Two Versions of “This Train is Bound for Glory”: Which Came First?
And which song is about what?
It’s always a surprise when something you fondly enjoyed as a kid turns out to be different in your adult years. As a thirtysomething, Sonic the Hedgehog no longer looks as digitally cutting-edge and McDonald’s chicken nuggets smell weirdly like their restroom. A couple weeks ago I decided to look up a traditional song I’d loved as a wee one: “This Train” by Ella Jenkins, a Grammy-winning Black pioneer of melding well-known American tunes with child psychology and early learning. Its troubled, haunting, minor-key plea- sung in Jenkins’ weary yet reassuring voice- had always beckoned to me above the goofy din of Barney and Sesame Street. Thirty years after the cassette disappeared into the gaping maw of my mom’s station wagon, I could still hear Jenkins’ plaintive call:
This train is bound for glory
Children get on board. . .
No more weepin’ and a wailin’
Children get on board. . .
This train is bound for freedom
Children get on board. . .
So imagine my surprise when pretty much every version on YouTube sounded something like the one below- a merry major-key hoedown with different lyrics, melody, and meaning.
Instead of a literal train that took “children” to “freedom” and soothed their tears, this iteration turned the train into a religious symbol that “don’t carry no gamblers” and only allowed “the righteous and the holy.” Jenkins’ version, which she heard growing up in 1930s Chicago, is a direct, chilling instruction and promise from a parent to a child. However, the more common form of “This Train”- first recorded in 1922 as a gospel hymn sung by Black religious groups and later covered by artists ranging from Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash, and Bob Marley- is purely a praise song, with the “train” as a religious allegory. Dozens of varied lyrics exist, but here are a few categories of people banned from the latter version:
- “Smokers, two bit liars, small time jokers”
- “Liars, thieves, nor big shot ramblers”
- “Rustlers, sidestreet walkers, two bit hustlers”
And yet both songs share the same title and quartet verse structure: “This Train is Bound for Glory.” So how to explain the differences in key, melody, lyrics, and subject matter? And which came first?
For a couple of reasons, I suspect that Jenkins’ version is considerably older and could actually reference the Underground Railroad. It contains the phrase “children get on board,” which is a coded message encouraging slaves to flee for the North. It also incorporates the lyrics “no more weepin’ and a wailin’” from a well-documented pre-Civil War spiritual called “Soon a Will Be Done” (famously performed by gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.) It’s possible that the song was modified after abolition, when Black southerners no longer needed to escape the terror of slavery but preserved the tune as part of their cultural heritage by incorporating a changed form of it into their worship canon. Either way, between 1865 and 1922, “This Train” transitioned from a desperate, determined hope for freedom to a joyous celebratory hymn stemming from roots of crushing oppression- similar to the resilience of Black Americans themselves.
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