Rock Island Line chords by Lonnie Donegan

"Rock Island Line" is an American blues/folk song performed and first recorded by Lead Belly in the 1930s. Versions have been recorded by other artists. The song is ostensibly about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. The chorus to the old song reads: 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 The verses tell a humorous story about a train operator who smuggled pig iron through a toll gate by claiming all he had on board was livestock. History According to Harry Lewman Music, Lead Belly and John and Alan Lomax supposedly first heard it from (a) prison work gang during their travels in 1934/35. It was sung a cappella. Huddie sang and performed this song, finally settling on a format where he portrayed, in song, a train engineer asking the depot agent to let his train start out on the main line. Lonnie Donegan's recording, released in 1955, signalled the start of the UK "skiffle" craze. Donegan "did nothing to credit Lead Belly as the author, even though he simply copied Huddie's entire arrangement". However, although it only featured Donegan, Chris Barber on double bass and washboard player (Beryl Bryden), it was a band recording so he made no money from it beyond his original session fee. Pete Seeger recorded a version a cappella while he was chopping wood, to demonstrate its origins. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.