He's got the lyrics correct. Some versions say "Center" instead of the correct "Spencer". Also some say "Old White Mountain" instead of "White Oak Mountain" the latter being correct. These mistakes are partly due to Vernon Dalhart hearing it wrong. Finally in today's political correctness many are scared to sing the original words "black greasy fireman". ( From a railroad family from Lynchburg, Virginia. )
You are correct, there are many versions. The first recording, by Henry Whitter, was made in 1923, twenty years after the wreck (Vernon Dalhart recorded his version a year later for Victor Talking Machines and it was his version that sold a million copies). The original authors, Fred Lewey and Charles Noell, sang the song all over the region and frequently changed the lyrics; and later versions included "misheard" lyrics like you mentioned. (By the way, the song "Wildwood Flower" underwent the same sort of evolution and the version we know now, as sung by the Carter family, contains so many misheard lyrics from the original that it doesn't even make sense anymore; the original words have been lost to time.) Another lyric that was probably misheard was "on a line with a three mile grade" or "and the lie was a three mile grade". The original line may have been "from Lima is a three mile grade" - it was three miles from Lima Junction to the Stillhouse Trestle where the wreck occurred, or so I read somewhere.
@@michaelbaughman8524 Thank you very much! Your scholarship and knowledge are very interesting! Yes, I believe Lima Station or Depot was a supply depot on White Oak Mountain about 3 miles above the trestle. (By the way Ivy Depot is in Virginia near Charlottesville. About 30 years ago I surprised a Confederate States stamp collector at a stamp show in Biloxi, Mississippi who said, "I'm gonna have to research where that place is". I said, "I know! It's right near Charlottesville. I used to live there!") That's also very interesting regarding the Carter Family. (I'm 80 years old.)
He's got the lyrics correct. Some versions say "Center" instead of the correct "Spencer". Also some say "Old White Mountain" instead of "White Oak Mountain" the latter being correct. These mistakes are partly due to Vernon Dalhart hearing it wrong. Finally in today's political correctness many are scared to sing the original words "black greasy fireman". ( From a railroad family from Lynchburg, Virginia. )
You are correct, there are many versions. The first recording, by Henry Whitter, was made in 1923, twenty years after the wreck (Vernon Dalhart recorded his version a year later for Victor Talking Machines and it was his version that sold a million copies). The original authors, Fred Lewey and Charles Noell, sang the song all over the region and frequently changed the lyrics; and later versions included "misheard" lyrics like you mentioned. (By the way, the song "Wildwood Flower" underwent the same sort of evolution and the version we know now, as sung by the Carter family, contains so many misheard lyrics from the original that it doesn't even make sense anymore; the original words have been lost to time.) Another lyric that was probably misheard was "on a line with a three mile grade" or "and the lie was a three mile grade". The original line may have been "from Lima is a three mile grade" - it was three miles from Lima Junction to the Stillhouse Trestle where the wreck occurred, or so I read somewhere.
@@michaelbaughman8524 Thank you very much! Your scholarship and knowledge are very interesting! Yes, I believe Lima Station or Depot was a supply depot on White Oak Mountain about 3 miles above the trestle. (By the way Ivy Depot is in Virginia near Charlottesville. About 30 years ago I surprised a Confederate States stamp collector at a stamp show in Biloxi, Mississippi who said, "I'm gonna have to research where that place is". I said, "I know! It's right near Charlottesville. I used to live there!") That's also very interesting regarding the Carter Family. (I'm 80 years old.)
I think the picture of Wade looking very earnest in front of an awful trainwreck is hilarious.