Trains coming, loves leaving

I love trains.   I grew up in a railroad town.  My father and grandfather worked on the railroad.  I went to sleep each night, for 18 years, to the sound of trains passing through the mountains, train whistles calling in the night,  train wheels clack-clack-clacking along the tracks across the river heading to or coming from the yards. Whenever I hear one today, it's like a song from the past taking root again ... and I get very ... nostalgic.

American songwriter Steve Goodman wrote a song later made famous by Arlo Guthrie, about a train called the "City of New Orleans."  Yeah, you know the one I mean.  :)  They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery.  Singer/songwriter Joe Dassin (son of Jules Dassin the film director), in 1972 took the melody from this song about a train and with the words (in French) of  Richelle Dassin and Claude Lemesle and a new arrangement, turned it into a meloncholic song, in French, about the end of a love affair.  (The couple in the song still love one another, they just weren't meant to live together, and they have things to talk about, say the lyrics.)

I was sitting outside on the patio at a family gathering one evening last summer when--as often happens when all the family gets together--everyone started singing.  One of the songs was "Salut les amoureux".  I didn't know the words but I sure recognized that melody!  This song is enormously popular here in Québec, even after more than 30 years. I say this because anytime it's played, I notice everyone up and starts singing along, and they all know ALL the words. 

Here's Arlo Guthrie, in 1978, in Atlanta, Georgia, performing with Shenandoah (my favorite version):

And now, its French adaptation, as "Salut les amoureux" ("Hello, Lovers", referring to a line in the song where neighbors pass by and call out to the couple, unaware that they are splitting up.)

There are lots of other versions out there, take your pick:  In English, by Steve Goodman, Willie Nelson,  John Denver,  Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, and Jerry Reed ; in German (by Rudi Carrell: "Wann wird's mal wieder richtig"); in Finnish (by Karma: "Huomenta Suomi"), and finally, by a bunch of people at some gathering, singing their hearts out, in French. 

Music transcends borders, it brings people together. We may not always understand the words, but the melodies can be, and frequently are, enjoyed and shared and played, again and again.

For any sing-along buffs out there, here are the respective lyrics: first in English,  then French. Hop the train, pull out your guitar and join in!

THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS

Ridin’ on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday morning rail
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
Three conductors, and twenty-five sacks of mail.
All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out of Kankakee
and rolls along past houses, farms and fields.
Passing trains that have no name
Freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles

CHORUS:
Good morning, America, how are ya?
Say, don’t ya know me? I’m your native son!
I’m the train they call the City of New Orleans
I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done.

Dealin’ cards with the old men in the club car,
Penny a point, ain’t no one keepin’ score.
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle,
Feel the wheels rumblin’ ‘neath the floor.
And the sons of pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers’ magic carpet made of steel.
Mothers with their babes asleep
Are rockin’ to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.

CHORUS:
Good morning, America, how are ya?
Say, don’t ya know me? I’m your native son!
I’m the train they call the City of New Orleans
I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done.

Night time on the City of New Orleans,
Changin’ cars in Memphis, Tennessee.
Halfway home and we’ll be there by morning,
To the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea.
But all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rails still ain’t heard the news.
The conductor sings his songs again,
The passangers will please refrain,
This train’s got the disappearing railroad blues.

CHORUS:
Good night, America, how are ya?
I say, don’t ya know me, I’m your native son.
I’m the train they call the City of New Orleans,
I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done. [1]

And now in French:

SALUT LES AMOUREUX

Les matins se suivent et se ressemblent
Quand l'amour fait place au quotidien
On était pas fait pour vivre ensemble
Ça n'suffit pas toujours de s'aimer bien
C'est drôle hier on s'ennuyait
Et c'est à peine si l'on trouvait
Les mots pour se parler du mauvais temps
Et maintenant qu'il faut partir
On a cent milles choses à dire
Qui tiennent trop à coeur pour si peu de temps

CHORUS:
On s'est aimé comme on se quitte
Tout simplement sans penser à demain
A demain qui vient toujours un peu trop vite
Aux adieux qui quelques fois se passent un peu trop bien

On fait c'qu'il faut on tien nos rôles
On se regarde on rit on craint un peu
On a toujours oublié quelques choses
C'est pas facile de se dire adieu
Et l'on sait trop bien que tôt ou tard
Demain peut-être ou même ce soir
On va se dire que tout n'est pas perdu
De ce roman inachevé
On va se faire un conte de fée
Mais on a passé l'âge on n'y croirait plus

CHORUS:
On s'est aimé comme on se quitte
Tout simplement sans penser à demain
A demain qui vient toujours un peu trop vite
Aux adieux qui quelques fois se passent un peu trop bien

Roméo Juliette et tous les autres
Au fond de vos bouquins dormer en paix
Une simple histoire comme la nôtre
Est le seul qu'on écrira jamais
Allons petite il faut partir
Laisser ici nos souvenirs
On va descendre ensemble si tu veux
Et quand elle va nous voir passer
La patronne du café
Elle va encore nous dire salut les amoureux

CHORUS:
On s'est aimé comme on se quitte
Tout simplement sans penser à demain
A demain qui vient toujours un peu trop vite
Aux adieux qui quelques fois se passent un peu trop bien. [2]