Great Big Rollin' Railroad
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This page was last updated on January 10, 2023.
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Overview
Union Pacific Railroad's theme song from the 1970s to mid 1980s. There were two versions of the song. The first came in 1972 as part of the newly adopted We Can Handle It ad campaign, and a later version came in 1984 with the merger with Missouri Pacific in late 1982. This second version was first heard during the "Rivers Of Steel" presentation during the 1984 New Orleans Worlds Fair.
The original recording was distributed to all employees as part of the April 1972 issue of UP INFO employee magazine as part of the We Can Handle It ad campaign. The lyrics were first published in the June 1972 issue of the UP INFO employee magazine.
A second copy of the recording was sold in the UP company store beginning in 1978. This later recording was identified as SR-2015, with the B side being an original song titled "Steel Drivin' Man." The record was produced at least two times, with slightly different jackets.
The original Union Pacific television commercial, in which UP employees sing the song, was released in December 1972. The December 1972 issue of UP INFO employee magazine included an article about the making of the commercial, and included the employee's names.
There were at least 31 commercials produced from 1972 through 1984 that included the full song, or variations of it, some with words and music and others with just the music.
Song
Great Big Rollin' Railroad (1972) (MP3; 2:16 minutes; 2.1 MB)
Great Big Rollin' Railroad, Rivers of Steel (1984) (MP3; 1:23 minutes; 1.3 MB)
Background of the Song
Great Big Rollin' Railroad was written by Bill Fries, aka C. W. McCall, whose best known hit is the truckers song "Convoy", from 1976.
(Listen to "Convoy" at Last.fm)
This is from a C. W. McCall fan web site:
In 1972, while working for the Omaha advertising firm of Bozell Jacobs, Bill Fries created a television campaign for the Old Home Bread brand of the Metz Baking Company. The advertisements told of the adventures of truck driver C.W. McCall, his dog Sloan, and of the truck stop that McCall frequented, The Old Home Café. Bill based the character and his environment on his own upbringing in western Iowa. The commercials were very successful. So successful, that the Des Moines Register published the air times of the commercials in the daily television listings.
From those commercials came the first of the C.W. McCall songs, named after the restaurant: "Old Home Fill-er Up An' Keep On A-Truckin' Cafe." While Bill provided the lyrics to the song and the voice of C.W. McCall, his collaborator Chip Davis wrote the music. Soon C.W.'s first album -- Wolf Creek Pass -- was released, whose title song was a misadventure of a truck with brake failure.
C.W. McCall's popularity reached its peak in January 1976, when "Convoy" -- from his second album, Black Bear Road -- reached the number one position on both the pop and country charts of Billboard.
I've exchanged emails with Mr. Fries (pronounced "freez"), in which he said simply that they paid him to write a song, and that's what he did. There isn't really any story behind the lyrics. Bill wrote:
I was a creative director for an advertising agency in Omaha (Nebraska) and our headquarters was in New York. I spent 20 years in the advertising business before I ever wrote any music. We did commercials for Jaguar Automobiles. We did commercials for the Union Pacific Railroad, Wild Kingdom, Mutual of Omaha and all that. It was one of the chances that come along. We also did several commercials for Old Home Bread, for a a very small client, the Metz Baking Company. The art directors and copyrighters were doing something else, so we came up with the "Old Home Filler Up and Keep on Truckin Cafe." I created this whole soap opera for television featuring, CW, Mavis, Sloan, Mom & Pop, the place they called the restaurant. Had him delivering trucks and his Old Home Bread Truck. It just caught on all over the mid west, one thing led to another. They heard it Nashville and they said why don't you come here and we'll tape in on MGM Records and we'll make it a national song.
I received the following email from Michael Silhavy of St. Paul, Minnesota on August 24, 2005. Richard Proulx also contacted me on August 25th, asking for the correction.
Minor correction: composer's last name should be Proulx not Prouix. Dr. Proulx is one of the nation's leading composers of classical church music. I have been working with him in cataloging his complete works. He mentioned this piece and I was very happy to find it on your website.
The Songs
Great Big Rollin' Railroad (1972)
(2 minutes, 16 seconds)
(2.1 MB MP3 file)
Lyrics: Bill Fries
Music: Richard Proulx
Arrangement: Bob Jenkins & Associates
Produced by Sound Recorders, Omaha, Nebraska
Produced on a 7-inch, 33-1/3 rpm record (SR-2015B). (Digital MP3 version produced by Don Strack, May 2001)
Great Big Rollin' Railroad, Rivers of Steel (1984)
(1 minute, 23 seconds)
(1.3 MB MP3 file)
Produced to accompany "Rivers Of Steel" promotional film. (Digital MP3 version produced by Don Strack, September 2006, by capturing the audio from the film.)
Lyrics (1972 version)
We're a great big rollin' railroad
One that everybody knows
We were born of gold and silver spikes
A hundred years ago
We're a million miles of history
A-shinin' in the sun
We're the Union Pacific
And our story's just begun
From the Great Plains of Nebraska
To the California seas
From the summits of the Rockies
To the mighty redwood trees
We're a thousand wheels of freight train
Hear the diesel engines power
We're the Union Pacific
Doin' ninety miles an hour
Bound from Omaha to Portland
Through Cheyenne and Laramie
We're a-headin' west for Boise
On the mainline to the sea
'Cross the flats at Salt Lake City
On to Vegas and L.A.
We're the Union Pacific
And we've got the right of way
From the green fields of the prairies
To the blue Pacific shores
We deliver your great cargo
And come rollin' home for more
On the backbone of our nation
You can see us make the climb
We're the Union Pacific
And we're gonna be on time
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