The more I looked around for railroad songs that used the tune of the "Wabash Cannonball," the more different versions I found. Presently I have eleven different variants, most from Newfoundland-and I expect there are more out there.

We left St. John's on Monday, the day was bleeding cold
The engineer was roaring drunk as some of us was told,
He said, "If you're not anxious to answer her request
We'll get there sometime next month on the Newfoundland Express."

Oh see that lonely soldier with his bayonet by his side,
He's going back to Canada to wed his promised bride,
He's fought his share of the battles, but now he's done his best,
And now he takes his chances on the Newfoundland Express.

Next month it will be winter with snow upon the ground,
We're waiting for the postman to bring some mail around,
He says "Now boys I'm sorry, but I have done my best,
But the mail is on a snow drift on the Newfoundland Express."

One day a soldier decided to heaven he would go,
And he tied himself to the railroad track when he heard the whistle blow,
He must have been there a long time for he starved to death I guess
Waiting on the railroad track for the Newfoundland Express.

The Answer to the Newfoundland Express. Clearly "The Newfoundland Express" was not a flattering portrayal of the beloved "Bullet." So, not to be outdone, or insulted for that matter, the "locals" composed an "Answer to the Newfoundland Express," of which I've located four versions (again with much help from Neil Rosenberg). The best know of these was on a Edison Williams recording (Audat 477-9006). The tone of this "Answer" is clear in the 2nd verse:

Before you set foot on our shores everything was nice and clean,
You could go into a diner and have a decent meal.
Since you started travelling, everything is in a mess,
It's hardly safe to ride now on the Newfoundland Express.

In the 4th verse, the song turns to more pressing concerns as a young Newfoundland lady finds herself in distress, but handles herself in a most appropriate way:

A pretty lady passenger was sitting there close by,
She spies an American soldier with a twinkle in his eye.
He walked up beside her and asked her for a kiss,
Lift her hand and knocked him cold on the Newfoundland Express.

This "great debate in song," was no doubt performed more than once on trips across Newfoundland. Can't you just hear a singing/shouting match between locals and soldiers as the train rumbles across Newfoundland? The last verse made an attempt to resolve the issue:

Now to conclude and finish, I hope you don't get sore,
I didn't mean to insult you like you did to us before.
Before this war is over, if I don't miss my guess,
You'll wish that you were back again on the Newfoundland Express.

Interestingly, all of the verses in the PEI Express performed on the album, appear in one or other of the versions of the "Express" or the "Answer." Clearly, these songs were being sung, and indeed jumped across the Gulf of St Lawrence.

The Tramway Cannonball. Peter Narvaez reported another Newfoundland version entitled "The Tramway Cannonball" which tells of the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company's private train.

The Kootenay Cannonball. The most recent song using the Wabash Cannonball tune comes from the other side of the country. "The Kootenay Cannonball" deals with a mixed freight/passenger train that ran between Cranbrook and Golden British Columbia. It was written by Mel Hynes, a singer from Spillimacheen, BC, a small town on the line.

It runs along the river, the Columbia is its name
From Cranbrook into Golden, and then goes back again
I rode on lots of railroads but there's none among them all
That's half as bad or rough as the Kootenay Cannonball

There's a half a mile of box cars with a coach tied on the rear
It's like an awful nightmare with the Devil as engineer
It rattles down the Valley, if you don't lie down you'll fall
There's many a brave man beaten by the Kootenay Cannonball

You bump against the ceiling and then upon the floor
There isn't any spot on you that doesn't get quite sore
Cream will turn to butter or splash upon the wall
And eggs become an omelette on the Kootenay Cannonball

Men have bragged and told us of deeds of bravery
Of battles or of blizzards or storms upon the sea
The cowboy rides his bronco, old Strawberry Roan and all
But I have beaten all of them on the Kootenay Cannonball

This song is different in many ways from the eastern versions, but maintains the tongue-in-cheek humour that characterizes this family of Canadian railroad songs. "The Kootenay Cannonball" can be heard on Mel's CD "History in the Making," Invermere BC, Living Room Productions, 2006.

It's remarkable to find one tune straddling the entire country to entertain and inform about the Canadian railroad experience. Some have argued that, because this is an American tune, it diminishes the Canadian versions. I argue this is not the case. Traditional song writing has always adopted "tropes" or conventions (e.g, "milk white steeds" as part of the Child ballad traditions) and the borrowing of this tune says more about a vibrant musical community than it does about some notion of aesthetics that sees only the "new" as acceptable. (I discuss this issue in more depth under "Parody" in the "Canadian Railroad Songs" segment of this website).

This brief resource is a "work in progress." If you have any suggestions for corrections or additions please let us know.

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