The Steel Guitar Forum

I've never heard the Darius Rucker cover, just the Old Crow Medicine Show one.

I think it's a fad song, soon to be forgot about.... Like Achey Breaky Heart. Perhaps some club owners are trying to accelerate this process. Personally, I don't find it anywhere near as offensive as most of the music on today's country radio.

I don't understand the lyrics though:

"So rock me momma like a wagon wheel
Rock me momma any way you feel
Hey momma rock me
Rock me momma like the wind and the rain
Rock me momma like a south bound train
Hey momma rock me"

What does all this "Rock Me" business mean. How do you get rocked like a wagon wheel, or a train? People in the bible got rocked, but they called it "stoned". People get stoned now, but they say they enjoy it. Roy Acuff sang about the Wabash Cannonball and Night Train to Memphis, and the Monkees sang about Last Train to Clarksville, but I don't think anyone got hurt on them.

Attn: Don Brown - in your experience with the RR, did you ever see a train rock anybody?

RC

Perhaps sexual, Rick.

Rock me mama, Rock me baby are very well-worn phrases from old blues songs. E.g.,

Arthur Crudup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6SE5120UmE

BB King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK_AwCjK0Ak

And it comes from well before any of these. In this context, certainly a sexual metaphor. I think you could also argue that it's a part of the 'rock' in 'rock and roll'.

I think the negative association with Rucker has to do with the fact that it's him. I can't explain it, but the level of negativity seems irrational to me. As I said before, I think a lot of it is a 'hipster' sort of thing. It's one thing to not like it or not want to play it. But to basically make a 'movement' out of it is over the top, IMHO.

Rick Campbell wrote:Attn: Don Brown - in your experience with the RR, did you ever see a train rock anybody?

RC

Rick, I'm not sure on that one. I CAN offer this shot from the cab of our train at the rock quarry about 5 miles west of Snyder Oklahoma, but once we left there we went east and then north, so it wasn't a "southbound train". Southwestern OK does have wind sometimes strong enough to rock you, but that day we didn't have any rain. I can assure you I had NOT had a "nice long toke", since that's a big no-no. Interestingly enough, the main generator on those diesel locomotives DOES have a part known as the "string band". So that's not much help.

On the other hand, I guess I can say I WAS 'on the steel" that day!

Don,

It specifically says a south bound train. It's questionable as to any other direction would work. Maybe something to do with the Coriolis Effect.

RC

Rick Campbell wrote:Don,

It specifically says a south bound train. It's questionable as to any other direction would work. Maybe something to do with the Coriolis Effect.

RC

OK, here you go! Just what you were asking about. In 2008, I WAS on a southbound train when a trucker drove a grain truck across in front of me. We almost got stopped but it still rocked him I'm sure. And it only caused minor damage. Nothing to fret about. And believe it or not, the honest truth is it happened in the town of Rocky Oklahoma!

Rick, I never connected the two, but from now I will think of that incident each time I hear or play that song!

One of the lyrics makes no sense: "But he's a-heading west from the Cumberland Gap to Johnson City, Tennessee." Johnson City is actually southeast of the Cumberland Gap.

b0b wrote:One of the lyrics makes no sense: "But he's a-heading west from the Cumberland Gap to Johnson City, Tennessee." Johnson City is actually southeast of the Cumberland Gap.

Musta been that nice long toke, b0b!

A lot of people refer to "The Cumberland Gap" as the Cumberland Narrows near Cumberland, Maryland - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumberland_Narrows

The probable route would be PA Turnpike or PA-30 to Bedford, just a little more than an hour south of me, south on US 220 through Cumberland down to Roanoke, and then I-81 or or some other state highway from Roanoke to Johnson City. We often go to Tennessee from State College down I-99/US-220 down to Roanoke to avoid congestion further up on I-81. Lotsa trucks use it. It's a nice ride.

It's basic artistic license to refer to the narrows as a gap.

Dave, I have been through there several times and was mentally thinking of that as "Cumberland Gap". When this discussion arose I looked on a map and saw it labeled "Cumberland Narrows" and figured I was mistaken. Thanks for confirming I have not TOTALLY lost my marbles.

So actually that WOULD be one possible route from Philly to Johnson City and could be what the song is talking about.

Yup - that is definitely a reasonable route. Those of us who live in the central and northern Appalachians travel extensively on what is gradually being converted into I-99, "The Applachian Thruway". This core of this is old US-220, which extends from Roanoke through Cumberland. There, it becomes I-99 for a period - it goes up through central PA and then up to the New York Border. From Williamsport PA, I-99 merges with US-15, but I was just coming down from visiting Bob Carlucci via Corning last month and US-15 is gradually converting to I-99 up to Corning, where it merges with I-86 in New York. So this whole Appalachian Thruway will be the main artery from central NY through central PA and south.

If you've ever been through the Cumberland Narrows, it certainly looks like a "gap" in the classic sense of the word. And plenty of people just call it "The Cumberland Gap", although technically that is not correct.

I don't know if the lyric writer intended this, nor do I think it matters. IMHO, the flap over this is that some people freakin' hate this song now and look for any excuse to diss it.

The discussion of Pennsylvania scenery I've seen is infinitely more interesting than the song.

Ten million flies can't be wrong!

b0b wrote:One of the lyrics makes no sense: "But he's a-heading west from the Cumberland Gap to Johnson City, Tennessee." Johnson City is actually southeast of the Cumberland Gap.

Yes it is b0b. I live between Cumberland Gap and Johnson City, TN.

RC

I'm guessing by now that Rick has figured out that the chorus is full of sexual innuendo.

Otherwise Rick, knowing that you are a long-time pro musician, I am wondering how you have managed to lead such a sheltered life.

Mark Eaton wrote:I'm guessing by now that Rick has figured out that the chorus is full of sexual innuendo.

Otherwise Rick, knowing that you are a long-time pro musician, I am wondering how you have managed to lead such a sheltered life.

Mark. -- I'm not a long time pro musician. I'm an amature musician who was lucky to be in the right place at the right time and got to play quite a bit of professional music. However, my life was not as sheltered as it might appear.

As for the sexual references in the song. I see the lyrics mention "wind and rain". It seems like I remember hearing a joke about "Hurricane Gussie" on an old Gene Tracy 8 track tape when I was a kid, so that might be a connection.

RC

Don R Brown wrote:

Lee Baucum wrote:

Tony Prior wrote:the band starts playing and the owner comes up and says you're fired or I'm not paying you...and the gig is only 20 min into 4 hours...and the house is packed...

I'd have my gear out in the truck in another 20 minutes!

"Sorry folks, but we've just been fired for playing what YOU wanted to hear. But TOMORROW night, we'll be playing at____, come on out and catch the show there!"

Liked all three of those comments.
I ended up here after Googling for tab of "Wagon Wheel." (If you Google any song and don't get results for SGF, that might be a sign you shouldn't try playing it on a lap steel.)

A few other observations:
1) There was a very similar discussion (maybe more than one) about the song on Mandolin Cafe. One member posted a photo of a sign that one band had, apparently for how much they wanted to be tipped for doing certain songs. I think "Achy Breaky" was on there, and "Wagon Wheel" was at the bottom of the list, at $20.
Some MC readers despised the song, others said "If it gets the crowd up dancing and singing along, we're playing it."
2) I wish Darius Rucker hadn't walked down the middle of that railroad track in the video, or that whatever company owned the track that he was on had told him they wouldn't allow it. As a former Operation Lifesaver, Inc. volunteer, I think pics of celebrities on tracks can encourage kids to go places they shouldn't. There are all kinds of ways to get hurt on railroad property, and being hit by a train is only one way.
3) I wonder if the Boston Pops Orchestra has ever had some doofus yell "Free Bird!" at a concert.

Lots of great comments here. It's good to be back.

Headed from the North in the land of the mines
I'm a'thumbin' my way out'a Mountain Iron
Starin' up the road and I pray to God I see domelights
Made the Twin Cities in six or seven hours
Pickin' me a bouquet a'ladyslipper flowers
I'm a'lopin' to Edina so I can see my baby tonight

Wagon fried chicken wheel

Jack,
And then onto Bird Island!
Erv

Erv Niehaus wrote:Jack,
And then onto Bird Island!
Erv

Yup. Via Cosmos!

Bsrry Zivan, the weatherman: Nodak, Sodak, Minn a Wis and Iwa.
Erv

Runnin' from the heat down here in South 'Zona
I was born to be a harper in a Mill City band
My baby plays a squeeze box I pick a pedal steel
Oh the Southwest summer's keep a'gettin' to me so
Lost my money on a dame now I up and gotta blow
But I ain't turnin' back and fixin' to reinvent the wheel

Good lyrics, Jack.