Say What
Sandoon City living is loud… it’s an industrial area filled with construction-type businesses, commercial plumbing places, and a cement factory. It has it’s residents and workshops… and Spill. But your day starts at 6 am when the trucks roll off the lots and semis truck thru town.
But your day starts at 6 am…
So you get to sleep in?
When I was a child we had an apartment next to the railroad tracks.
The trains rumbling through would wake everybody up, except me. For me the big freight trains were the sweetest lullaby, the house shaking like the rocking of a cradle.
But then again, I once slept through a flood. I was camping at the time….
The Auld Grump, but I honestly like the rumble of the heavy freight.
You can get used to just about anything. I live near enough to a railroad track that when the train goes by (several times a day/night) I can hear the wheels clicking against the rails. I can look out my kitchen window and see the drivers of the trucks pulling out of a factory across the street. Still, this place was in my price range and in good shape, so I’m not complaining!
In fact, the noise gives me hope. It tells me there are still people out there working and earning a living. That’s no small thing.
I once parked my houseboat close to a sawmill; they ran 24 hours a day. (I don’t know about seven days a week, I left after one night.)
Yat… When I lived in Sand(oon) City… I did get up early… It was not really a problem for me. Randie would have to get up before that to deliver coffee… But she would have to get across town to do it.
Grump/Rat… Wow… Train noise. I suppose people in dense urban settings feel the same. I got used to freeway noise at one point in my life… It almost sounds like the ocean after awhile…
Moo… Light sleeper? Or REALLY loud sawmill? Either way… When you get “bad sleep” it really affects yer day!
The odd thing is that other noises, quiet noises, will wake me from a deep slumber.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzzjtFO4Rsg
As I listen for the whistle, lie awake and wait
Wish the railroad didn’t run so near
‘Cause the rattle and clatter of that old fast freight
Keeps on makin’ music in my ear, go bum again, go bum again, ooh
Hear the whistle blow, hear the whistle blow
Clickety clack, clickety clack, the wheels are saying to the railroad track
Well, if you go, you can’t come back, well if you go, you can’t come back
Well if you go, you can’t come back, if you go, you can’t come back
If you go, you can’t come back
Well, I wouldn’t give a nickel for the bum I use to be
Work as hard as any man in town
I got a pretty gal, she thinks the world of me
Man would be a fool to let her down, go bum again, go bum again, ooh
Hear the whistle blow, hear the whistle blow
Clickety clack, clickety clack, the wheels are saying to the railroad track
Well, if you go, you can’t come back, well if you go, you can’t come back
Well if you go, you can’t come back, if you go, you can’t come back
If you go, you can’t come back
So every night I listen, wonder if it’s late
In my dreams I’m ridin’ on that train
I feel my pulse are beatin’ with that old fast freight
And thank the Lord I’m just a bum again, go bum again, go bum again, ooh
Hear the whistle blow, hear the whistle blow
Clickety clack, clickety clack,
the wheels are saying to the railroad track
Well, if you go, you can’t come back, well if you go, you can’t come back
Well if you go, you can’t come back, if you go, you can’t come back
If you go, you can’t come back
Terry Gilkyson
The Auld Grump
I love panel 2. As someone who has just moved into an apartment complex right next to a construction site (no joke), this happens all too frequently.
Grump…. thanks for the music… I haven’t ever heard that song. Judy is a big Kingston Trio fan… I’m sure she knows it. It’s sorta melancholy, aint’ it?
You need pillow earmuffs.
Dada… Tanks…. How far along are they? The construction people? My office is in the middle of construction, too. The building directly across from me has been under a major remodel for the last couple of years. And then there’s the new Mega building going in around the block. Talk about noise and parking problems! Sheesh!
YOu need some pillow earmuffs.
Heh – paranoia is a survival mechanism. 😀
One of the first signs that my girlfriend had gotten inside of my defenses – I was asleep on her couch (this was before we started dating) and she curled up next to me – and I didn’t waken. Just sort of hugged her.
***
Fast Freight is kind of melancholy, but it is one of my favorites – I sang it a few years ago at a fundraiser for the Maine Narrow Gauge Museum.
I am also fond of Phoebe Snow by Utah Phillips –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ5-1X-NSmg
The late Utah Phillips really was a hobo – coming back from war with a full freight of anger. Glad that took up singing, the man could sing up a story.
Actually, I am just fond of rail songs in general, going back to Wabash Cannonball and Freight Train, back when I was a wee child. (The version of Wabash Cannonball that I know came from Maine… there are about a dozen versions that I’ve heard.)
The Auld Grump