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Posted: Fri Aug 15th, 2008 02:59 am

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banjo brad
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Bet you didn't know the background of it, though

Here's a post that was on Banjo-L the other day regarding the route Charlie took. Thought some of you old folkies might enjoy it:

Charlie's Route:
Of course, one has to estimate Charlie's route given that the MBTA has changed dramatically between 1949 and the current day, but I have compiled what I imagine is a fairly accurate route: Kendall Square -> Park Street -> Arborway Here is my basis for this: Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square Station that's pretty self-explanatory and he changed for Jamaica Plain As far as I know, there was no stop called "Jamaica Plain", so that line means that Charlie changed to a train going in the general direction of JP. The only lines that go anywhere near Jamaica Plain are the E branch of the Green line and the Orange Line. The Red line from Kendall Square connects to both the Green and Orange lines, however in the next step, you'll see why he didn't take the Orange Line. Charlie's wife goes down to the Scollay Square Station.. Scollay (pronounced 'Scully') Square Station is the old name for Government Center, which is on the Green Line. When Charlie got to his stop on the E-line, he couldn't get off without paying the five cents. So, they kept him on the train, which would have eventually gone through the loop at Arborway and returned to the line, probably passing through Scollay Square. According to one account, Charlie did get off the train. In the mid 1980s, the fare for senior citizens was reduced to 10 cents. Charlie had a wife and family (read: kids), so we'll assume that he was at least 21 when he first got on the train. By 1983, he would have been 65 years old, would have qualified for a senior citizen fare of ten cents, which he had paid in full at Kendall, and would have gotten off the train in Jamaica Plain. Now as for getting back...
Here's a little more background on the song:

Henry Clay Work created some memorable melodies-- in addition to "Marching through Georgia" and "Grandfather's Clock" and "Year of Jubilo" he wrote a tearjerker called "The Ship that Never Returned." Some friend of Henry Whitter removed the chorus and used the verse melody to write a song about a famous railroad wreck outside Danville VA which became even more famous when Vernon Dalhart covered Whitter's version-- The Wreck of the Old 97. First million seller. In 1948 Henry Wallace ran for President on the Progressive ticket-- he lost. A year later Walter O'Brien ran for Mayor of Boston, and two good Progressive women (Jacqueline Steiner and Bess Lomax Hawes) exhumed the original "Ship that Never Returned" and wrote some new words. O'Brien made as one of his main planks simplification of the transit fare system. . . he lost too. Somehow (nobody knows quite how) the Kingston Trio got hold of the song, changed the name of the candidate so nobody would remember it was an old leftist that was being celebrated (McCarthy had only died a year or two before) and got a huge hit out of it. Again, from a member of Banjo-L.

File this in the "Fun to Know" section of your musical library.

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Posted: Fri Aug 15th, 2008 05:11 am

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Will
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Sometime during the mid-1960's, the Kingston Trio changed the lyrics when they sang "MTA" in live concerts from "Jamaica Plain" to "[... and he knew he had to] change at Main." I've heard this lyric change on several CD's from that era. The current Kingston Trio also sings it that way.

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