NIGHT TRAIN (James Brown and the Famous Flames)
“Night Train” is a twelve-bar blues instrumental standard first recorded by Jimmy Forrest in 1951. James Brown recorded “Night Train” with his band in 1961. His performance replaced the original lyrics of the song with a shouted list of cities on his East Coast touring itinerary (and hosts to black radio stations he hoped would play his music) along with many repetitions of the song’s name. (More from Wikipedia)
Many of James Brown’s songs were taken from catchphrases of the day – some that he picked up on, others that he popularized – such as “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World”, “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine”, “Say it Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud”, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”, “Don’t Be a Dropout”, “Night Train”, etc.
(October 2013)
