The Rhythm That the Drivers Made

by William Fields

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$1,000

Dimensions

36.000 x 24.000 inches

Title

The Rhythm That the Drivers Made

Artist

William Fields

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack
Go sit beneath the tree by the railroad track
Oh, the engineers would see him sitting in the shade
Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made
People passing by they would stop and say
Oh my that little country boy could play

Go go,
Go Johnny, go
Go,
Go Johnny, go
Go,
Go Johnny, go
Go,
Go Johnny, go
Go,
Johnny B. Goode

There was a romance of the rails in the days of steam power and even into the days of diesel engines. American popular culture from folk music to country and western was loaded with freight and passenger trains for many a year.

The trains had names that everyone knew. Names like the Kansas City Mule that ran between KC and Saint Louis. There was the Broadway Special from New York to Chicago daily. We loved the names of the trains. The California Zephyr, the Texas Eagle, the Coast Starlight, the Desert Wind, the City of New Orleans were all well known trains and many made it into songs, poems, movies and other expressions in our culture.

I rode on many of those trains when I was a young man. I was a sailor and didn�t have much money for travel. I earned $117.90 a month. Air travel was prevalent and growing, but in most cases too expensive for me. I took buses at times but the trains were my primary mode of travel. It was often an overnight trip. I was on the Broadway Special leaving Penn Station on the night of November 9th 1965. We departed the station around 5:08 p.m. The blackout occurred at 5:16 p.m. and put New York City, much of the Northeastern U.S. and parts of Maritime Canada into darkness, without power for 12 hours. The train was enroute before it happened. I was headed for Great Lakes, Illinois to begin Navy Boot Camp. We had no interaction with anyone who would have heard about the blackout. We received no mail for the first month of our training. When mail began a month later, some of my mates had letters telling of the blackout. We couldn�t quite understand how it could happen and what it was like. We had experienced our own form of blackout with no media of any kind. There were no cell phones, no internet; neither had been invented yet. There was no access to radio or television during our training so we just didn�t know.

My how the world has changed. I don�t know but I suspect that there are few young song writers who have even been on a train, much less been inspired to write a song about one.

By the way, the drivers are the big forged steel wheels that carried the trains along the track. Johnny B. Goode was listening to that musical sound as he strummed his guitar. Go Johnny, Go!

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Signed pictures are available directly from the artist either matted or matted and framed. For a hand drawn remarque Add $37.00. Shipping and handling charges are not included in prices.

4x6 in an 8x10 Matte - $30.00, in an 8x10 frame - $60.00

5x7 in an 11x14 Matte - $45.00, in an 11x14 frame, $70.00

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12x16 in an 18x24 Matte $100.00, in an 18x24 Frame $175.00

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20x24 in a 24x30 Matte $200.00, in a 24x30 Frame $300.00


20x30 in a 26x34 Matte $250.00, in a 26x34 Frame $500.00

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Note: 8.5x11 is discounted and 8x20 is for panoramas only.

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Uploaded

December 25th, 2012

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