Down Bound Train
| "Down Bound Train" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Chuck Berry | ||||
| from the album After School Session | ||||
| A-side | "No Money Down" | |||
| Released | January 1956[1] | |||
| Recorded | December 1955[2] | |||
| Genre | Rock and roll | |||
| Label | Chess | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Chuck Berry | |||
| Chuck Berry singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Down Bound Train is a song written by Chuck Berry. It was inspired by Berry's fire and brimstone religious upbringing.[3] 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 himself. When the man wakes up he renounces the demon 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's 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.
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.
- ^ SongFacts article about Chuck Berry's song
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