Train I ride sixteen coaches long, Train I ride sixteen coaches long, Well, that long black train carries my baby home …
The song Mystery Train, recorded on July 11, 1955, by Elvis Presley at Sun Studios in Memphis, is known to be an "enduring classic". The song was released on the Sun label by owner and producer Sam Philips. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 77 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs Of All Time".
The song was the B-side for the single, I Forgot To Remember To Forget, and the two songs charted on Billboard's national country music chart in 1955, enabling Presley to become known as country music star (he was already shaking up and promoting rock'n'roll).
But many people have no idea that Mystery Train was actually written by Junior Parker, an African-American blues singer and harmonica player, noted for his smooth, "honeyed" voice. The Elvis release shows that the song is credited to Junior Parker and producer Sam Philips. How Philips came to acquire a 50% share of Parker's work is unclear but the practice was common during the 50s and 60s. Long-time readers of the column will remember a previous column on how Richard Berry did not receive much in the way of royalties for his famous R&B song Louie Louie until late in his life.
Parker, who was discovered by talent scout Ike Turner (who created one of the earliest rock'n'roll songs Rocket 88) in 1952, signed a contract with Sun Records in 1953 and in the label's Memphis studio recorded and released three successful songs, Feelin' Good, Love My Baby and Mystery Train. Interestingly, the latter two songs became rockabilly standards.
Producer Sam Philips "borrowed" guitar riffs from Parker's Sun recordings like Love My Baby; and when you think how influential Elvis' productions were on rockabilly, rock'n'roll and country music guitar styles, which made a legend of Scotty Moore, you can begin to see just how important an artist like Little Junior Parker was for the development of popular music in the USA in the mid-20th century.
Little Junior Parker began his singing career in gospel churches and in his teenage years, he learned to play the blues harmonica from legend Sonny Boy Williamson II. He joined Howling Wolf's band briefly in the late 19040s before settling in Memphis and performing with a loose collective of blues musicians on Beale Street, known as the Beale Streeters, which included singer Bobby "Blue" Bland and young guitarist B.B. King.
After his brief success with Sun Records, he joined Bland to headline the Blues Consolidated Revue, which performed on the Southern Blues Circuit. He also joined Duke Records and enjoyed a string of R&B hits well into the 1960s, releasing both covers and original songs. However, his career declined somewhat after he left Duke in 1966, although he did record with organ maestro Jimmy McGriff in 1970, just before his untimely death at 39 from a brain tumour.
What marks out Junior Parker from other Chicago style R&B bandleaders (think of Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf as examples of the Chicago style) was that he moved away from that sound and more towards a blend of R&B and soul. Little Milton also had a similar blues and soul sound that featured a large ensemble and a hot brass section. He seemed to recognise that African-American music had moved on from the 50s R&B era to the full-on funk and soul that would flower in the 60s but his "laid-back" attitude meant that he never made the crossover to mainstream audiences.
Sadly, the man who was mellow before California discovered what that even meant, never really got to see his music tour the world. Junior Parker died on the operating table on Nov 18, 1971, aged 39, just a year after another laid back bluesman Slim Harpo (the most lugubrious harmonica player of all time) died of a heart attack on the eve of his breakout European tour. And yet few people now remember either of these influential and distinctive musicians.
But back to Mystery Train. Research suggests that the origin of Parker's song, particularly the lyrics, came from the Carter Family's Worried Man Blues, which in turn probably came from an old Celtic ballad. And the version Parker ended up writing was recorded with his Blue Flames Band between September and October 1953. The version that Robbie Robertson and The Band recorded for The Last Waltz includes additional lyrics written by Robertson.
You can hear this great Sun Records release, along with Feelin' Good and Love My Baby and 28 songs recorded for the Duke label, on the excellent compilation Little Junior Parker Rocks (Bear Family). The compilation includes some of his hits from the 60s like Annie Get Your Yo-Yo and covers of standards like Sweet Home Chicago.
On his 1974 album …Explores Your Mind, soul singer Al Green opens his song Take Me To The River to Parker with a spoken introduction which dedicates the song to "a cousin of mine who's gone on, and we'd kinda like to carry on his name". Little Junior Parker -- the man who wrote Mystery Train.
John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
