Chattanooga Choo Choo
Encyclopedia
"Chattanooga Choo Choo" is a song by Harry Warren
(music) and Mack Gordon
(words). It was recorded in a big-band/swing manner by Glenn Miller and his orchestra and featured in the 1941
movie Sun Valley Serenade
, which starred Sonja Henie
, John Payne
, Glenn Miller
and his orchestra, The Modernaires
, Milton Berle
and Joan Davis
. The song was performed in the film as an extended production number, featuring vocals by Tex Beneke
, Paula Kelly
, and the Modernaires
, followed by a production number showcasing Dorothy Dandridge
and an acrobatic dance sequence by The Nicholas Brothers. The Glenn Miller recording, RCA Bluebird B-11230-B, became the #1 song across the United States on December 7, 1941, and remained at #1 for nine weeks on the Billboard Best Sellers chart.
The 78-rpm
commercial version of the song was recorded on May 7, 1941 for RCA Victor's Bluebird label and became the first to be certified a gold disc on February 10, 1942, for sales of 1,200,000. The transcription of this award ceremony can be heard on the first of three volumes of RCA's "Legendary Performer" compilations on Glenn
released by RCA
in the 1970s. In the early 1990s a two-channel recording of a portion of the Sun Valley Serenade
soundtrack
was discovered, allowing reconstruction of a true-stereo
version of the film performance.
In 1996, the 1941 recording of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The song was written by the team of Mack Gordon
and Harry Warren
while traveling on the Southern Railway's Birmingham Special
train. The song tells the story of traveling from New York City
to Chattanooga. However, the inspiration for the song was a small, wood-burning steam locomotive
of the 2-6-0
type which belonged to the Cincinnati Southern Railway, which is now part of the Norfolk Southern Railway system. That train is now a museum artifact (see below). From 1880, most trains bound for America's South passed through the southeastern Tennessee
city of Chattanooga, often on to the super-hub of Atlanta. The Chattanooga Choo Choo did not refer to any particular train, though some have incorrectly asserted that it referred to Louisville and Nashville's Dixie Flyer or the Southern Railway
's Crescent Limited
.
, The Andrews Sisters
, Ray Anthony
, Asleep at the Wheel
, BBC Big Band
, George Benson
, John Bunch
, Caravelli
, Regina Carter
, Ray Charles
, Harry Connick, Jr.
, Ray Conniff
, Ernie Fields
, Stephane Grappelli & Marc Fosset
, John Hammond, Jr., The Harmonizing Four
, Harmony Grass
, Ted Heath
, Betty Johnson
, Susannah McCorkle
, Ray McKinley
, Big Miller
, Glenn Miller
, Richard Perlmutter
, Oscar Peterson
, Elvis Presley
, Spike Robinson
, Harry Roy
, Jan Savitt
, Hank Snow
, Teddy Stauffer
, Dave Taylor
, Claude Thornhill
, The Tornados
, and Guy Van Duser
Other notable performances include:
The first was created and performed in 1947 by the German pop singer Bully Buhlan (Zug nach Kötzschenbroda
). The lyrics are humorously describing the bother of a train ride out of post-war Berlin
: no guarantee to arrive at destination due to coal shortage, passengers travelling on coach buffers, steps and roofs, never-ending trip interruptons including a night stop for delousing.
The second, Sonderzug nach Pankow
, created by the German rock musician Udo Lindenberg
in 1983 became very popular and had various political implications. Lindenberg was a western German singer and songwriter with a suitable fan community in the east. He had applied for years to tour the GDR but was rejected several times. The 1983 cover version of the Glen Miller Classic was directly asking GDR's Chairman of the Council of State Erich Honecker
for allowance for a concert in the Palace of the Republic (Berlin). It was released on 2 February 1983 and was repeatedly featured in western media available as well in the east. The song itself and the Glenn Miller original were temporarily interdicted in the GDR. Just playing the first keys could cost a job.
Nevertheless Lindenberg finally succeeded in getting an invitation to the GDR rock festival Rock for Peace on October 25, 1983. Honecker, a former brass band drummer of Rotfrontkämpferbund
and Lindenberg 1987 exchanged presents in form of a leather jacket and a metal shawm
. Lindenberg's success to pass the Inner German border peacefully with a humorous song gave him celebrity status and as well a positive political acknowledgement in both parts of Germany.
Lindenberg's version was adapted by Dutch singer Willem Duyn
as De Eerste Trein Naar Zandvoort ("First train to Zandvoort
") chronicling chaos and mayhem on the first seaside train (which he chooses to miss). It was a hit in the summer of 1983.
Today, trains have pride of place in Chattanooga's former Terminal Station
. Once owned and operated by the Southern Railway
, the station was saved from demolition after the withdrawal of passenger rail service in the early 1970s, and it is now part of a 30-acre (12-hectare) resort complex, including the Chattanooga Choo-Choo Hotel, and numerous historical railway exhibits. Hotel guests can stay in half of a restored passenger railway car. Dining at the complex includes the Gardens restaurant in the Terminal Station itself, The Station House (which is housed in a former baggage storage room) and the "Dinner in the Diner" which is the complex's fine dining venue, housed in a restored 1941 Class A dining car
. The city's other historic station, Union Station, parts of which predated the Civil War
, was demolished in 1973; its site is now an office building housing the corporate offices of the Krystal
restaurant chain. In addition to the railroad exhibits at "the Choo Choo", there are further exhibits at Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
, in the suburb of East Chattanooga.
The reputation given to the city by the song also lent itself to making Chattanooga the home of the National Model Railroad Association
. In addition, the athletic mascot
of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
is a rather menacing-looking anthropomorphized mockingbird
named Scrappy, who is dressed as a railroad engineer and is sometimes depicted at the throttle of a steam locomotive
.
Harry Warren
Harry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison,...
(music) and Mack Gordon
Mack Gordon
Mack Gordon was an American composer and lyricist of songs for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times, including six consecutive years between 1940 and 1945, and won the award once, for "You'll Never Know"...
(words). It was recorded in a big-band/swing manner by Glenn Miller and his orchestra and featured in the 1941
1941 in film
The year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
movie Sun Valley Serenade
Sun Valley Serenade
Sun Valley Serenade is a 1941 musical film starring Sonja Henie, John Payne, Glenn Miller, Milton Berle, and Lynn Bari. It features The Glenn Miller Orchestra as well as dancing by The Nicholas Brothers and Dorothy Dandridge, performing "Chattanooga Choo Choo", which was nominated for an Academy...
, which starred Sonja Henie
Sonja Henie
Sonja Henie was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic Champion in Ladies Singles, a ten-time World Champion and a six-time European Champion . Henie won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies figure skater...
, John Payne
John Payne (actor)
John Payne was an American film actor who is mainly remembered as a singer in 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC western television series The Restless Gun.-Background:Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia...
, Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
and his orchestra, The Modernaires
The Modernaires
The Modernaires are an American vocal group, best known for performing in the 1940s alongside Glenn Miller- Career :The Modernaires began in 1935 as a trio of schoolmates from Lafayette High School in Buffalo, New York...
, Milton Berle
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
and Joan Davis
Joan Davis
Joan Davis was an American comedic actress whose career spanned vaudeville, film, radio and television. Remembered best for the 1950s television comedy, I Married Joan, Davis had a successful earlier career as a B-movie actress and a leading star of 1940s radio comedy.Born as Madonna Josephine...
. The song was performed in the film as an extended production number, featuring vocals by Tex Beneke
Tex Beneke
Gordon Lee Beneke , professionally known as Tex Beneke, was an American saxophonist, singer, and bandleader. His career is a history of associations with bandleader Glenn Miller and former musicians and singers who worked with Miller. His band is also associated with the careers of Eydie Gorme...
, Paula Kelly
Paula Kelly (singer)
Paula Kelly was an American big band singer.Born in Grove City, Pennsylvania, in her early career, she sang with orchestras led by Dick Stabile, Artie Shaw, and Al Donahue...
, and the Modernaires
The Modernaires
The Modernaires are an American vocal group, best known for performing in the 1940s alongside Glenn Miller- Career :The Modernaires began in 1935 as a trio of schoolmates from Lafayette High School in Buffalo, New York...
, followed by a production number showcasing Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Jean Dandridge was an American actress and popular singer, and was the first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress...
and an acrobatic dance sequence by The Nicholas Brothers. The Glenn Miller recording, RCA Bluebird B-11230-B, became the #1 song across the United States on December 7, 1941, and remained at #1 for nine weeks on the Billboard Best Sellers chart.
The 78-rpm
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
commercial version of the song was recorded on May 7, 1941 for RCA Victor's Bluebird label and became the first to be certified a gold disc on February 10, 1942, for sales of 1,200,000. The transcription of this award ceremony can be heard on the first of three volumes of RCA's "Legendary Performer" compilations on Glenn
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
released by RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
in the 1970s. In the early 1990s a two-channel recording of a portion of the Sun Valley Serenade
Sun Valley Serenade
Sun Valley Serenade is a 1941 musical film starring Sonja Henie, John Payne, Glenn Miller, Milton Berle, and Lynn Bari. It features The Glenn Miller Orchestra as well as dancing by The Nicholas Brothers and Dorothy Dandridge, performing "Chattanooga Choo Choo", which was nominated for an Academy...
soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
was discovered, allowing reconstruction of a true-stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
version of the film performance.
In 1996, the 1941 recording of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The song was written by the team of Mack Gordon
Mack Gordon
Mack Gordon was an American composer and lyricist of songs for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times, including six consecutive years between 1940 and 1945, and won the award once, for "You'll Never Know"...
and Harry Warren
Harry Warren
Harry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison,...
while traveling on the Southern Railway's Birmingham Special
Birmingham Special
The Birmingham Special was named passenger train operated by the Southern Railway, Norfolk and Western Railway and Pennsylvania Railroad in the United States of America. The train began service in 1909 and continued, with alterations, after Amtrak assumed control of most long-haul intercity...
train. The song tells the story of traveling from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to Chattanooga. However, the inspiration for the song was a small, wood-burning steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
of the 2-6-0
2-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. This arrangement is commonly called a Mogul...
type which belonged to the Cincinnati Southern Railway, which is now part of the Norfolk Southern Railway system. That train is now a museum artifact (see below). From 1880, most trains bound for America's South passed through the southeastern Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
city of Chattanooga, often on to the super-hub of Atlanta. The Chattanooga Choo Choo did not refer to any particular train, though some have incorrectly asserted that it referred to Louisville and Nashville's Dixie Flyer or the Southern Railway
Southern Railway (US)
The Southern Railway is a former United States railroad. It was the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s, formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894...
's Crescent Limited
Crescent (Amtrak)
The Crescent is a passenger train operated by Amtrak in the eastern part of the United States. It runs daily from Pennsylvania Station in New York City to New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans, Louisiana as train 19 and returns, on the same route, as train 20. Most of the route of...
.
Cover versions
Over the years, the song has been recorded by numerous artists, including Beegie AdairBeegie Adair
Beegie Adair is a jazz pianist. She studied piano at Western Kentucky University. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee where she did graduate work at Peabody College. She later went on to form the Beegie Adair Trio....
, The Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters were a highly successful close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews , soprano Maxene Angelyn Andrews , and mezzo-soprano Patricia Marie "Patty" Andrews...
, Ray Anthony
Ray Anthony
Ray Anthony is an American bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and actor.- Biography :...
, Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel is a American country music group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, but based in Austin, Texas. Altogether, they have won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception. In their career, they have released more than twenty studio albums, and have charted more than twenty...
, BBC Big Band
BBC Big Band
The BBC Big Band, originally known as the BBC Radio Big Band is a British big band run under the auspices of the BBC. Widely regarded as the UK’s leading and most versatile jazz orchestra, the band broadcasts exclusivley on BBC Radio, particularly on BBC Radio 2's long running series Big Band Special...
, George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
, John Bunch
John Bunch
John Bunch was an American jazz pianist.-Biography:Born and raised in Tipton, Indiana, a small farming community, he studied piano with George Johnson, a well-known Hoosier jazz pianist...
, Caravelli
Caravelli
Caravelli, real name Claude Vasori is a French orchestra leader, composer and arranger of orchestral music.-Biography:...
, Regina Carter
Regina Carter
Regina Carter is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of famous jazz saxophonist James Carter.-Early life:...
, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, Harry Connick, Jr.
Harry Connick, Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...
, Ray Conniff
Ray Conniff
Joseph Raymond Conniff was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s.-Biography:...
, Ernie Fields
Ernie Fields
Ernie Fields was an African American trombonist, pianist, arranger and bandleader. He first became known for leading the Royal Entertainers, which were based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and toured along a circuit stretching from Kansas City, Kansas, to Dallas, Texas.-Early life and career:Fields was born...
, Stephane Grappelli & Marc Fosset
Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....
, John Hammond, Jr., The Harmonizing Four
The Harmonizing Four
The Harmonizing Four was an American black gospel quartet organized in 1927 and reaching peak popularity during the decades immediately following World War II....
, Harmony Grass
Harmony Grass
Harmony Grass was a British pop group active briefly in the late 1960s.The group was formed in Essex by previous members of Tony Rivers & the Castaways, including Tony Rivers himself. They signed to RCA Records about a year after they formed, and their single "Move in a Little Closer" hit #24 on...
, Ted Heath
Ted Heath (bandleader)
Ted Heath, musician and big band leader, led Britain's greatest post-war big band recording more than 100 albums and selling over 20 million records...
, Betty Johnson
Betty Johnson
Betty Johnson is an American traditional pop and cabaret singer.-Biography:Johnson was born in Guilford County, North Carolina. Her professional debut was in a family group, The Johnson Family Singers, including her parents and three brothers, singing a repertoire primarily of religious material...
, Susannah McCorkle
Susannah McCorkle
Susannah McCorkle was an American jazz singer much admired for her direct, unadorned singing style and quiet intensity.-Biography:...
, Ray McKinley
Ray McKinley
Ray McKinley was an American jazz drummer, singer, and bandleader.McKinley got his start working with local bands in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, before joining Smith Ballew in 1929, when he met Glenn Miller. The two formed a friendship which lasted from 1929 until Miller's death in 1944....
, Big Miller
Big Miller
Clarence Horatio "Big" Miller was an American jazz and blues singer, chiefly associated with the Kansas City blues style....
, Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
, Richard Perlmutter
Richard Perlmutter
Richard Perlmutter is an American songwriter, musician, singer, producer and author. He was born in Newark, New Jersey and raised in Plainfield, New Jersey....
, Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Spike Robinson
Spike Robinson
Henry Berthold "Spike" Robinson was a tenor saxophonist. He began playing at age twelve, making recordings with famous jazz and bop musicians on several labels including Discovery, Hep and Concord. However, he sought an engineering degree and followed that profession on a fulltime basis for nearly...
, Harry Roy
Harry Roy
Harry Roy was a British dance band leader and clarinet player from the 1920s until the 1960s.-Life and career:...
, Jan Savitt
Jan Savitt
Jan Savitt was an American bandleader, musical arranger, and violinist....
, Hank Snow
Hank Snow
Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow was a Canadian-American country music artist. He charted more than 70 singles on the Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980...
, Teddy Stauffer
Teddy Stauffer
Ernst Heinrich "Teddy" Stauffer was a Swiss bandleader, musician, actor, nightclub owner, and restaurateur. He was dubbed Germany's "swing-king" of the 1930s.-Early life and career:...
, Dave Taylor
Dave Taylor (musician)
David George Taylor is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his work as long-standing bass player for Bryan Adams from 1982 to 1998. His playing can be heard on all of Adams' albums during that period and he was the bassist for the touring band. -References:...
, Claude Thornhill
Claude Thornhill
Claude Thornhill was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader...
, The Tornados
The Tornados
The Tornados were an English instrumental group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including the UK and U.S. Number One "Telstar" , the first U.S...
, and Guy Van Duser
Guy Van Duser
Guy Van Duser is an American folk/jazz guitarist. He recorded for Rounder Records extensively from the 1970s to the 1990s, and often appeared on American Public Media's A Prairie Home Companion....
Other notable performances include:
- Cab CallowayCab CallowayCabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
and His Orchestra recorded a cover version of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" on the Conqueror record label (Conqueror 9914) in 1941. - Carmen MirandaCarmen MirandaCarmen Miranda, GCIH was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, Broadway actress and Hollywood film star popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was, by some accounts, the highest-earning woman in the United States and noted for her signature fruit hat outfit she wore in the 1943 movie The Gang's...
recorded a cover on July 25, 1942 and sang it in the movie Springtime in the RockiesSpringtime in the RockiesSpringtime in the Rockies is a Technicolor musical comedy film released by Twentieth Century Fox in 1942. A Betty Grable vehicle, with support from John Payne, Carmen Miranda, Cesar Romero, Charlotte Greenwood, and Edward Everett Horton. Also in the cast was Grable's future husband Harry James, and...
. - Bill Haley & His CometsBill Haley & His CometsBill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
released a cover of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" as an Essex 45 single (Essex 348) in 1954. - Pianist Floyd CramerFloyd CramerFloyd Cramer was an American Hall of Fame pianist who was one of the architects of the "Nashville sound." He popularized the "slip note" piano style where an out-of-tune note slides effortlessly into the correct note...
recorded a single version on RCA RecordsRCA RecordsRCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
in 1962. - UK instrumental group The ShadowsThe ShadowsThe Shadows are a British pop group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'...
recorded a version of the song for their album Dance With The ShadowsDance With The ShadowsDance With The Shadows is a 1964 rock album by British instrumental group The Shadows. It was their third album. It reached number 2 in the album charts...
which reached number two in the UK album charts in 1964. - The American musical group Harpers BizarreHarpers BizarreHarpers Bizarre was an American pop-rock band of the 1960s, best known for their Broadway/Sunshine Pop sound and their remake of Simon & Garfunkel's "The 59th Street Bridge Song ."- Career :...
released a cover versionCover versionIn popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of the song "Chattanooga Choo Choo", which reached #45 on the U.S. pop chartBillboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and spent two weeks at #1 on the Easy Listening chart in 1967. - Haruomi HosonoHaruomi Hosono, also known as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese popular musician, best known internationally as a key member of the rock band Happy End and the pioneering electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra.-Biography:...
released a Japanese languageJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
cover of the song as the opening track on his 1975 album Tropical Dandy. - In the 1970s, the tune was used in the UK on an advert for Toffee CrispToffee CrispThe Toffee Crisp bar is a well known chocolate bar which is produced by Nestlé in the United Kingdom. It consists of puffed rice embedded in soft toffee and shaped into a rectangular cuboid, the whole bar being covered by milk chocolate.- History :...
candy bars, starting with "Pardon me, boy, is that a Toffee Crisp you chew chew," and ending with the final punch line "Chew chew Toffee crisp, the big value bar." - A cover by Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums was featured in the 2005 film Be CoolBe CoolBe Cool is a 2005 crime-comedy film adapted from Elmore Leonard's 1999 novel of the same name and the sequel to Leonard's 1990 novel Get Shorty about mobster Chili Palmer's entrance into the film industry.The film adaptation of Be Cool began production in 2003. It was directed by F...
. - The song's iconic intro was sampled by That Handsome DevilThat Handsome DevilThat Handsome Devil is an American rock band hailing from Brooklyn, New York, by way of Boston, Massachusetts.The band mixes genres such as rock, funk, jazz, jive, blues, surf, R&B, reggae, rockabilly, rap, and psychedelic. Their sound has also been described as "equal parts Screamin’ Jay Hawkins,...
in their song "Damn Door" for their 2008 debut album "A City Dressed in DynamiteA City Dressed in DynamiteA City Dressed in Dynamite is the debut album by That Handsome Devil. It was released in 2008. It was recorded at Cybersound Studios in Boston, Massachusetts. It is darker in tone and content than the band's EP, with some songs dealing explicitly with drug addiction and death. The album includes...
."
Versions in German and Dutch
The tune was adopted twice for German songs. Both songs deal with trains, and both songs start with (different) translations of "pardon me".The first was created and performed in 1947 by the German pop singer Bully Buhlan (Zug nach Kötzschenbroda
Radebeul
Radebeul is a town in the Elbe valley in the district of Meißen in Saxony, Germany, a suburb of Dresden. It is well-known for its viticulture, a museum dedicated to writer Karl May and a narrow gauge railway connecting Radebeul with the castle of Moritzburg and the town of Radeburg...
). The lyrics are humorously describing the bother of a train ride out of post-war Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
: no guarantee to arrive at destination due to coal shortage, passengers travelling on coach buffers, steps and roofs, never-ending trip interruptons including a night stop for delousing.
The second, Sonderzug nach Pankow
Sonderzug nach Pankow
Sonderzug nach Pankow is the title of the song of the German rock singer Udo Lindenberg released as a single on 2 February 1983....
, created by the German rock musician Udo Lindenberg
Udo Lindenberg
Udo Lindenberg is a German rock musician and composer.-Career:Lindenberg started his musical career as a drummer. In 1969 Lindenberg founded his first band Free Orbit and also appeared as a studio and guest musician . In 1970 he collaborated as a drummer with jazz-saxophonist Klaus Doldinger in...
in 1983 became very popular and had various political implications. Lindenberg was a western German singer and songwriter with a suitable fan community in the east. He had applied for years to tour the GDR but was rejected several times. The 1983 cover version of the Glen Miller Classic was directly asking GDR's Chairman of the Council of State Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic as General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1971 until 1989, serving as Head of State as well from Willi Stoph's relinquishment of that post in 1976....
for allowance for a concert in the Palace of the Republic (Berlin). It was released on 2 February 1983 and was repeatedly featured in western media available as well in the east. The song itself and the Glenn Miller original were temporarily interdicted in the GDR. Just playing the first keys could cost a job.
Nevertheless Lindenberg finally succeeded in getting an invitation to the GDR rock festival Rock for Peace on October 25, 1983. Honecker, a former brass band drummer of Rotfrontkämpferbund
Rotfrontkämpferbund
Rotfrontkämpferbund was a paramilitary organization of the Communist Party of Germany created on 18 July 1924 during the Weimar Republic. Its first leader was Ernst Thälmann...
and Lindenberg 1987 exchanged presents in form of a leather jacket and a metal shawm
Shawm
The shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the 12th century until the 17th century. It was developed from the oriental zurna and is the predecessor of the modern oboe. The body of the shawm was usually turned from a single piece of wood,...
. Lindenberg's success to pass the Inner German border peacefully with a humorous song gave him celebrity status and as well a positive political acknowledgement in both parts of Germany.
Lindenberg's version was adapted by Dutch singer Willem Duyn
Mouth & MacNeal
Mouth & MacNeal was a pop duo from the Netherlands. They are best known for their million selling recording of "How Do You Do".-Career:They were formed in 1971 when record producer Hans van Hemert brought together the solo talent of Mouth and Maggie MacNeal...
as De Eerste Trein Naar Zandvoort ("First train to Zandvoort
Zandvoort
Zandvoort is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.Zandvoort is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach, bordered by coastal dunes...
") chronicling chaos and mayhem on the first seaside train (which he chooses to miss). It was a hit in the summer of 1983.
Legacy
Terminal Station (Chattanooga)
Terminal Station in Chattanooga, Tennessee is a former railroad station, once owned and operated by the Southern Railway, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The station was opened in 1909 and was the latest and largest station in Chattanooga's history...
. Once owned and operated by the Southern Railway
Southern Railway (US)
The Southern Railway is a former United States railroad. It was the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s, formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894...
, the station was saved from demolition after the withdrawal of passenger rail service in the early 1970s, and it is now part of a 30-acre (12-hectare) resort complex, including the Chattanooga Choo-Choo Hotel, and numerous historical railway exhibits. Hotel guests can stay in half of a restored passenger railway car. Dining at the complex includes the Gardens restaurant in the Terminal Station itself, The Station House (which is housed in a former baggage storage room) and the "Dinner in the Diner" which is the complex's fine dining venue, housed in a restored 1941 Class A dining car
Dining car
A dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
. The city's other historic station, Union Station, parts of which predated the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, was demolished in 1973; its site is now an office building housing the corporate offices of the Krystal
Krystal
Krystal may refer to:*Krystal , one of the oldest fast-food chains in the United States, founded in 1932-People:*Krystal Steal, an American porn star*Krystal Harris, an American pop singer*Krystal Meyers, a Christian rock musician...
restaurant chain. In addition to the railroad exhibits at "the Choo Choo", there are further exhibits at Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is a railroad museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee.The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum was founded as a chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in 1960 by Paul H. Merriman and Robert M. Soule, Jr...
, in the suburb of East Chattanooga.
The reputation given to the city by the song also lent itself to making Chattanooga the home of the National Model Railroad Association
National Model Railroad Association
The National Model Railroad Association is a non-profit organization for those involved in the hobby or business of model railroading. It was founded in the United States in 1935, and is now active in Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and the Netherlands...
. In addition, the athletic mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is a public university located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The University, often referred to as UTC or simply "Chattanooga" , is one of three universities and two other affiliated institutions in the University of Tennessee System; the others being in...
is a rather menacing-looking anthropomorphized mockingbird
Mockingbird
Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the Mimidae family. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. There are about 17 species in three genera...
named Scrappy, who is dressed as a railroad engineer and is sometimes depicted at the throttle of a steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
.