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Grand Funk Railroad “The Railroad”

Grand Funk Railroad "Caught in the Act"

“The Railroad”

As David Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine once said, “You cannot talk about rock in the 1970’s without talking about “Grand Funk Railroad” With classics hits, some written by them and others written and preformed by other artists but when done by Grand Funk Railroad they were given a heavy dose “American Rock and Roll” sound to them:

  1. We’re an American Band
  2. I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home)
  3. Black Licorice
  4. Inside-Looking Out (written by The Animals)
  5. The Loco Motion (written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King)
  6. Some Kind of Wonderful (written by John Ellison)
  7. Gimme Shelter (written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards)

We have chosen The Railroad for this week since it is our favorite Grand Funk Railroad lost classic song. Not the one off of the studio album We’re an American Band but the live version on side three of Caught in the Act. Sandwiched between hard rocking Black Licorice and the bands signature song We’re an American Band. The live version is so much better then the studio version plus it gives us the great intro to We’re an American Band which might be one of the best ever intros to a song on a live album. It has a couple kids talking about what they want to be when they grow:
“When I grow up I want to be a cowboy.
I want to be a uh dentist.
When I grow up maybe a want to be a mechanic.
I want to be a ROCK and ROLL Star”.
Then it kicks in to the song. But to have such a great intro to a song it needs to be set up by another great song.
Enter The Railroad. For those of you how might have forgotten what a great album Caught in the Act and how great side three is maybe it’s time to dust off that old record player and enjoy the greatness of Grand Funk Railroad again.


                                                                 
Video courtesy of ClevelandBrowns13

13 thoughts on “Grand Funk Railroad “The Railroad””

  2. I still remember seeing Grand Funk on a PBS TV show called Boboquvari (a native American word) in 1970. The host of the show was impressed with the Marshall amp stacks the band was using. I was impressed with their performance of Outside Looking In. Grand Funk, Sabbath, Zeppelin, Mountain, Tull – heavy music ruled in 1970. Oh to be a teenager (barely) again!

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    • 1970 was just the beginning for what turned out to be great decade for heavy metal. In 1970 I was still a couple years away from learning what real music sounded like. Once I heard heavy metal though I made sure to back track all of the artists.

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  3. Since my mystery book Is entitled Last Train to Kingston and a body is found near the railroad, I think this is a keeper! I really love their version of The Loco Motion although “We’re an American Band” is right up there on my dance card. And once again thank you for the great baseball song. Clare

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    • Loco Motion definitely is a rock classic that got tons more air play then The Railroad and deserved all the accolades that it got back in the day. I’m glad you are enjoying “CenterField”. Being John Fogerty is a local musician after the song came out it was playing on every radio station out here all the time.

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      • Dennis, Roxie gave you and Yuri a shout-out on her blog post this weekend.
        I meant to tell you that there’s a popular musical called “Beautiful” and it’s about Carole King. It’s filled with tunes that no one realizes originated with King. I thought it was great.

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        • I look forward to finding out more information on the musical “Beautiful”. Carole has, was, and still is a major influence on the music scene. While doing the blog research for many of the songs it has blown me away many times to learn who the real song writers have been. I’m looking so forward to reading Roxie’s post next week. I can only dream of having the writing talent that she displays. Thank You ahead of time.

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            • I have never been to a musical before but this one intrigues me because of the songs involved. I just finished looking up all the information the WWW had to offer. It is playing out here in Aug-Sept and maybe I’ll ask the wife and our youngest if they would like to experience it and take them to there first musical.

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