| "Midnight Special" Roud Folk Song Index 6364 Carl Sandburg-1927 |
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| Written by | Traditional |
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| Language | English |
| Form | Country blues |
| Original artist | Traditional |
| Recorded by | (Historically) Dave Cutrell–1926 Sam Collins–1927 Lead Belly–1934 (see also Other versions) |
"Midnight Special" is a traditional folk song thought to have originated among prisoners in the American South.[1] The title comes from the refrain which refers to the Midnight Special and its "ever-loving light" (sometimes "ever-living light").
The song is historically performed in the country-blues style from the viewpoint of the prisoner. The song has been covered by many different artists.
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Lyrics appearing in the song were first recorded in print by Howard Odum in 1905.[2]
The first printed reference to the song itself was in a 1923 issue of Adventure magazine, a three-times-a-month pulp magazine published by the Ridgway Company.[3] In 1927 Carl Sandburg published two different versions of "Midnight Special" in his The American Songbag, the first published versions.[4]
The song was first commercially recorded on the OKeh label in 1926 as "Pistol Pete's Midnight Special" by Dave "Pistol Pete" Cutrell (a member of McGinty's Oklahoma Cow Boy Band).[5] Cutrell follows the traditional song except for semi-comedic stanzas about McGinty and Gray and "a cowboy band".[6]
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In March 1929, the band, now Otto Gray and the Oklahoma Cowboys, recorded the song again, this time with the traditional title using only the traditional lyrics.[7]
Sam Collins recorded the song commercially in 1927 under the title "The Midnight Special Blues" for Gennett Records.[8] His version also follows the traditional style. His is the first to name the woman in the story, Little Nora, and he refers to the Midnight Special's "ever-living" light.
In 1934 Huddie William "Lead Belly" Ledbetter recorded a version of the song at Angola Prison for John and Alan Lomax, who mistakenly attributed it to him as the author. However, Ledbetter, instead, for his Angola session, appears to have inserted several stanzas relating to a 1923 Houston jailbreak into the traditional song.[10] Ledbetter recorded at least three versions of the song, one with the Golden Gate Quartet, a slick gospel group (recorded for RCA at Victor Studio #2, New York City, June 15, 1940).
John and Alan Lomax, in their book, Best Loved American Folk Songs, told a credulous story identifying the Midnight Special as a train from Houston shining its light into a cell in the Sugar Land Prison. They also describe Ledbetter's version as "the Negro jailbird's ballad to match Hard Times Poor Boy. Like so many American folk songs, its hero is not a man but a train." The light of the train is seen as the light of salvation, the train which could take them away from the prison walls. It is highly reminiscent of the imagery of such gospel songs as Let the Light from your Lighthouse Shine on Me. Carl Sandburg had a different view. He believed the subject of the song would rather be run over by a train than spend more time in jail.[11]
The song, as popularized by Ledbetter, has many parallel lines to other prison songs. It is essentially the same song as "De Funiac Blues," sung and played by Burruss Johnson and recorded by John Lomax at the Raiford State Penitentiary in Florida on 2 June 1939. Many of the lines appear in prison work songs such as "Jumpin Judy," "Ain't That Berta," "Oh Berta" and "Yon' Comes de Sargent." These songs, including Ledbetter's "Midnight Special." are composite. They mix standard prison song verses indiscriminately. Many of these component pieces have become canonized in the blues idiom and appear in mutated forms regularly in blues lyrics.
Although later versions place the locale of the song near Houston, early versions such as Walk Right In Belmont (Wilmer Watts; Frank Wilson, 1927) and North Carolina Blues (Roy Martin, 1930)—both essentially the same song as Midnight Special—place it in North Carolina.[12] Most of the early versions, however, have no particular location. Only one recording, collected by the Lomaxes at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, actually identifies the railroad operating the Midnight Special— the Illinois Central which had a route through Mississippi.[12]
Folk/bluegrass musicians Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper had a top 5 country hit with the song in 1959 as Big Midnight Special.
The country blues artist Bill Cox also did a song called "Midnight Special" (1933) which was essentially the same song as Cliff Carlisle's train-riding "Hobo Blues" (1930) with the chorus line from "Midnight Special" inserted into it. In Bill Cox's version, the light of the train represents the ability to flee from his situation of unemployment and destitution.
ABBA, The Beatles, Burl Ives, Mischief Brew, Johnny Rivers (whose 1965 version was used as the theme song for the 1970s NBC music television program The Midnight Special), Paul McCartney, Big Joe Turner, Bobby Darin, Cisco Houston, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Mungo Jerry, Van Morrison, Odetta, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, The Backyard Blues Boys, Little Richard, Leadbelly, Buckwheat Zydeco, Pete Seeger, Otis Rush, The Kingston Trio, The Spencer Davis Group, Lonnie Donegan, Eric Clapton, Harry Belafonte, Big Bill Broonzy, Ursa Major and The Fireman, among others, have recorded the song. Belafonte's 1962 version is notable for containing the very first official recording of Bob Dylan, who played harmonica.[13]
Bob Dylan references a line from the song - "shine your light on me" - on the second track, Precious Angel, of his late 70s gospel album Slow Train Coming.[14]
The Creedence Clearwater Revival version was featured heavily in the film Twilight Zone: The Movie. The song was also featured in part in the film Cool Hand Luke, sung by the actor Harry Dean Stanton.
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