Black Train Song (Mystery Train)

Jim's homage to some old blues cats no doubt. The early ones use to travel the country by jumping on freight trains.

wtf morrison

This song is so fantastic. I love it.

Have you ever thought that this song is about deportation? "You don't need a ticket"

"Well that mean old train, Took my baby, He's gone."

I absolutely adore this song. It's so mysterious and soulful. I always believed that the black train is death, you don't need a ticket for that clearly. Then mentioning the crossroads is like choosing the path you can take to death and destruction (suicide/drug addiction) He took my baby, and he never bring her back/ took my baby he's gone. Didn't a woman have an abortion with his child? Later in the song away in India it's like he had an awakening or understanding to choose and be ok with the results. That's why he woke up with no problems on his mind, he accepted death and the choices he made including the outcome, and everything will work out fine either way :-).

Lyrics appear to be cribbed from some classic songs, People Get Ready, Mystery Train, etc, I have never heard this! I’m going to though

The Doors’ tribute to the greatest Rock N’ Roll song ever recorded, this song, as recorded by Elvis at Sun Studios in Memphis (Written by Junior Parker), along with Maybelline, Tutti Frutti, That’ll Be The Day, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, laid the foundation for all future Rock n Roll.

The slap-back echo comes through on Elvis’ Mystery Train loud and clear. Many artists copied it. Scotty Moore is the guitarist, ridiculously original playing.

Anyway, other than the RnR connection, the fact that MT is about DEATH probably helped spur Jim’s interest in doing this.