Them Was the Days

For the third time in the past six months, I played the song “The City of New Orleans,” by Arlo Gutherie, written by Steve Goodman. It’s a nostalgic tune about the passing of the railways throughout the U.S.

It leaves me both happy and sad.

The first thing I thought of when hearing it this time is the Virginia & Truckee Railroad and how hard Tom Gray, and his late father Robert, have worked to keep the engines moving. Then like a needle on a record that gets bumped, I skipped fancying if anybody would find a gas-powered engine nostalgic.

“Them was the days, boyos! The days!”

Lastly, I wondered if a song would ever find its way into American folk music.

“A salute to the ruling classes
U don’t know a gas-powered engine
Once was the proletariat workhorse
We would go four hundred miles on a tank again”

Nailed it!