Ten Favorite Train Songs: Take the "A" Train (#3)

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The final bend is in sight for my trip through my ten favorite songs that have the word "train" in the title. I have a similar series with songs about trains that don't actually have the word "train" in the title. The number three song from that series will come after this classic. #3: Take the "A" Train - Homer & Jethro One of the most classic songs in jazz history!! This goes back to the late 1930s and, when recorded by Sir Duke in 1941, became one of the great standards in music, not just jazz. So why am I picking the legendary Country Hall of Fame "song butchers," Homer & Jethro, for the version? Two reasons. First, tomorrow (3/10) is the 97th anniversary of Jethro's birth. Secondly, and more significantly, one of the best-kept secrets in music history was the fact that Homer & Jethro were musicians' musicians. No less than Chet Atkins said that Homer was "the finest rhythm guitarist of our time." Gonna argue with him? Now, granted, he might have been a little biased because he more or less got his start with Homer & Jethro in Knoxville in the 1940s....or that he and Jethro were brothers-in-law. (They were married to identical twin sisters, prompting Jethro to frequently quip, "People always ask me and Chet how we tell our wives apart. We never try.") Amid their Grammy-winning comedy career they managed to sneak out a number of "straight" albums. One of my favorite H&J albums is Zany Songs of the 30s, where they recorded perfectly straight versions of novelty songs they grew up listening to. Then there were their highly-acclaimed (still, to this day!) instrumental albums, Playing It Straight and It Ain't Necessarily Square, where they put the jokes aside and showed just how well they could play their instruments. Homer died in 1971; Jethro died in 1989. Their influence, however, is still heard in the jazz-influenced mandolin licks of people from Sam Bush to David Grisman and the rhythm playing of Ranger Doug of Riders in the Sky. Take the "A" Train Written by Billy Strayhorn Recorded by Homer & Jethro From It Ain't Necessarily Square, 1966 (Most famously by Duke Ellington, 1941) Enjoy: