Big Train (From Memphis)

Background

"Big Train (From Memphis)" is the B-side of "The Old Man Down the Road", the first 45 rpm single John Fogerty released in 1984 after the hiatus of eight and a half years. The song was recorded at The Plant Studios in San Francisco and engineered by Jeffrey Norman and Mark Slagle. The single came out on December 6th, 1984. It peaked at #38 in the US country chart. The tune also appears on the Centerfield album which went #1 in the USA.

After the members of Creedence Clearwater won the years long court battle over their life savings in spring 1983, the burden lifted, and John Fogerty felt that he could finally write again. "Big Train (From Memphis", a rockabilly and a tribute to the Sun Records, was one of the new songs. 

John Fogerty wrote most of Centerfield in his blue Landcruiser. But it was not easy to find a place where he could write alone, without people staring at him. Then he got an idea to park his car between two other vehicles at El Cerrito Plaza or in front of somebody's houses. He listened to music, smoked a couple of cigars, pulled out his notebook and wrote. In his autobiography (2105) he supposes "Big Train" was written this way.  

Recording session

After watching the baseball All-Star game at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on the second week of July 1984, Fogerty booked the Plant Studios in Sausalito, California, and recorded six first tracks for the forthcoming Centerfield album. After letting Warner Bros executives hear them he was showed a green light. He headed for The Plant Studios and recorded the rest of the album, including "Big Train (From Memphis)". Fogerty played all the instruments by himself. Because he worked from detailed demos (which he recorded at his studio in Albany before heading for The Plant Studios) and notes, recording was straightforward and painless (Scott Isler, interview with John Fogerty, Time, January 28th, 1985; Scott Isler, interview with John Fogerty, Musician (US), March 1985)

In "Big Train", Fogerty used a Tele-type guitar manufactured by Philip Kubicki (1943-2013). It had a sound that was between a Telecaster and a Rickenbacker. The guitar was built of light swamp ash and had three Seymour Duncan pick-ups that could be combined to give a lot of different sounds, among them the strat-like "out-of-phase" that you can hear on "Big Train". A Centerfield poster shows Fogerty with the guitar (Lars Bundesen).  

Trivia

Fogerty borrowed the song's descending bass riff from "Cross-Tie Walker". 

Collector's notes

The single (Warner-Pioneer P 1944) was released in Japan with a different cover sleeve on February 25th, 1985.  

"The Old Man Down the Road", coupled with "Big Train (From Memphis)", was also launched as a 12" maxi single (Bellaphon 120 07 140) in Germany in December 1984.   (Peter Koers, Green River: The Illustrated Discography, 1999).  

Live versions

Concert goers heard the live version of "Big Train" on the John Fogerty Rockin' All Over the World Tour in 1986 and Blue Moon Swamp Tour in 1997. The premiere took place in Memphis, Tennessee, on August 27, 1986.

After 1997 the live version went on sleep for years. On the Deja Vu Tour, which was kicked off in November 2004, it was only heard in three concerts: Asheville, North Carolina, on November 9, Atlanta, Georgia, next day, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on November 18.  

"Big Train (From Memphis)" made a return to the set list in spring 2009.  It was delivered in every other concert, on the average, and almost each concert next summer. This time Fogerty and the band played an extended version which also featured a fiddle solo by session man Jason Mowery who had joined the John Fogerty band in spring 2008. From the year 2011 onwards, the song was played in fewer and fewer concerts and in summer 2014 it was only performed twice (Atlantic City, New Jersey and Toledo, Ohio). 

From the autumn tour 2013 onwards, soundboard recordings of the concerts of John Fogerty have been officially available as files. 

The song doesn't appear on any of the three concert DVDs John Fogerty has released. Instead, it was seen as an online stream through Youtube on June 13th, 2010, when Fogerty performed at Bonnaroo Festival  in Manchester, Tennessee, USA.  

Critical reception

"Fogerty was always excellent at recreating rockabilly slapback-echo ambience, and he gets that sound and feel down perfectly here." -Houston Post, January 20th, 1985. 

"It sounds, indeed, like something straight out of the Sun Studios but its effect is of a tradition being perpetuated, not parodied." -The Scotsman, UK, February 16th, 1985. 

"--- perhaps the most eloquent Elvis tribute yet recorded." -Musician, US, March 1985. 

"Fogerty's tribute to Elvis Presley has never been one of my favorites, but I'm hard-pressed to find anything wrong with it! There is nice guitar work, but I think his voice is too tender and gentle for my liking. He sounds like this in other songs I enjoy more, but I don't think the tone is appropriate for this particular tune." -Matt Loewen. 

“--- a pure country rocker through and through, so authentic that it sounds like it must be a cover (although its not)." -Classic Rock Review, July 28th, 2015. 

Fans' views

"First, it's a really cool song about Elvis. Second, it reminds me of listening to the radio at night when I was a little kid. I was supposed to be in bed asleep, but instead I was listening to rock and roll on the radio under my pillow."

Class of '55 appearance

John Fogerty, The Judds, Dave Edmunds, Ricky Nelson, Sam Phillips, and June Carter Cash performed "Big Train (From Memphis)" on the Sun Records' Tribute LP Class of '55. It was recorded in September 1985 and released on May 26th, 1986. 

Dick Clark Productions filmed the sessions. They featured Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Ricky Nelson and others recording the songs, including "Big Train". The film, titled  Coming Home: A Reunion, was aired in the USA in 1989.  

previous | next