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Michelle Shocked — The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore
Album: Short Sharp Shocked
Avg rating:
7.5

Your rating:
Total ratings: 261









Released: 1988
Length: 4:05
Plays (last 30 days): 0
( Jean Ritchie)

When I was a curly headed baby
My daddy set me down on his knee
Saying, 'Son you go to school
You learn your letters
Now, don't you be no dusty miner, boy, like me'

Oh, I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazzard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
Now they stand in a rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore

I used to think my daddy was a black man
With scrip enough to buy the company store
But now he goes to town with empty pockets
And, Lord, his face is white
As the February snow

I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazzard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in a rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore

Never thought I'd live to learn to love the coaldust
Never thought I'd pray to hear those temples roar
But, God, I wish the grass would turn to money
And then them greenbacks
Would fill my pockets once more

I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazzard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in a rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore

Last night I dreamed I went down to the office
To get my payday like I done before
But them old kudzu vines, they was covering over the doorway
And there was leaves and grass
Growing right up to the floor

I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazzard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in a rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
Aw, the L&N don't stop here anymore
Comments (41)add comment
This album was outstanding.  Wish she'd get away from the Gospel stuff -- she was one of the Godmothers of Alt-Country.
Fits to the song before, but has not that deepness!
 NanaNatalie wrote:
I freaking love this song! Have'nt heard it in years. Whatever happened to Michelle. Was she a one hit wonder. Love her work.
 

getting her concerts cancelled
 NanaNatalie wrote:
I freaking love this song! Have'nt heard it in years. Whatever happened to Michelle. Was she a one hit wonder. Love her work.
 
I was wondering the same.  According to AMG, she's anything but a one-hit wonder (well even I, a complete amateur, could have told you that) and has continued to release new material as recently as 2009.  Much of her work has been gospel-influenced.  
 NanaNatalie wrote:
I freaking love this song! Have'nt heard it in years. Whatever happened to Michelle. Was she a one hit wonder. Love her work.
 

I have always loved Michelle and all her albums....she has so many great cuts!  Saw her about 2 years ago at the Hughes Room in Toronto, a great performance except that her gospel back-up singers apparently got stuck at the border and couldn't get into Canada so she was completely solo.
I freaking love this song! Have'nt heard it in years. Whatever happened to Michelle. Was she a one hit wonder. Love her work.
Oh my, this was on a folk mix tape that a friend made for me years ago and I never knew what it was. Lovely song. Very good to hear it again.
Wikipedia says...Louisville and Nashville Railroad 

coy wrote:
what does L & N stand for ?
 


7 -> 8

Must have been a long time ago when I rated this song. Don't remember I did. Just caught my attention - again, as I had to realise  {#Good-vibes}
what does L & N stand for ?
 Stingray wrote:

Why Michelle is not a star? Or is she...?

In Europe she is basically "unknown"!

 
Not for me.

Why Michelle is not a star? Or is she...?

In Europe she is basically "unknown"!


Bless you for playing this song, this album, this woman.
This is a really good album.  Not the best song from it but it's really good.
And now heard twice in a month.... still thanks Bill!!
Haven't heard this for ages.... thanks Bill!
 dwlangham wrote:
June Carter Cash's version of this song is the gold standard for me.
 
Surely you Jest ?

June Carter Cash's version of this song is the gold standard for me.
 marcc wrote:
i guess i could google this, but isn't the album title taken from a line in a pink floyd song (from the dark side... album)? "short, sharp, shocked. dig it?"
 
Yes. I think it's "shock", present tense, in the song. But I quibble. And tardily.

i'm a believer
i guess i could google this, but isn't the album title taken from a line in a pink floyd song (from the dark side... album)? "short, sharp, shocked. dig it?"
L&N 152, New Haven, KY
 Tippster wrote:
Fantastic song from a truly great album.
 
{#Yes}


Fantastic song from a truly great album.
 Randomax wrote:

Interesting about the cover of this album

The singer's name dates back to the one she gave when arrested in 1984 at a protest called "The War Chest Tour" during the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, California. The demonstration challenged the practice of U.S. corporations giving campaign contributions to both Democratic and Republican parties, thus benefiting from political favors regardless of which party is elected. "Michelle Shocked" was a play on words intended to resemble the phrase "shell shocked." The front cover of one of her best-known albums, Short Sharp Shocked, shows her restrained by the chokehold of a San Francisco policeman in a front-page photograph published by the San Francisco Examiner the following day.

 
A ten just for that. The song deserves it anyway.
 fredriley wrote:

Don't they just? You could spend years researching the ways that railroads (railways this side of the Pond) have been used as metaphors in songs, and I'll bet that plenty of PhDs have been written on the subject. I think it might be something specific to the US, on account of the sheer size of the country and its pioneering history. Somehow the UK railways don't have quite the same, erm, romanticism and imagery, perhaps because this country's so small in comparison.

 
Strange. Having finished a Delderfeld novel for the first time since I was 13, I was just thinking about a comparison of our coal mines and the welsh of 100 years ago. In Delderfields ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._F._Delderfield ) 19th century  England,  trains were a mixed blessing. From this side of the pond, trains were not controversial to the majority at any point.

I enjoy this version of the song but haven't placed the author yet.

Interesting about the cover of this album

The singer's name dates back to the one she gave when arrested in 1984 at a protest called "The War Chest Tour" during the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, California. The demonstration challenged the practice of U.S. corporations giving campaign contributions to both Democratic and Republican parties, thus benefiting from political favors regardless of which party is elected. "Michelle Shocked" was a play on words intended to resemble the phrase "shell shocked." The front cover of one of her best-known albums, Short Sharp Shocked, shows her restrained by the chokehold of a San Francisco policeman in a front-page photograph published by the San Francisco Examiner the following day.


there were about ten or fifteen years between the first time I heard this and the second.  It was one of those songs that made such a strong impression that I could hear it in my head whenever I thought about it, after just that one listening.
 rcurrier wrote:
Railroads make such great imagery for songwriters.
 

As do poverty and despair...

 parttime wrote:
Great song and a pivotal CD
 
agreed...Texas Campfire Tapes was the start.

Great song and a pivotal CD
 gjeeg wrote:
Wherever did Michelle go?
 
She's still around: https://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0ifqxqr5ld0e~T1

 rcurrier wrote:
Railroads make such great imagery for songwriters.
 
Don't they just? You could spend years researching the ways that railroads (railways this side of the Pond) have been used as metaphors in songs, and I'll bet that plenty of PhDs have been written on the subject. I think it might be something specific to the US, on account of the sheer size of the country and its pioneering history. Somehow the UK railways don't have quite the same, erm, romanticism and imagery, perhaps because this country's so small in comparison.

Nice version, although I prefer the version by Johnny Cash.
I was really in to Michelle Shocked for quite some time ... liked her music and her attitude.  She seemed liberated from lots of feminine stereotypes without becoming masculine.  What she was doing was really fresh at that time.  Where'd she go? 
Wherever did Michelle go?
 rcurrier wrote:
Railroads make such great imagery for songwriters.

And I'm such a sucker for them.
 

 
This one's got trains AND coal. Always reminds me of John Prine's 'Muhlenburg County'.

God, I'd forgotten how much I love this song.  I'd love to hear some of the other recordings of it, though...Michelle's great and all, but this is not the best version of it I've heard.  Sadly, it's been so long since I've heard it at all that I can't remember who else I've heard done it.  I guess Bill will just have to dig up a sampling :)
Classic Michelle Shocked.
Railroads make such great imagery for songwriters.

And I'm such a sucker for them.