even a member of Gene Vincent's Blue Caps in the twilight of the 1950s. He released a gaggle of singles on various labels without much cohesive identity. In 1967, Scotty Mckay served as an opening act for The Yardbirds on some Texas dates. He was inspired by The Yardbirds and was befriended by Jimmy Page. The two cooked up plans to record The Train Kept A-Rollin' together, but Jimmy's train kept a-rollin' on the tour and couldn't make the session. Scotty went ahead with his recording and sent the master tape to Jimmy Page who overdubbed a guitar lead and mailed it back to Scotty. Problem was, Scotty had no record deal. So he released the number on a new label he created himself. Falcon Records. It's a faithful and nice rendition of The Yardbirds version and Jimmy Page adds some very tasty guitar work to lift the number to a higher level. Too bad the song fades out with Jimmy's lead. What's up with that?

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side! 

Song of the Week: The Yardbirds - The Train Kept A-Rollin'

You knew it was coming. I knew it was coming. So here it is. The Yardbirds started recording The Train Kept A-Rollin' on September 12, 1965 at Sun Studios with Sam Phillips at the controls. A few days later, on September 22, a more sober Keith Relf re-recorded his vocals in New York. In the US it was released on the Havin' A Rave-Up LP.

Song of the Week: Johnny Burnette Trio - The Train Kept A-Rollin'/Honey Hush

Train Kept A-Rollin'

Honey Hush

You knew it was coming. The second published version of The Train Kept A-Rollin' comes from Tennessee. The Johnny Burnette Trio recorded their massive imagining of The Train Kept A-Rollin' at Bradley's Barn Studio outside of Nashville sometime during the summer of 1956. With the very important assistance of session guitarist Grady Martin on lead, The Johnny Burnette Trio laid down arguably the most rocket fueled song of the whole decade. Heck, ever!

From the opening notes of Grady Martin's distorted descending notes to Dorsey's bass slappin', Johnny's hillbilly hollerin' and Paul Burlison's rhythm, the listener is taken on a ride upon a runaway freight train barreling down a winding mountain track at 100mph. The Trio's version, released on Coral Records in October of 1956, does away with the cool demeanor of Bradshaw's recording, rewrites a number of the lyrics, and replaces the horns with a guitar attack that was 100% original in tone and attitude. It is probably best described as sounding like a schizophrenic badger on an all-night crack bender. This radically rewritten Train had left Bradshaw's station and was now on the nascent track towards becoming something much bigger.

We're also flipping our original copy of the 57 year old single over to give you the crispy goodness of the Flip-Side, their cover of Honey Hush.  

Full disclosure, we swiped this picture from the good folk at Roll Call Blog. 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: Tiny Bradshaw - The Train Kept A-Rollin'

The Train Kept A-Rollin'!!!!!!!! Sure, you've heard the song before. Probably from The Yardbirds. Maybe Aerosmith. But here is the original recording. 

The Train Kept A-Rollin' was recorded in 1951 in Cincinnati, Ohio by it's composer, Tiny Bradshaw. Bradshaw led a jump blues/swing band that recorded for King Records and had a number of regional hits, but his recording of The Train Kept A-Rollin' is his most enduring legacy. Not necessarily for his recording of it alone, but for what the song would become in the hands of others.

Tiny Bradshaw's pre-Rock n' Roll original is a rollicking up-tempo swing number that features solid saxophone playing, subtle jazz guitar, driving drums and a great vocal performance filling out a largely traditional I-IV-V jump blues arrangement. In the original version, the sexual innuendos are far more evident than any other version. Perhaps Tiny wasn't so tiny after all. D'oh!

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!