Down Bound Train
"Down Bound Train" | ||||
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Single by Chuck Berry | ||||
from the album After School Session | ||||
A-side | "No Money Down" | |||
Released | January 1956[1] | |||
Recorded | December 1955[2] | |||
Studio | Universal Recording Corp. (Chicago)[3] | |||
Genre | Rock and roll | |||
Label | Chess | |||
Songwriter(s) | Chuck Berry | |||
Chuck Berry singles chronology | ||||
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Down Bound Train is a song written by Chuck Berry. It was inspired by Berry's "fire and brimstone" religious upbringing.[4] Both of his parents were staunch Baptists and sang in the Antioch Church Choir, which rehearsed at his home.
It is a song about redemption and a warning against alcohol abuse. A man who has too much to drink falls asleep on a bar room floor and has a vivid dream about riding a train, which is driven by the devil. When the man wakes up he renounces the drink.
"Down Bound Train" was released in December 1955 as the B Side of "No Money Down". The title is sometimes given as "The Down Bound Train" or "Downbound Train."
It is one of the first rock records to employ fade-in and fade-out. Negativland performed and recorded "Hellbound Plane" in concert; it is a parody of "Downbound Train" and suggested fictional character Dick Vaughn had died in a plane crash.
Cover versions
In 2020, Vika and Linda cover the song for their album, Sunday (The Gospel According to Iso).[5][6] Covered by George Thorogood and the Destroyers, and renamed Hellbound Train, on their 1999 album Half a Boy/Half a Man.
References
- ^ "45cat - Chuck Berry - No Money Down / The Downbound Train - Chess - USA - 1615". 45cat. Retrieved 2017-05-27.
- ^ Rudolph, Dietmar. "A Collector's Guide to the Music of Chuck Berry: The Chess Era (1955–1966)". Retrieved 2009-09-03.
- ^ "The Chuck Berry Database Details For Recording Session: 20. 12. 1955". A Collector's Guide to the Music of Chuck Berry. Dietmar Rudolph. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
- ^ SongFacts article about Chuck Berry's song
- ^ "There Ain't No Grave (Gonna Hold My Body Down)". Apple Music. July 24, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
- ^ "Sunday (The Gospel According to Iso) (CD)". JB HiFi. Retrieved July 24, 2020.