...on that tragic and fateful day...

Jacqueline Steiner, 94, lyricist for "Charlie on the MTA", has passed away. I have never heard of her, unfortunately, but that Kinston Trio hit from 1959 was perhaps my first introduction to folk after a decade of pop and rock and roll. Before the folk rock of Dylan, CSN(&Y), etc, there was Charlie.

For those not familiar, the song was a light-hearted political protest about a fare increase on the Boston Metropolitan Transit Authority - the MTA. Charlie was short a nickel, and couldn't get off of that train. He never returned, no, he never returned, and his fate is still unlearned. (poor old Charlie) He will ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston. He's the man who never returned.

The Kinston Trio version opens with a 3 part banjo-guitar lick that is sprinkled with dissonant notes, which became instantly recognizable when you heard them again - you knew what was coming.

According to her NYTimes obit, when subway tokens were eliminated from the MTA, and replaced with a scannable card, it was (and still is) know as the CharlieCard. Then governor Mitt Romney joined the Kinston Trio in a rousing chorus to kick off the new card. IMHO, if there is any immortality in this world, Ms Steiner achieved it with Charlie.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/obituaries/jacqueline-steiner-dead.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2019 04:45PM by Brother Of Jerry.

keyboard glitch?


"Kingston Trio" - I remember them well ...

Yep, exact same typo twice in one post. What are the odds? :-/

Actually, it's 3 times - but who's counting, eh?


:)

I think I made one typo and became a victim of renegade autocorrect. Somehow this is Bill Gates' fault, even if I am on a Mac.

Reply to BoJ.

No one remembers Pete Seeger? It seems to me that there was a rich folk tradition from at least the Depression. . .

I almost mentioned Pete Seeger in the original post, but the Kingston Trio, followed soon after by Peter Paul and Mary were the first folkies I was aware of. I grew up listening to Cousin Brucie Morrow at WABC in NYC. He didn't play a lot of Seeger. :)

Mary Travers - can you believe almost 10 years since her death?

the voice of an angel.

I still miss her. I saw PP&M several times, in concert, back in the Olden Days.

For those too young or denizens west of the Berkshires, this is the ballad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kacASNARakQ

I'm old enough to remember paying the nickle upon debarking the train. Here's how it worked: you entered the system in the city (subway) tunnels, paying with a token. Three Green Line trolley branches climbed to street-level service, and you had to pay a 5-cent surcharge for that extra mileage. Not everybody paid--it was unenforceable.

"Charlie's wife goes down to the Sculley Square Station, at quarter past two,
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich as the train comes rumbling through!"

Q-1: Why did she hand him a sandwich, instead of a nickle? Considering she had to pay a token to enter the station?

Q-2: Sculley Square (now "Government Center" was the down-and-out district--bars, cheap hotels, red light district, etc. What was his wife doing in Sculley Square?

I was just down at Boston City Hall, dubbed "the ugliest building in the country." (Google it.) I found two services I needed with "new, improved" fees. So typical of Taxachusetts: everytime you turn around, a fee, tax, fine or service has been raised.

Standard invitation to RfM-ers to look me up, should you come to Beantown. I'll buy you a Dunkin Donuts Coffee, and show you the sites!

"...should you come to Beantown. I'll buy you a Dunkin Donuts Coffee"

No beer in Beantown?

Not only will I take you to the original Sam Adams brewery,* but I'll let you drink all my free samples!

*This brewery is now primarily for product research and development, plus special commemorative or honorific batches.

Actually, got my own brew-pub a short walk away, sqrt(2,025) mins west of yrself, as crow-dog flies.

although I didn't realize until just now that it was the Kingston Trio. The radios played it over and over again until our parents were sick of it. Some others from that era were "Tom Dooley," and "Thunder Road."

Good times, about halfway between Korea and Viet Nam.

I just returned from a trip to Las Vegas, including several visits to the SouthPoint casino-hotel on South (WAY South) Las Vegas Blvd. A poster in the elevator lobby states that the Kingston Trio is performing there. Didn't get to see them, but it's nice to know they're still around.
Seventy-four isn't that old.

It may be the Kingston Trio, or some group of Kingston + a replacement or something. You can't be sure with these reunion tours, especially when one or more of the originals have died.

Quite a while ago there was a big legal haggle over who was "Jay and the Americans," as there was the original, aging Jay Black with his group; then there were some of the original band who had brought on a replacement lead.

Well, how about that! Brings back memories.

I had that Kingston Trio album when I was in High School and know most of the words to that song and others. I moved on to Dylan, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Dave Von Ronk etc.

Love that song, and folk songs in general. Thanks for the interesting post. Boston is on my bucket list (come on ole bones, you got to wait to completely fall apart until after I make it there) and Caffiend would love to have a guide and drink.

It's a standing invitation to one and all. Admins are good at helping us connect upon request. (Note: Amyjo, I'd love to hear from you.)

3X: I raise my coffee mug to you, 2/3 the continent to your East.

I've driven for a living all my working life: construction, tractor-trailer (still have my Class A), postal trucks,* city cop. I'll give you a tour to shame the Duck Boats!

*I was actually a very "gruntled" postal worker.

3X: I raise my coffee mug to you, 2/3 the continent to your East.


Better check your math, jarhead :)

Assuming your 2,000 miles away, that puts you somewhere in the Intermountain West, i.e. Utah?

Boston to Salt Lake is about 2,000, to San Francisco is about 2700 miles. Close enough to 2/3, I (mis)figure. Regardless, 3X, I can feel your vibes.

Wrong unit of measurement.


Does CZ have an email address for you?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2019 08:57PM by 3X.

I sent email to CZ - he presumably will forward it to yourself when he has time to do so - maybe tomorrow?

Wrong place



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2019 08:01PM by Lot's Wife.

Just finished watching PBS special on PP&M. It amazes me that their music is a relevant today as it was in the 1960’s.

He's the man who'll never return.

We turned those old Kingston Trio songs into campfire songs. The songs rhymed, and the lyrics told a story. We could handle the simple harmonies. People played the guitar, banjo, and ukelele.

I grew up in San Francisco Bay Area, and my older brothers were fans of Dave Guard and the Whisky Hill Singers. Joan Baez went to my high school, and she was much older, but we knew all of her songs, too. When I went away to summer camp on the East Coast, everyone knew the same songs there! Those songs pulled us together. I think the MTA song was the only one that was political, that I remember.

I saw that TV show about PP&M. It was fun to sing Mary's part, and sort of belt it out, like she did. "Puff" always made me cry, and the older kids always teased me about that. I was too young to suspect that some of the songs had to do with drugs.

Here's to the Golden Age of Innocence....