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Illinois Central Goin' Up To Chicago

from That's The Way It Goes by T. R. Munday

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about

This is a song that could have been sung by a young man leaving home in Mississippi, maybe for the first time, to go up to Chicago, to work. There have been thousands and thousands of people who did just that, to work in the steel mills and stockyards, and factories. A lot of those people made their way north on the Illinois Central railroad, also known as the I.C. Gulf. The crackerjack passenger train on the I.C. Gulf line was the Panama Limited and there was in fact a time when you could ride from Jackson, Mississippi to Chicago, Illinois for $6.23.

lyrics

Illinois Central Goin' Up To Chicago
copyright T R Munday

That railroad train is goin' up to Chicago
Illinois Central goin' to Chicago town
That railroad train is goin' up to Chicago
Me and that train we're both Chicago bound

You can get on board that train right here in Jackson
It's headed north from here in Mississippi
You can get on board that train right here in Jackson
Pass right on through Memphis, Tennessee

My sister Lulu lives up in Chicago
Her husband he's a steady workin' man
My sister Lulu lives up in Chicago
She says come on up there if I can

You've got to have a ticket to ride aboard that train
Ticket cost me six twenty three
You've got to have a ticket to ride aboard that train
And I've got my ticket right here with me

I'm goin' to work at the Pullman factory
Sister says they've got a job for me
I'm goin' to work at the Pullman factory
Might even pay thirty five dollars a week

I said goodbye to mama early yesterday
I stopped by the buryin' ground and stood at papa's grave
I said goodbye to mama early yesterday
Told her I don't know when I'll get back this way

I'm gonna ride that Panama Limited all the way up north
When that train stops movin' well then that's where I get off
I'm gonna ride that Panama Limited all the way up north
When that train stops movin' well them that's when I get off

That railroad train is goin' up to Chicago
Illinois Central goin' to Chicago town
That railroad train is goin' up to Chicago
Me and that train we're both Chicago bound
Yes, me and that train we're both Chicago bound

credits

from That's The Way It Goes, released December 11, 2017

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T. R. Munday Chicago, Illinois

If you enjoy the Blues, check out Anni Piper's vocals and her great bass guitar: annipiper.bandcamp.com

T. R. Munday resides in Northern Illinois, by way of Texas and California.
Musically, he has been most influenced by Mississippi John Hurt, Johnny Cash, and a whole host of Mississippi Delta and Chicago Bluesmen. ... more

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