"The Great Rock Island Route", popularized as "Wabash Cannonball" and also known by various other titles, is a 19th-century American folk song that describes the scenic beauty and predicaments of a fictional train, the Wabash Cannonball Express, as it travels on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. The song has become a country music and marching band staple. The only train to actually bear the name was created in response to the song's popularity, the Wabash Railroad renaming its daytime express service between Detroit and St. Louis the Wabash Cannon Ball from 1949 until its discontinuation in 1971 during the formation of Amtrak.
The Carter Family made one of the first recordings of the song in 1929, though it was not released until 1932. Another popular version was recorded by Roy Acuff in 1936. The Acuff version is one of the fewer than 40 all-time singles to have sold 10 million physical copies worldwide.
The song was also performed in the former Magic Kingdom attraction Splash Mountain in the line queue. However, the song can still be heard in the Tokyo Disneyland attraction Splash Mountain.
Lyrics[]
From the great Atlantic ocean to the wide Pacific shore
The green old flowing mountains to the south down by the moor
She's mighty tall and handsome she's know quite well by all
Regular combination on the Wabash Cannonball
Listen to the jingle, the rumble and the roar
As she glides along the woodland o'er the hills and by the shore
Hear the mighty rush of the engine hear the lonesome hobo's call
As you travel across the country on the Wabash Cannonball
Oh the eastern states are dandy so the people always say
From New York to St. Louis and Chicago by the way
To the hills of Minnesota where them rippling waters fall
No changes can be taken on the Wabash Cannonball
Here's to Daddy Claxton may his name forever stand
In the hills of Tennessee and in the courts throughout the land
When his earthly race are over and them curtains round him fall
Would we take him home to Dixy on the Wabash Cannonball
I went down from Birmingham one cold December day
When she pulled into that station you could hear them people say
There's a fellow from Tennessee, boys, he's long and he's tall
He came down from Alabamon the Wabash Cannonball
Oh listen to that jingle, the rumble and the roar
As she glides along the woodland o'er hills and by the shore
Hear the mighty rush of the engine hear the lonesome hobo's call
You're travelling through the jungle on the Wabash Cannonball
Splash Mountain:Burrow's Lament • Little Brown Jug • Shortnin' Bread • Polly Wolly Doodle • Froggy Went a Courtin' • Shoo Fly (Don't Bother Me) • Goober Peas • Camptown Races • Dixie • Swing Low Sweet Chariot • When Johnny Comes Marching Home • Comin' Round the Mountain • Ol' MacDonald • Skip to My Lou • Freight Train Blues • Wabash Cannonball • St. James Infirmary • Tennessee Waltz • Show Me the Way to Go Home • Alabamy Bound • Down By the Riverside • My Old Kentucky Home • Blue Moon if Kentucky • Blue Ridge Mountain Blues • Carolina Moon • Deep River Blues • Goodnight Ladies • Honey Comb • Jailhouse Blues • Old Mill Stream • Salty Dog • Up a Lazy River • Tom Dooley • Oh, Susanna • John Henry • Sixteen Tons • I've Been Working on the Railroad • When the Saints Go Marchin' In • You Are My Sunshine
