"Train Kept A-Rollin'" (or "The Train Kept A-Rollin'") is a song first recorded by American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

musician

Tiny Bradshaw Myron Carlton "Tiny" Bradshaw (September 23, 1907 – November 26, 1958)
- accessed July 2010 was an American

in 1951. Originally performed in the style of a jump blues, Bradshaw borrowed lyrics from an earlier song and set them to an upbeat shuffle arrangement that inspired other musicians to perform and record it. Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio made an important contribution in 1956 – they reworked it as a

guitar riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompanime ...

-driven song, which features an early use of intentionally

distorted guitar Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain, producing a "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone. Distortion is most commonly ...

in rock music. In 1965,

the Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell ...

popularized the song as an early psychedelic blues rock song, due largely to Jeff Beck's fuzz-toned guitar work. Theirs soon became the most copied arrangement with recordings by a variety of musicians. After guitarist Jimmy Page joined the group, the Yardbirds recorded an updated version with new lyrics as "Stroll On" for the film ''

Blowup ''Blowup'' (sometimes styled as ''Blow-up'' or ''Blow Up'') is a 1966 mystery drama thriller film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and produced by Carlo Ponti. It was Antonioni's first entirely English-language film, and stars David Hemming ...

'' in 1966. With a highly charged rhythm section and a dual lead guitar attack by Beck and Page, it is seen as a forerunner to heavy metal music. When the Yardbirds broke up in 1968, "Train Kept A-Rollin'" was adopted as a concert opener by Page's new band,

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

, during its early (and again later) touring years. The song also became an important part of Aerosmith's early live repertoire and in 1974, they recorded it for their second album. Their version is actually a two-part song – the first has a slower, groove-oriented arrangement, while the second uses that of the Yardbirds. Aerosmith turned it into a hard rock standard and a staple of

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...

radio; it remains one of their most popular tunes. "Train Kept A-Rollin'" has been performed and recorded by numerous other artists.

Original song

Tiny Bradshaw Myron Carlton "Tiny" Bradshaw (September 23, 1907 – November 26, 1958)
- accessed July 2010 was an American

and his band first recorded "The Train Kept A-Rollin'" in 1951. They performed the song as a mid-

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

jump blues, which uses a

boogie-woogie bass Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pian ...

line and a

shuffle rhythm In music, the term ''swing'' has two main uses. Colloquially, it is used to describe the propulsive quality or "feel" of a rhythm, especially when the music prompts a visceral response such as foot-tapping or head-nodding (see pulse). This sens ...

. The introductory section features

scat singing In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. ...

by Bradshaw answered by a chorus. The verses are delivered in a lively vocal style, followed by an instrumental break with a raucous, honking-style tenor saxophone solo by

Red Prysock Wilburt "Red" Prysock (February 2, 1926 – July 19, 1993) was an American R&B tenor saxophonist, one of the early Coleman Hawkins-influenced saxophonists to move in the direction of rhythm and blues, rather than bebop. Career With Tiny Grimes ...

and backed by drummer Philip Paul's heavy

backbeat In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event), of the ''mensural level'' (or ''beat level''). The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to when listening to a p ...

. Bradshaw's lyrics use early jazz hipster references: The lyrics are based on "

Cow-Cow Boogie "Cow Cow Boogie (Cuma-Ti-Yi-Yi-Ay)" is a "country-boogie"-style blues song, with music was written by Don Raye, and lyrics were written by Benny Carter and Gene De Paul. The song was written for the 1942 Abbott & Costello film '' Ride 'Em Cowboy'' ...

", a 1942 song about a singing cowboy. Bradshaw rewrote lines, such as "a ditty he learned in the city" and "get along, get hip little doggies, and he trucked 'em on down the old fairway", to meet his new scenario. Although the King Records single lists "Bradshaw-Mann" as the songwriters, reissues and subsequent recordings of "The Train Kept A-Rollin'" credit Tiny Bradshaw, Lois Mann (a pseudonym of King Records' owner

Syd Nathan Sydney Nathan (April 27, 1904 – March 5, 1968) was an American music business executive who founded King Records, a leading independent record label, in 1943. He contributed to the development of country & western music, rhythm and blues a ...

), and Howard Kay. BMI, the performing rights organization, lists the songwriters/composers as "Myron C. Bradshaw, Sydney Nathan, and Howard Kay". According to music historian Larry Birnbaum, "Mann's name was plainly added to allow Syd Nathan to siphon off a share of the publishing royalties, as label owners routinely did in those days; as for Kay, his identity remains a mystery". The recording session took place on October 6, 1951, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Besides Bradshaw, Prysock, and Paul, the other participants were: Leslie Ayers and Lester Bass on trumpets; Andrew Penn on trombone; Ted "Snooky" Holbert on alto and baritone sax; Rufus Gore on tenor saxes; Jimmy Robinson on piano; and Clarence Mack on bass. King Records issued the song on both ten-inch 78 rpm and seven-inch 45 rpm records in late 1951. '' Billboard'' magazine reviewed the release and commented using jump parlance: "The singer comes thru with a great vocal on a rockin' novelty, with some solid chorus and ork rchestra a.k.a. swing bandbacking. Tune builds all the way. Platter could catch a lot of change." However, it did not appear on the charts of the nation's most popular R&B songs, such as those compiled by ''Billboard''. Although Bradshaw had five other records that reached the R&B top ten, "The Train Kept A-Rollin'" remains his best-known recording and continues to be popular with Shag dancers (a type of

swing dance Swing dance is a group of social dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s–1940s, with the origins of each dance predating the popular "swing era". Hundreds of styles of swing dancing were developed; those that have ...

) on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.

Johnny Burnette rendition

In 1956, Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio reworked Bradshaw's song using a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blu ...

/early

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

arrangement. The Trio's version features guitar lines in what many historians consider to be the first recorded example of intentionally

in rock music, although blues guitarists, such as Willie Johnson and

Pat Hare Auburn "Pat" Hare was a Memphis electric blues guitarist and singer. His heavily distortion (music), distorted, power chord–driven electric guitar performances in the early 1950s is considered an important precursor of heavy metal music.Robert P ...

, had recorded with the same effect years earlier. The Trio's guitarist,

Paul Burlison Paul Burlison (February 4, 1929 – September 27, 2003) was an American pioneer rockabilly guitarist and a founding member of The Rock and Roll Trio. Burlison was born in Brownsville, Tennessee, where he was exposed to music at an early age ...

, explained that he noticed the sound after accidentally dropping his amplifier, which dislodged a power tube and later, "whenever I wanted to get that sound, I'd just reach back and loosen that tube". He utilized this effect with the song's main instrumental feature, a three-note minor key guitar line repeated throughout. Burlison recounted how he came up with the signature

: The day after recording "The Train Kept A-Rollin', the trio recorded a version of Big Joe Turner's "

Honey Hush "Honey Hush", is a blues song, written by Big Joe Turner (although he assigned the copyright to his wife, Lou Willie Turner), recorded in May 1953 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and released that August by Atlantic Records. It was a number-one song on ...

", which features a more extensive use of the riff.

Coral Records Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer. Coral issued jazz and swing music in the 1940s, but after Bob Thiele became head of ...

released both songs on a single in September 1956. Later, authors Vince Gordon and Peter DijkemaIt argue that the guitar sound on "The Train Kept A-Rollin'" could be created with distortion commonly achievable with a highly-

overdriven Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain (electronics), gain, producing a "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone. Distort ...

early 1950s guitar amplifier. They point out that in the recording, the higher treble strings sound relatively clean, with the low E string having the most distortion; with a tube malfunction, all strings would be distorted more or less to an equal degree. The authors add that this difference in sound could be achieved with the pole piece for the low E string raised higher than the rest, thereby allowing it to overload the amplifier more than the treble strings. They also argue that Nashville session guitarist

Grady Martin Thomas Grady Martin (January 17, 1929 – December 3, 2001) was an American session guitarist in country music and rockabilly. A member of The Nashville A-Team, he played guitar on hits such as Marty Robbins' " El Paso", Loretta Lynn's " Co ...

provided the guitar parts for the Trio's recording; they base this on stylistic and technical qualities, since, at the time, Martin was a more accomplished player than Burlison, and these qualities are apparent in his work on other recordings.

The Yardbirds versions

English rock group the Yardbirds recorded "The Train Kept A-Rollin'" during their first American tour in 1965. It is based on Johnny Burnette's adaptation, but Beck biographer Annette Carson comments their "propulsive, power-driven version, however, deviated radically from the original ... heirrecording plucked the old Rock & Roll Trio number from obscurity and turned it into a classic among classics". The Yardbirds' lead guitarist Jeff Beck, who is a fan of early rockabilly, said that he introduced the song to the group: "They just heard me play the riff, and they loved it and made up their version of it".

Giorgio Gomelsky Giorgio Sergio Alessando Gomelsky (28 February 1934 – 13 January 2016) was a filmmaker, impresario, music manager, songwriter (as Oscar Rasputin) and record producer. He was born in Georgia, grew up in Switzerland, and later lived in the Unit ...

, the group' first producer, states that

Sonny Boy Williamson II Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp st ...

's use of

blues harp The Richter-tuned harmonica, or 10-hole harmonica (in Asia) or blues harp (in America), is the most widely known type of harmonica. It is a variety of diatonic harmonica, with ten holes which offer the player 19 notes (10 holes times a draw and ...

to imitate train sounds during his 1963 UK tour with the Yardbirds also inspired the band's adaptation of the song. The song opens with Beck using volume swells on an overdriven guitar to simulate a train whistle and the band launches into the song with rhythm guitarist

Chris Dreja Christopher Walenty Dreja (born 11 November 1945 in Surbiton, Surrey) is an English musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist and bassist for rock band the Yardbirds for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. E ...

, bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, and Beck following the riff from the Rock and Roll Trio's song. Two combined takes of

Keith Relf William Keith Relf (22 March 194312 May 1976) was an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist and harmonica player for rock band the Yardbirds. He then formed the band Renaissance with his sister Jane Relf, The Yardbirds ex-drummer J ...

's vocal, with some differences in the lyrics, come in after twelve bars. Following the vocal section, the rhythm changes to a shuffle and a 12-bar harmonica and guitar bridge sets the stage for Beck's first solo. After returning to the original rhythm for another double-tracked vocal section, a brief "rave up"-style section precedes Beck's second solo. A rave up is used to describe a middle instrumental section of a song, when the beat shifts into

double-time In popular music, half-time is a type of meter and tempo that alters the rhythmic feel by essentially ''doubling the tempo resolution'' or metric division/level in comparison to common-time. Thus, two measures of approximate a single measure o ...

and the instrumental improvisation gradually builds to a climax. It was part of the Yardbirds' signature sound and "represent some of the earliest psychedelic blues-rock, antedating Jimi Hendrix and

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

", according to Birnbaum. Beck's second guitar solo, which extends for two 12-bar sections, features an early use of a fuzz-tone

distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signa ...

effects pedal An effects unit or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing. Common effects include distortion/overdrive, often used with electric guitar in ele ...

. Birnbaum describes his work as "incendiary" and "riveting, relatively complex solos". The Yardbirds' rendition became the new standard that subsequent musicians would follow. The song was recorded by

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...

at his

Phillips Recording Phillips Recording is the short name widely used to refer to the Sam C. Phillips Recording Studio opened at 639 Madison Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, by Sam Phillips in 1960. Internationally regarded at that time as a state-of-the-art facility, i ...

studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on September 12, 1965, with further recording by

Roy Halee Roy Decker Halee (born 1934) is an American record producer and engineer, best known for working with Simon & Garfunkel, both as a group and for their solo projects. Early life He grew up on Long Island, New York. His father, also named Roy ...

at Columbia Recording Studio in New York City on September 21 and 22, 1965. "The Train Kept A-Rollin'" was included on studio side of the Yardbirds' second American album '' Having a Rave Up'', which was issued on November 15, 1965. The song, along with another American studio recording, " I'm a Man", was not released in the UK until the mid-1970s, well after the group had disbanded. The song was a staple of the band's concerts and they recorded several live versions with Beck, which appear on albums such as '' BBC Sessions'' (1991) and '' Glimpses 1963–1968'' (2011). In June 1966, bassist Samwell-Smith left the Yardbirds to become a record producer. His initial replacement, well-known studio guitarist Jimmy Page, soon switched to guitar with second guitarist Dreja taking over on bass. With both Beck and Page on board, the Yardbirds had one of the first dual lead guitar teams in popular rock. Movie director Michelangelo Antonioni saw the group's September 23, 1966, performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London and, being impressed with their version of the song, requested that they perform "Train Kept A-Rollin'" for his upcoming film, ''

''. Less than two weeks later, the group entered the

Sound Techniques Sound Techniques was a recording studio in Chelsea, London that was operational between 1965 and 1976. Housed in a former dairy, it was founded by recording engineers Geoff Frost and John Wood. The studio became well known as the place where man ...

studios in London, where they recorded on October 3–5, 1966. Unable to secure the movie performance rights from the song's publisher, singer Keith Relf wrote new lyrics, renamed it "Stroll On", and included credits to the five band members. The Yardbirds also introduced an updated arrangement to go with the new lyrics. Led Zeppelin biographer Keith Shadwick describes the new version as "brutal, menacing, and teetering on all-out violence", which foreshadows heavy-metal. It opens with a new drum part by

Jim McCarty James Stanley McCarty (born 25 July 1943) is an English musician, best known as the drummer for the Yardbirds and Renaissance. Following Chris Dreja's departure from the Yardbirds in 2013, McCarty became the only member of the band to featu ...

and harmonized guitar feedback, before Beck's train whistle simulation. Unlike their earlier song, Relf's vocal is not double tracked nor does he play harmonica and the rhythm remains on the riff throughout the song. The guitar work, with both Beck and Page contributing lead-guitar parts, has been called "revolutionary", from the opening "wall of feedback", the use of "jarringly dissonant chords", and the "twining guitar duet" by Birnbaum. During October 12–14, the Yardbirds were filmed

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated th ...

ing the song for ''Blowup''. Their scene was staged on a set at

Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

designed to resemble the Ricky-Tick, a popular London club and, at Antonioni's direction, Beck smashes his guitar, in the manner of

the Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Townsh ...

. The song as performed in the film is edited (doubled) to increase its length for the story line. "Stroll On" was later included on the ''Blow-Up'' soundtrack album (1967) and appears on the Yardbirds compilation albums ''Train Kept A-Rollin'/The Yardbirds Story'' (1993) and ''

Ultimate! ''Ultimate!'' is a comprehensive career retrospective album by English rock group the Yardbirds. The 52-song two–compact disc compilation was released in 2001 by Rhino Records. The tracks span the period from the group's first demo recordi ...

'' (2001). After Jeff Beck's departure in late 1966, the Yardbirds continued to regularly perform "The Train Kept A-Rollin'". The original lyrics were used, but the "Stroll On" arrangement was followed with Jimmy Page playing all the guitar parts. Live performances with Page were later released on '' Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page'' (1971), ''Last Rave-Up in L.A.'' (1979), ''Glimpses 1963–1968'' (2011), and ''

Yardbirds '68 ''Yardbirds '68'' is a double CD and LP record album by English rock group the Yardbirds. Recorded in 1968 in New York City when the group was a quartet with guitarist Jimmy Page, it includes live performances and demos. Page produced the al ...

'' (2017).

Led Zeppelin performances

Shortly after Keith Relf and Jim McCarty left the Yardbirds in mid-1968, Jimmy Page searched for new musicians for a successor band. When the future members of

rehearsed together for the first time in 1968, the first song they played was "Train Kept A-Rollin'". In '' When Giants Walked the Earth'', biographer

Mick Wall Mick Wall (born 23 June 1958) is a British music journalist, author, and radio and TV presenter. He has been described as "the world's leading rock and metal writer". Career Wall began his career contributing to the music weekly ''Sounds'' in 19 ...

quotes Page: The song was included in their early performances as "the New Yardbirds" and was featured as their opening number in Led Zeppelin's 1968 and 1969 tours, and was included on several bootleg albums. In an interview, early MTV video host J. J. Jackson, who pointed out that he does not characterize Led Zeppelin's music as heavy metal, described a bootleg recording from their first American tour, "if this were the only recording somebody ever heard of them, it doesn't get much more 'heavy metal' sounding than this, does it?" They later revived it for their final tour " Over Europe" in 1980. Though a studio version was never recorded by Led Zeppelin, as a solo artist Page recorded, during his '' Outrider'' sessions in 1988, a version similar to the Led Zeppelin 1980 version.

Aerosmith version

In 1974, Aerosmith brought "Train Kept A-Rollin'" into the hard-rock mainstream. Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and Tom Hamilton had performed the song prior to joining Aerosmith. Perry recalled, "'Train Kept A-Rollin'' was the only song we had in common when we first got together. Steven's band had played 'Train' and Tom and I played it in our band ... It's a blues song, if you follow its roots all the way back ... I always thought if I could just play one song, it would be that one because of what it does to me". Perry's band began performing the song regularly after he had been moved by the performance of "Stroll On" in ''Blowup''; Tyler recalled his band opened for the Yardbirds in 1966: The song was an early feature of Aerosmith's concerts and a frequent show closer, including for their first gig in 1970. They wanted to record a live version of the song, but producer Jack Douglas persuaded them to record a studio version, which actually consisted of two different versions of the song. The first part was slower, "more groove-oriented", while the second was a spirited rocker. To give the second part more of a live sound, Douglas overdubbed crowd noise from

The Concert for Bangladesh The Concert for Bangladesh (or Bangla Desh, as the country's name was originally spelt)Harry, p. 135. was a pair of benefit concerts organised by former Beatles guitarist George Harrison and Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar. The shows were he ...

, the 1971 benefit organized by George Harrison. Steve Hunter and

Dick Wagner Richard Allen Wagner (December 14, 1942 – July 30, 2014) was an American rock guitarist, songwriter and author best known for his work with Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, and Kiss. He also fronted his own Michigan-based bands, the Frost and the Bo ...

, who worked with Lou Reed and

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

, were brought in to record the guitar parts. According to Hunter, "We agner and Iwanted to keep the solos equal so we'd sit down ... and go through the material so it was totally even ... We didn't want it to look like there was a rhythm guitar player and a lead guitar player, because that's what we both did". Hunter later elaborated: In 1974, "Train Kept A-Rollin'" was included on Aerosmith's second album ''

Get Your Wings ''Get Your Wings'' is the second studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on March 1, 1974. The album was their first to be produced by Jack Douglas, who also was responsible for the band's next three albums. Three singles were rel ...

''. A 3:15 edited version of the song without the added audience noises was released as a single, but it did not appear on the record charts. The song continues to be a highlight of the group's shows and the album version has become a staple of

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-orien ...

and

radio. It has become so identified with Aerosmith, that when Jeff Beck (whose 1965 and 1966 recordings with the Yardbirds inspired Tyler and Perry) occasionally performs it, he often hears comments like "Hey, I like your angle on the Aerosmith tune". The song is featured on three Aerosmith live compilations: ''

Live! Bootleg ''Live! Bootleg'' is a double live album by American hard rock band Aerosmith, released in October 1978. While most of the performances were drawn from concerts in 1977 and 1978, "I Ain't Got You" and "Mother Popcorn" were taken from a radio b ...

'' (1978), '' Classics Live'' (1986), and '' Rockin' the Joint'' (2005). On the ''Rockin' the Joint'' version, Perry and

Brad Whitford Bradley Ernest Whitford (born February 23, 1952)Putterford, Mark (1991) ''The Fall and Rise of Aerosmith'', Omnibus Press, Strong, Martin C. (2001) ''The Great Metal Discography'' (2nd edn.), MOJO Books, , p. 11-13 is an American musician who i ...

can be heard doing a little bit of "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...

" towards the end. Additionally, the band is known to play two different versions of the song, the regular version of the song, as well as a slowed-down version often called "Slow Train" in the setlists. On at least two occasions, Tyler and Perry have performed the song with other artists; in 1992 with Guns N' Roses and in 1995 with

Page and Plant Page and Plant (also known as Jimmy Page & Robert Plant) was an English rock band active between 1994 and 1998. The group consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant (both formerly of English rock band Led Zeppelin), accompanied ...

. In 2002, the whole band performed the song live with the Japanese hard rock duo B'z. It also appears in the

music video game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...

'' Rock Band'', and the master track appears in '' Guitar Hero: Aerosmith'' as the final encore in the game. In 2012, Aerosmith performed the song with Johnny Depp, which is included as an extra track on the ''

Music from Another Dimension! ''Music from Another Dimension!'' is the fifteenth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on November 6, 2012, by Columbia Records. Their first studio album since 2004's '' Honkin' on Bobo'', as well as the first to feature all-n ...

'' DVD.

Recognition and legacy

The Johnny Burnette Rock and Roll Trio rendition of "Train Kept A-Rollin'" is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's exhibit of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". Birnbaum sums up the various influences and versions:

Notes

Footnotes Citations References * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control 1951 songs Blues songs Songs about trains Songs written by Syd Nathan 1952 singles 1956 singles Rockabilly songs Johnny Burnette songs The Yardbirds songs 1974 singles Aerosmith songs Motörhead songs Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by Jack Douglas (record producer) King Records (United States) singles Coral Records singles Epic Records singles