Rock Island Line

"Rock Island Line" (Roud 15211) was originally sung as a spiritual by slaves on the plantations of the Mississippi River Valley, and was first transcribed as a folk song in 1929. The first recording was made by John Lomax, who was traveling among the prisons of the American South to record the spirituals dating from the antebellum South before they were lost forever. Lomax met a remarkable Tenor named Huddie Ledbetter (who later performed under the name Lead Belly) at a prison in Louisiana in 1933 and helped secure Ledbetter’s release from prison. Lomax then traveled with Ledbetter to other prisons, recording the inmates of the Arkansas Cummins State Farm prison in 1934. This recording is sometimes identified as "Kelly Pace and Prisoners". Lead Belly first recorded his own, narrative version of the song in 1937, and numerous top musicians covered that version of the song, which was ostensibly about a train to New Orleans. However, there was a real train by that name that was officially called the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, which began service between Rock Island, Illinois and Chicago in 1854.

The beginning of the most popular (Lead Belly) version of the song tells the story of a train operator who smuggles pig iron through a toll gate by claiming all he had on board was livestock. Neither the 1929 transcription nor the 1934 Kelly Pace recording contained that narrative. The song's chorus includes:

The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road
The Rock Island Line is the road to ride
The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road
If you want to ride you gotta ride it like you find it
Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Line

Many artists subsequently recorded it, often changing the verses and adjusting the lyrics.