Tex Beneke & Glenn Miller Orchestra - Chattanooga Choo Choo from "Sun Valley Serenade" (1941) words by Mack Gordon, music by Harry Warren
Pardon me, boy Is that the Chattanooga choo choo? Track twenty-nine Boy, you can gimme a shine I can afford To board a Chattanooga choo choo I've got my fare And just a trifle to spare
You leave the Pennsylvania Station 'bout a quarter to four Read a magazine and then you're in Baltimore Dinner in the diner Nothing could be finer Than to have your ham an' eggs in Carolina
When you hear the whistle blowin' eight to the bar Then you know that Tennessee is not very far Shovel all the coal in Gotta keep it rollin' Woo, woo, Chattanooga there you are
There's gonna be A certain party at the station Satin and lace I used to call "funny face" She's gonna cry Until I tell her that I'll never roam So Chattanooga choo choo Won't you choo-choo me home? Chattanooga choo choo Won't you choo-choo me home?
History This song was written by the team of Mack Gordon and Harry Warren while traveling on the Southern Railway's "Birmingham Special" train. The song tells the story of travelling from New York City to Chattanooga. However, the inspiration for the song was a small, wood-burning steam locomotive of the 2-6-0 type which belonged to the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, which is now part of the Norfolk Southern Railway system. That train is now a museum artifact. From 1880, most trains bound for America's South passed through the southeastern Tennessee city of Chattanooga, often on to the super-hub of Atlanta. The Chattanooga Choo Choo did not refer to any particular train, though some have incorrectly asserted that it referred to Louisville and Nashville's Dixie Flyer or the Southern Railway's Crescent Limited.
