For other uses, see Wabash Cannonball (disambiguation).
"Wabash Cannonball"
Sheet music cover
Song
Written
19th century
Genre
American folk music, country, bluegrass
"The Great Rock Island Route", popularized as "Wabash Cannonball" and various other titles, is a 19th-century American folk song that describes the scenic beauty and predicaments of a fictional train, the Wabash Cannonball Express, as it traveled on the Great Rock Island Railroad. The song has become a country music staple and common marching band repertoire. The only train to actually bear the name was created in response to the song's popularity, the Wabash Railroad renaming its daytime express service between Detroit and St. Louis the Wabash Cannon Ball from 1949 until discontinuation during the formation of Amtrak in 1971.
The Carter Family made one of the first recordings of the song in 1929, though it was not released until 1932. Another popular version was recorded by Roy Acuff in 1936.[1] The Acuff version is one of the fewer than 40 all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide.
The tune is most famously associated with Kansas State University athletics and ESPN in 2016 named it the top Big Twelve football pregame ritual. It is also a signature song of the Indiana State University Marching Sycamores and the Purdue All-American Marching Band as the ISU and Purdue campuses are adjacent to the Mighty Wabash River. It is also associated with the Stephen F. Austin State University Lumberjack Marching Band, the Kansas State University Marching Band, the Texas Tech University Goin' Band from Raiderland, and the University of Texas Longhorn Band. It was also used as the theme song by USS Wabash.
The song "The Wabash Cannonball" is part of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.[2] It is the oldest song on the list.
^Cite error: The named reference Csufresno.edu was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"500 Songs That Shaped Rock". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
"The Great Rock Island Route", popularized as "WabashCannonball" and various other titles, is a 19th-century American folk song that describes the scenic...
use, including the WabashCannonball Trail in northwest Ohio, the Wabash Trail and Wauponsee Glacial Trail in Illinois and the Wabash Trace Nature Trail...
The WabashCannonball Trail is a rail to trail conversion in northwestern Ohio, U.S. It is 63 miles (101 km) long. The North Fork of the Wabash Cannonball...
Cannonball, an American folk song about a fictional WabashCannonball Express train WabashCannonball Express Railroad, a miniature train ride at the Indiana...
The success of the Carter Family's recordings of songs such as "WabashCannonball", "Can the Circle Be Unbroken", "Wildwood Flower", "Keep on the Sunny...
recorded several dozen tracks (including the band's best-known track, "WabashCannonball") in 1936. Needing to complete a 20-song commitment, the band recorded...
Virgien W. Lee O Daniel (And The Light Crust Dough Boys) Wabash Blues The WabashCannonball Waiting For A Long Time Waiting For A Southern Train Waiting...
from the 1920s through the 1990s. The oldest song on the list is "WabashCannonball" (in particular Roy Acuff's 1936 version), written c. 1882 and credited...
sporting events by fans, students and alumni. Wildcat Victory and WabashCannonball are both commonly used as fight songs. Wildcat Victory is used by...
Cannonball", engineer Charley Pratt picks up his guitar and sings an ode to the train. The lyrics are sung roughly to the tune of "WabashCannonball"...
song, the Kansas State University Marching Band also commonly plays "WabashCannonball" as an alternate fight song. John Philip Sousa's "Kansas Wildcats...
with lyrics he had written to the tune of "WabashCannonball". (In 1948, he reworked the "WabashCannonball" melody as "The Wallace-Taylor Train" for the...
with songs by Lead Belly and Leroy Carr, plus "Ramblin' Man" and "WabashCannonball". The LP sold hundreds of thousands. The skiffle style encouraged...
expansion featured a large selection of carnival games, as well as the WabashCannonball (named after the famous Roy Acuff tune) roller coaster, Country Bumpkin...
been the subject of several songs, such as On the Banks of the Wabash, The WabashCannonball and Back Home Again, In Indiana. There are about 900 lakes listed...
riverboat. The mid-sized flow bowl is known as the Wabash Cannonbowl in honor of the popular WabashCannonball rollercoaster ride at Nashville's Opryland USA...
Nelson helped with the album, playing guitar and singing on the song "WabashCannonball." John Cale also played on "If I Were a Carpenter". The album was...
US 20, and turns to the east. Here the NCT temporarily joins the WabashCannonball Trail (a rail trail). The NCT proceeds through Wauseon in Fulton County...
field, and then playing traditions songs such as the Fight Song and WabashCannonball with the All Star Band members. In 2017 this day was combined with...
Global Information