Freight Train

This beauty of a folk song was written by Elizabeth Cotten and first recorded in the 1950s. There are plenty of different version and verses, my favourite being the Elizabeth Mitchell cover. I love how she invites destination requests from her audience. I tried this at my own storytimes this week, and the kids wanted to visit China, America, Africa, and “The City.” In the end, our only “problem” was too many places to see. I guess we’ll just have to play it again next week.

At home with my own two-year-old, we also sing about the different types of public transit we take (skytrain, sea bus, trolley bus etc), and he loves it so much he’s started to make up his own verses.


Freight Train
C                              G7
Freight train, freight train, going so fast,
                               C
Freight train, freight train, going so fast,
E7                     F
Please don't say what train I'm on,
         C         G7         C
So they won't know where I've gone.


Verses
1. Destinations: Going to _______, going so fast...
2. Vehicles: Subway / Trolley Bus / Airplane...