Paul shared the last video of this year’s train series a couple of days ago. He took a different track for the this last one 🙂
He did an analysis of one of his favorite train songs: “All Aboard” written by Eugene Patrick Ellsworth, Charles Edward Stefl, and Bradley Ross Rodgers. The song has become one of the Del McCoury Band’s most popular songs.
Harris Kaplan, who manages the Less Than Face Productions YouTube channel, graciously allowed Paul to use his wonderful video of Del and the gang doing the song.
We sure hope you enjoyed this year’s train series!! Be sure to jump over to Less Than Face Productions YouTube channel and check out the wonderful videos Harris has and be sure to tell him we sent you!
I really enjoyed Paul’s analysis of the song. I must admit although I’ve heard it many times I’ve never looked at the way Paul does. But after hearing him discuss all the different parts of the song I’ll never hear it the same way again and I like it even more than I did before.
We’re all fans of The Del McCoury Band. Like Paul we’ve been lucky to see them a couple of times and enjoyed their show. Their music is amazing, their singing is great, and as Paul said their song choices are always interesting. But one of the main reasons I like them so much is Del himself. He seems so much like the men who used to come around to pick and grin with Pap. From his friendly smile right down to his hair he seems like someone who lives down the road a piece 🙂
Today’s Thankful November Giveaway is one Pap and Paul’s cds “Songs of Christmas.” Leave a comment on this post to be entered. *Giveaway ends December 1, 2022. To pick up your own copy of the cd go here.
Original singles released on Spotify.
Shepherd of My Soul (Album released in 2016).
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Sometimes I’m late to comment but thought I would anyways. Paul I’ve never heard that song but I did enjoy it. Because it moved so fast, I might not have heard some of the words but I definitely thought it was a gospel song. Your critiquing it certainly brought out a few meanings of understanding words I apparently didn’t catch. I was amazed that I did understand a lot of the implied scenes portrayed in the song as it moved so fast. You mentioned how the different instruments could sound like a train whistle or the train coming down the track making a clickety clack sound transporting the listener back to a time they may have heard the train. Growing up as a kid, the train track was maybe 1/2 mile from where I lived but you could hear the whistle at night. Now I’m in another state and I live about a mile from a train track. When I heard that train whistle at night, it transports me right back to such a comforting time.
Thank you, Paul, for a great sermon!
I, too, really like this song. From the first time I heard it I knew it had a great message. I really appreciate your discussion and interpretation of the lyrics. I have one comment concerning the cookie jar. I have heard in movies and read in books references to the cookie jar as a place to keep money. I took the cookie jar reference to mean they were concerned more about money than anything else. I enjoy your family music videos. Also, the train series. Now I’m looking forward to the story song series. Thanks.
Great exposition. I listen now with much more appreciation for what the musicians and songwriters were/are conveying. Awesome sermon in song, a modern day parable set to music.
I really enjoy the music and would like to be the fortunate winner of this CD
My daughter has been playing Christmas music for over a month now, I’ve actually listened to “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” in July before.
I really enjoy your family’s music! I’d love the opportunity to add this cd to my collection.
I love Christmas Music and would love to have this CD! I have been listening to Christmas music for about a month now!!
Hello, I recently stumbled on to your content through YouTube and I’m hooked. I’m a Baptist preacher from Wellington, Ohio with two daughters, 11 and 13. We live in an area of northern Ohio I call the “Hillbilly Line”. In the 1950s Ford, GM, and the steel plants in Lorain sent buses to central West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky for young men eager to work. Many of these men weren’t comfortable in the outskirts of Cleveland so they moved just far enough away to rural areas where they could still drive to work every day. As a result, there is an imaginary line all the way across northern Ohio of people transplanted from Appalachia 60 to 70 years ago. My family is from deep in Gilmer county, West Virginia. Much of my family still lives there and from time to time I get to visit and preach at some of the churches I remember as a child. I so appreciate what you and your family are doing in preserving the culture, especially your precious girls and the music they make. I also grew up deep in bluegrass and gospel music, singing and playing and just getting together to jam at someone’s house. Some of the videos I’ve seen of your girls have made me weep with thoughts of my childhood, precious memories indeed. As the Bible says, I believe my spirit bears witness with your spirit and I believe we all have a duty to pass the way of life we’ve known to the next generation. Keep up all the good work, keep posting, and God bless!
1 John 5:20
I’d love the chance to add this CD to our Christmas collection! Thank you!
I’ve really enjoyed this year’s train series. I think Paul and the rest of your family are very talented and are very humble when talking about it because I think they’re just as good if not better than any other musicians I’ve heard. 🙂 I’ve lived close to railroad tracks about all my life so the sounds of a train are comforting to me. Paul did a wonderful job with this series! 🙂
Paul revealed what a great teacher he is in addition to his other many talents. Critiquing “All Aboard” as he did reminded me of teachers past who helped me understand the deeper meanings in some poetry. Songs are just poems put to music, I think.
I commented on this video in yesterday’s BP&A.
I loved all of the train songs. I would love to win the CD
Paul, thank you for sharing this amazing song, but most of all, thanks for the analysis. Being hard of hearing I normally appreciate the music of a song and cannot decipher the lyrics well enough to understand and appreciate the meanings it is conveying. This is possibly the best video I’ve seen in a very long time.
I love reading and hearing Paul talk about music!
Paul, thank you for taking the time to do such an outstanding analysis of this song and I really have enjoyed the train series. I bought the cd, “Songs of Christmas” last year and my husband and I just love it! It’s one of our favorites. Have a blessed Sunday everyone!!
This Acorn enjoys anything that Pap and Paul plays and sings. Their Christmas song CD would be a cherished prize should I win it.
I’ve really enjoyed the train series! My Grandad worked for the railroad in southeast Kentucky, so trains have always been fascinating to me. For some reason, trains and bluegrass (mountain) music seem to go hand in hand and I love them both!
I enjoyed the ‘train series’! My main musical tastes lean toward early rock & roll, blues, jazz, rockabilly and swing. I like bluegrass gospel, but have never really ’embraced’ it. That said, I really enjoyed ‘All Aboard’. Having never heard this song, as it was playing, I picked up on a couple of verses and thought to myself, ‘this song is about traveling through life and ultimately death. However, I did not pick up on the God references. This song is well written and very thought evoking. Tks for sharing it!
Del McCoury and his band have always been a favorite of mine.
I have really enjoyed the train series and learned so much about the songs and writers. Thank you for a wonderful series
As a big Del McCoury fan, I greatly enjoyed this song as I have many times before. Beyond that, Paul’s analysis is an outstanding, extended intellectual excursion into literary criticism. He touches on a number of threads or themes in the song and, in doing so, provides us a striking reminder of the fact that all too frequently we listen to a song, enjoy it, yet fail to pay heed to the lyrics.
This could have been a fine lecture in an advanced college class in a variety of fields–religious studies, musical composition, literary criticism, and the like.
I lack the knowledge, and quite possibly the mental acuity, to comprehend much of what he says about the actual music, but I suspect it is just as powerful as the remainder of Paul’s commentary.
The Del McCoury Band is really terrific and I’ve seen them perform before. The talent of each band member is really something to witness! I’d travel to see them and they are well worth seeing. The video clarity is impressive as well. When the heat is on under the lights and you’re sweating bullets, that’s where the rubber meets the road… I got no idea on half times. I myself believe we live in HALF of everything… lol- a true musician just makes it happen! I almost feel the wheels getting faster and hear the train whistle in this music. Good stuff, Paul.
Like you, I never would have noticed very much of what Paul pointed out by just listening the the band. I took music appreciation as a fine arts requirement in college. I do hear a lot that many others don’t but nothing like Paul does.
I had never heard that song before, but those guys really did it well.
I look forward every day to these NC posts. Your site’s daily connection to history is such a wonderful education of your traditions. Thanks for your dedication!
Terrific analysis! Thank you, Paul!
Wow! Great song with Paul’s phenomenal explanation. Thank you!
That was fascinating! I felt as if I was sitting in the most intriguing literature class being schooled by a knowledgeable, wise professor. (It has been awhile.) Thank you, Paul. You preach The Word well.
Wow! That sound and energy is amazing. I have a whole new appreciation of the part each instrument plays in joining in to make the train songs so lifelike. I’ve lived near active train tracks for a portion of my life and trains hold a facination for me. Thanks Paul, for sharing your knowledge and talent.
I love the music your family and friends play. This cd would be enjoyed!
Love it when famous ppl can seem like “we really knew of them!” My husband and I often see older characters on tv and say exactly what you said “they could be grandpa Carls best friend!” …..and what a compliment we are giving them (grandpa Carl was the greatest man we ever knew.) BTW…..have you see the Dollmaker tv movie with Jane Fonda? Watched it yesterday, I think it was made in the 70’s…she portrayed Gertie very well, definitely worth watching if you haven’t seen it. It’s fine rst day of Advent at our church and I was asked to light the first candle, The Candle of Hope….what a glorious candle that is, hope in eternal life, thanks to you Jesus, my Lord and Savior, I love so dearly. Happy Sunday all!
This is great! Love me some Del McCoury Band! We have been blessed to see them as well. I love how Paul takes us through the song and explains all the sounds, feels and the real meaning. I will hear it with new ears now. Thank you, Paul! May the Lord be glorified!
WOW,WOW,WOW WOW AND WOW AGAIN! LOVE THIS ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
Wow! Paul had a lot to say this morning. I know you to be a thinker, but this was more than I expected. I really appreciate your analysis of the song. It was way more than I expected. I have never heard this kind of analysis of a song before….and I’ll be thinking about it for a while.
Our family is loving stories of yours. We are Ozark transplants from the city and are loving a fundamental, self-sustaining life. Your family and blogs show this life should be lived for generations. Thank you!
Such a great song and I agree, I love that hair style. The one thing I did notice right away is being called an ‘acorn’…I guess I do fit that name as I do love all you have been kind enough to share with the rest of us ‘acorns’…Have a Blessed Sunday and hope to finish Dorie again later today.