Please note: Stephenson’s Rocket is no longer on display at the Science and Industry Museum. To find out what exhibitions and activities are open today, visit our What’s On section.
Here’s the full Rocket-themed playlist on Spotify—you can listen and share your new favourites with us.
We got LOTS of requests for Saxon’s Princess of the Night and so we chose it to start our playlist, with a special shoutout to Twitter follower @TheMorrioghain, who shared with us her husband’s potentially dubious claim that comparing his wife to a steam loco is a compliment.
It is a great song. It’s my song that my husband @BasisInstinct plays for me all the time as I love trains. #90TonnesOfThunder is a complement he assures me ????
— The Morrioghain (@TheMorrioghain) September 6, 2018
We also loved this tweet from Mary M Cavanagh—could Mary’s daughter be our youngest visitor when Rocket arrives next week?
My 7-week-old daughter is a fan of Morningtown Ride by Malvina Reynolds. A train fan in the making? #RocketReturns
— Mary M Cavanagh (@marycavsbrain) September 6, 2018
We were thrilled to have been introduced to Flanders and Swann’s Slow Train, and enjoyed Emma Burgham’s lovely description of the song:
Such a gentle, sad little goodbye to a whole era. Beautiful lyrics and the rhythm of a chugging train.
— Emma Burgham (@BurghamEmma) September 7, 2018
There were so many great suggestions we couldn’t possibly comment on them all here, but of the more creative thinkers we enjoyed the suggestion of “anything by Liverpool Express” from Steve Robinson, aka @ManGuitarTech, for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway reference and @loobydotlu who took us into musicals territory and made us long for our rollerskates with her Starlight Express suggestion.
We also learned that songs don’t need lyrics to be inspired by locos, thanks to @Louisa_Burden who nominated Night Train by Oscar Peterson.
Where an artist wasn’t specified we generally chose the original, but we do admit to swapping Gladys Knight and the Pips out for Aretha Franklin in honour of the Queen of Soul who died earlier this summer.
Of course, not everyone took the brief quite so seriously. Alongside demands for Steam by East 17, Kylie’s The Locomotion and Elton’s Rocket Man (it’s not even about an actual loco, guys!) was our head curator George Young’s tongue-in-cheek homage to Rocket’s famous silhouette:
Also, in honour of Rocket’s chimney stack Feel It by The Tamperer Ft. Maya
— Georgina Young (@reluctantgeorge) September 7, 2018
What songs have we missed? Tell us your favourites and why in the comments below.
Try these:
‘Rocket’ by Mud’?
‘The railroad runs through the middle of the house’ by Alma Cogan (I think)
‘Trains’ by Reginald Gardner
And wich one is in your opinion the best of those three?
How about Smokestack Lighting by Howlin Wolf?
How about ‘ late for the train’ Buzzcocks, could make a great soundtrack for a Rocket animation, ????
How’s about “Smoke gets in your eyes”
What about “Train,train” by BLACKFOOT,’cos in my humble opinion is one of the most infravalorated great rock bands
I would like to vote for BLACKFOOT,one of the most infravalorated great rock bands,and their song “Train,train”
“City of New Orleans” by Willie Nelson is a must!
Johnny Burnette’s ‘The Train Kept A Rollin’ has got to be in n there!!
How about Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash?
The Ballad of John Axom – Ewan McColl
The man who put the engine in the Chip Shop – Dave Goulder
Footplate Song: Dave Goulder
Green all the Way: Dave Goulder
Another Johnny Cash ‘Wreck of the old 97’ is one of my favourites
“People Get Ready (There’s a Train a-Comin’), by Curtis Mayfield. A classic civil rights song.
The Last Steam Engine Train (John Fahey) – perfect example of lyrics being unnecessary, just perfect guitar playing. John Peel was a big fan.
When The Train Comes Back (Chicken Shack)
Train (Buddy Miles Express)
Honky Tonk Train Blues (Spirit of John Morgan) – does what it says on the tin!
you should play “station to station” (David Bowie)…