(EDITOR’S NOTE–No, yer not seeing things. Maggie’s column about the Orange Blossom Special DID run Christmas day. But it was so derned good, the consensus around here was that it should stay up another day. If you were out Christmasing yesterday and missed it, we heartily suggest you catch it today. THANKS MAGGIE!)
First of all, Merry Christmas and happy New Year!
I don’t recall the first time I ever heard “Orange Blossom Special.” Given my family’s taste in music, I suspect it was probably when I was very young. But as a fiddler, I have to say, it’s one of those tunes/songs that is etched pretty deeply in my soul.
“For many years, Orange Blossom Special has been not only a train imitation piece, but also a vehicle to exhibit the fiddler’s pyrotechnic virtuosity. Performed at breakneck tempos and with imitative embellishments that evoke train wheels and whistles, OBS is guaranteed to bring the blood of all but the most jaded listeners to a quick, rolling boil.”
—Norm Cohen, author, Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong
In a bluegrass fiddle class earlier this week, Chad Manning talked about one of its writers, Ervin T. Rouse, whom I am embarrassed to say, I knew nothing about. I always assumed it was a Chubby Wise tune. According to Wikipedia (take that for what you will): “Wise did not write it although he claimed for years that he had.” Other sources claim he was the co-writer. Apparently, Rouse never contested Wise’s claims.
A few facts:
– Copyrighted in 1938 by Ervin T. Rouse
– First recorded by the Rouse Brothers (Ervin and his brother Gordon) in 1939
– Recorded by Bill Monroe in 1942
In this video on YouTube, Gene Christian, one of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, says that Rouse indeed wrote and copyrighted the song and denies Chubby Wise was part of the authorship. In the interview, Christian states that Wise played the song weekly on the Grand Ole Opry, popularizing it.
To further complicate the issue, in a radio interview in Leon “Pappy” Selph says that he was the author of “The Orange Blossom Special.” He states that he wrote it in 1931. You can read the interview here, and here’s an excerpt:
He said, “One of the entertainers has come up sick… won’t show or ain’t gonna show. If you could, play about three or four minutes just to even out the show.”
I said, “Okay.” I said, “My ‘Orange Blossom Special’.” And I played it. 1931.
And, Bill Monroe says, “Man, I gotta have that song.”
When I got through playin’ “The Orange Blossom Special” I had a standing ovation.
Bill Monroe says, “Man, I gotta have that song.”
So, I learned it to him, and he made it for Columbia in 1934.
But if we dip back farther, it gets more complicated. Look at this part of the first verse:
Look a-yonder comin’
Comin’ down that railroad track
Hey, look a-yonder comin’
Comin’ down that railroad track
Compare this with Jimmie Rodgers’ 1929 “Train Whistle Blues”:
Look a-yonder coming, coming down that railroad track
Look a-yonder coming, coming down that railroad track
With the black smoke rolling, rolling from that old smoke stack
So, what comes before, and OBS’s origins raise lots of questions. But what comes after turns this little tune/song into a phenomenon that lives on.
The lyrics of the song form a 12-bar blues, but the full piece is more elaborate, with a long fiddle break that is intended to show off a fiddler’s speed, skill, and to quote as other songs as well. Steep Canyon Rangers’ version with Nicky Sanders on fiddle and singing the third part of the train whistle chord. (Buckle up—over 9 minutes long)—how many songs can you find in his break (and yes, that is the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood” you hear)? Or, check out Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper’s frenetic version from IBMA in 2013.
There are polka versions, mariachi versions, orchestral versions (1966, Chet Atkins recorded for his version along with the Boston Pops Orchestra with Arthur Fiedler as conductor), and versions in many languages. Here are a few highlights.
• 1961 – The song was covered by Swedish instrumental rock band The Spotnicks and released on their first album, The Spotnicks in London – Out-a-Space!
• 1965 – Johnny Cash named his 1965 Orange Blossom Special album after the song.
• 1966 – Don Rich and the Buckaroos, instrumental version
• 1970- A version by Doug Kershaw peaked at #9 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada
• 1972 – Vassar Clements with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their Will the Circle be Unbroken album
• 1974 – Charlie Daniels’ Platinum album Fire On The Mountain contains an instrumental live performance recorded at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee on October 4
• 1974 – Electric Light Orchestra also covered the song in their early shows. One of these performances was released on their live album The Night the Light Went On in Long Beach, following a violin improvisation by Mik Kaminski.
•1987 – Roy Clark performs a searing version live
• 1988 – The Moody Brothers’ Grammy-nominated country instrumental “The Great Train Song Medley” featured their father Dwight Moody playing OBS
•2010 – Steve Martin playing “Orange Blossom Special” and “King Tut” at Jazz Fest
• 2010 – Ukko-Pekka written by Bea Vala, a Finnish version
I thought to put together an exhaustive playlist, but it was actually exhausting to consider. Instead, here’s a curated one, with thirty plus versions, plus Jimmie Rodgers’ Train Whistle blues and a couple other related cuts.
Here’s what’s in it:
- Jimmie Rodgers – Train Whistle Blues
OBS versions by:
- The Rouse Brothers
- Bill Monroe
- Mark Howard
- Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
- The Stanley Brothers
- Chubby Anthony
- The String Cheese Incident
- The Charlie Daniels Band
- Old & In the Way
- Dolly Parton
- Lester Flatt
- Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
- Johnny Cash
- Roger Miller
- Buck Owens
- J.D. Crowe
- Chet Atkins with the Boston Pops Orchestra
- Hot Club of Cowtown
- Doug Kershaw
- The Stoneman Family
- The Scottish Fiddle Orchestra
- Mark O’Connor
- Benny Martin
- Ervin T. Rouse
- US Navy Country Current
- Østjydsk Musikforsyning
- Jimmy Sturr and his Orchestra – Orange Blossom Special Polka
- Mariachi Mexico Antiguo – Orange Blossom Special / Viva Mexico
- The Greenhorns – Oranžový expres
And although I haven’t read it yet, here’s the book:
Randy Noles (2007). Fiddler’s Curse: The Untold Story of Ervin T. Rouse, Chubby Wise, Johnny Cash, and The Orange Blossom Special. Anaheim Hills, CA: Centerstream. ISBN 978-1-57424-214-0.
And a podcast:
This is a podcast about the ELO Version:
(Face the Music, an ELO song-by-song podcast, Episode 28)
Happy holidays, and here’s to seeing you all in person in 2021. Keep wearing your mask and we can make it happen.
