Freight Train
November 14, 2012
Sometimes a freight train goes by in the middle of the night and shakes the houseboats in their moorings and wakes all of us up when the whistle blows.
When this happens, I often skate along the surface of sleep for a while with this beautiful song by Elizabeth Cotten on my mind. Legend has it she wrote it when she was eleven years old.
Photographs, uncredited on this youtube video’s page, are by my dear friend, Michael Mathers. I was surprised to see them with no name attached. The photographs are from his book, Riding the Rails, published by Gambit. So often the digital age shows little respect for this sort of thing.
And yet, speaking of the digital age, it has brought about something quite wonderful for Alice, heading toward her fast as a freight train and carrying a load of fun. More on that soon.
And more about Elizabeth Cotten here.
November 14, 2012 at 12:57 pm
have alwasy loved that song, what a thrill to hear the original writer – and she’s quite a picker too!
November 14, 2012 at 1:41 pm
Elizabeth Cotten played locally on rare occasions when I lived in Syracuse, and I was lucky enough to get to see her perform in a small cafe in the mid ’80′s, shortly before her death. She was gentle, warm, personable, and very straight forward. She had recently won a national honor and had been declared a “national treasure”. She shared with us the sad irony of this award, given that she had been living in poverty for many years and the award had no financial component to it. With a quiet smile and no bitterness she said she didn’t feel any better off, being a National Treasure.
And speaking of names being left off of artists’ creative works, “Freight Train” was picked up by different musicians without Cotten receiving credit. In the end, she had to pursue legal means to attain a 1/3 share ownership of the song. If she had received full rights and royalties from the get go, I have to wonder if her later years might have been more comfortable.
November 14, 2012 at 1:45 pm
Correction to above, my memory was a little bit off, the term was “living treasure”.
November 14, 2012 at 2:18 pm
Thank you for including Elizabeth Cotten today, Andrea, and for the extra link to more about her and her storied career. What a woman! Love her.
November 14, 2012 at 3:29 pm
Libba Cotten was friends with friends John and Irene Ullman who were folk music organizers and thus she visited Reed/Portland often back in the day (mid-70s). I got to hear her in person, in small rooms and living rooms, and meet her gentle spirit. Instant memory flash! Nice to see Michael’s pictures, too. Thank you Courtney for naming the injustices surrounding her life as an artist … it was only through an act of fate (meeting the Seegars and going to work in their household) that her virtuosity was known at all. The pain of the world is deep, and yet art keeps us going. Thank you Elizabeth Cotten and Andrea and Michael and so many artists on this blog community.
November 14, 2012 at 8:49 pm
Engine Evie and Hot Shot Sue thank you and Michael for a great life lived and stories to tell.
November 14, 2012 at 11:09 pm
I was married a long time ago to a boy who was a folklorist and a musicologist. We listened to Elizabeth Cotten. Wow.
November 15, 2012 at 1:43 pm
I had no idea that so many roads would lead back to Elizabeth (Libba) Cotten. Another reader sent an e-mail about this post. She said she had read it on the plane from Salt Lake to Washington, DC and had just been reviewing a grant proposal that asked for funding for “a tribute to Libba Cotten.” She also said, “When I was living in DC I got to see her and was one of the staff for the NEA’s National Heritage award for Elizabeth (at that time it was a $5,000 award and now I believe it is something like $20,000).”
Oh, if only Elizabeth Cotten could have gotten that $20,000.
Thank you everyone for your responses to this post.
November 17, 2012 at 6:08 am
Wonderful hearing her play and sing that song. Makes me miss the work I used to do with so many brilliant yet humble folk artists. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
December 1, 2012 at 12:12 am
Freight trains, eh? Much love coming to Alice – I love the way you write about your mother. My mother has recently suffered 2 heart attacks and is staying with us; we find ourselves losing patience with one another as she strives toward reclaiming her life. Mother / daughter relationships are fraught, sometimes, with tension. I’m glad that Alice has you in her life.
Big hugs, Dr. Cara