{"id":28251,"date":"2026-01-04T18:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T18:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertandrews.net\/songs\/?p=28251"},"modified":"2026-01-04T18:10:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T18:10:36","slug":"wabash-cannonball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robertandrews.net\/songs\/wabash-cannonball\/","title":{"rendered":"Wabash Cannonball"},"content":{"rendered":"<pre class=\"xNWlr hjutX PBFx0\" style=\"font-size: 13px;\"><input type='hidden' bg_collapse_expand='69ea617c490124041471164' value='69ea617c490124041471164'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-69ea617c490124041471164' value='MORE INFO'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-69ea617c490124041471164' value='Show Less'><button id='bg-showmore-action-69ea617c490124041471164' class='bg-showmore-plg-button bg-orange-button  '   style=\" color:#4a4949;\">MORE INFO<\/button><div id='bg-showmore-hidden-69ea617c490124041471164' >This is song is a piece of history; with many, many variations on lyrics. This set of lyrics comes from my mother&apos;s fakebook. (Her fakebook is comprised of sheets from various fiddle books she got at music shops when she was a teenager around 1970, so I&apos;m not sure the source.) [Wikipedia: Its first documented appearance was on sheet music published in 1882, titled \"The G reat Rock Island Route\" and credited to J. A. Roff. All subsequent versions contain a variation of the ch orus. ... The Carter Family made one of the first recordings of the song in 1929, though it was not relea sed until1932. Another popular version was recorded by Roy Acuff in 1936.] https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wabash_Cannonball According to an article posted to HistoryNewsNetwork.org by James W Loewen on on Jun 23, 2013, the destinations listed in the song are likely a mix of places along The Great Rock Island Route and the Wabash tracks: Two different railroads. The Wabash connected Chicago to St. Louis. It also went to Detroit and Kansas City. The \"jungle\" may refer to \"hobo jungles\" at the edge of train yards. http:\/\/historynewsnetwork.org\/blog\/152354#sthash.81ryCsW5.dpuf According to a forum post by \"Thelma Phillips\" on Feb 16, 2002, \"In 1984 I wrote to Roy Acuff, and asked him who \"Daddy Claxton\" was and who wrote that verse. He answered me and said \"Nobody knows who wrote the Wabash Cannon Ball\". http:\/\/archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com\/th\/read\/CLAXTON\/2002-02\/1013842193<\/div>\r\n \r\n-----\r\n \r\n[Verse 1]\r\n<span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>                                                 <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"C\">C<\/span>\r\nFrom the great Atlantic Ocean to the wide Pacific shore,\r\n            <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"D\">D<\/span>                                                <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>\r\nTo the green old flow'ring mountains, to the ice-bound Labrador\r\n<span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>                                                     <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"C\">C<\/span>\r\nShe's long and tall and handsome and known quite well to all.\r\n<span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"D\">D<\/span>                                                          <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>\r\nShe's the modern combination called the Wabash Cannonball.\r\n \r\n{ CHORUS }\r\n<span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>                                           <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"C\">C<\/span>\r\nSo listen to the jingle, the jumble and the roar\r\n           <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"D\">D<\/span>                                                        <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>\r\nas she glides along the woodlands, through the hills and by the shore.\r\n<span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>                                                            <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"C\">C<\/span>\r\nHear the mighty rush of the engine, and the lonesome hoboes squall,\r\n          <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"D\">D<\/span>                                               <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>\r\nWhile riding through the jungle on the Wabash Cannonball.\r\n \r\n[Verse 2]\r\n<span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>                                                <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"C\">C<\/span>\r\nShe came in from Birmingham on a cold and frosty day.\r\n        <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"D\">D<\/span>                                                  <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>\r\nAs she rolled into the station, you could hear the people say,\r\n <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>                                                            <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"C\">C<\/span>\r\n\"There\u2019s a gal out there form Tennessee, she\u2019s long, boy, and tall.\r\n<span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"D\">D<\/span>                                                          <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>\r\nShe's the modern combination called the Wabash Cannonball.\"\r\n \r\n{ CHORUS }\r\n<span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>                                           <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"C\">C<\/span>\r\nSo listen to the jingle, the jumble and the roar\r\n           <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"D\">D<\/span>                                                        <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>\r\nas she glides along the woodlands, through the hills and by the shore.\r\n<span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"G\">G<\/span>                                                            <span class=\"iGhjU xXjiq VcfKs\" style=\"color: var(--ug-color-text-primary);\" data-name=\"C\">C<\/span>\r\nHear the mighty rush of the engine, and the lonesome hoboes squall,\r\n          D                                               G\r\nWhile riding through the jungle on the Wabash Cannonball.\r\n \r\n[Verse 3]\r\n        G                                           C\r\nNow the Eastern states are dandy, so all the people say,\r\n     D                                          G\r\nFrom New York to Saint Louis and Chicago by the way,\r\n         G                                             C\r\nFrom the lakes of Minnehaha where the laughing waters fall,\r\n    D                                                   G\r\nNo change in standard gauging on the Wabash Cannonball.\r\n \r\n{ CHORUS }\r\nG                                           C\r\nSo listen to the jingle, the jumble and the roar\r\n           D                                                        G\r\nas she glides along the woodlands, through the hills and by the shore.\r\nG                                                            C\r\nHear the mighty rush of the engine, and the lonesome hoboes squall,\r\n          D                                               G\r\nWhile riding through the jungle on the Wabash Cannonball.<\/pre>\n<div class=\"vxv2A\">X<\/div>\n<pre class=\"xNWlr hjutX PBFx0\" style=\"font-size: 13px;\"><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8212;&#8211; [Verse 1] G C From the great Atlantic Ocean to the wide Pacific shore, D G To the green old flow&#8217;ring mountains, to the ice-bound Labrador G C She&#8217;s long and tall and handsome and known quite well to all. D G She&#8217;s the modern combination called the Wabash &hellip; <span class=\"more-button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.robertandrews.net\/songs\/wabash-cannonball\/\" class=\"more-link\">CLICK TO VIEW SONG<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Wabash Cannonball<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertandrews.net\/songs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertandrews.net\/songs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertandrews.net\/songs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertandrews.net\/songs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertandrews.net\/songs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28251"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertandrews.net\/songs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28253,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertandrews.net\/songs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28251\/revisions\/28253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertandrews.net\/songs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertandrews.net\/songs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertandrews.net\/songs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}