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"The Wabash Cannonball" is an American folk song about a fictional train,
thought to have originated in the late 19th century. Its first documented
appearance was on sheet music published in 1882, titled "The Great Rock
Island Route" and credited to J. A. Roff. It comes from hobo tradition of a
train that collects the souls of dead hobos to carry them to their reward.
The train is obviously fictional since, despite the lyrics, both the Rock
Island Railroad and the Wabash Railroad were short lines and neither one of
them reached either the Atlantic or Pacific coasts.
A rewritten version by William Kindt appeared in 1904 under the title "Wabash
Cannon Ball". The Carter Family made one of the first recordings of the song
in 1929, though it was not released until 1932. Another popular version was
recorded by Roy Acuff in 1936. The Acuff version is one of the fewer than 40
all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide.
The Banjo Jammers do this with tenor banjos. It is printed in Pete Seeger's American Favorite Ballads. Other hobo songs in this collection are:
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