Originally from New York, Elliott grew up in a Jewish family and had always wanted to be a cowboy. Pressured by his parents to follow in his father's footsteps and become a doctor, Elliott resisted and inspired by the rodeos he attended at Madison Square Garden, he ran away from home at the age of 15 and joined the J.E. Ranch Rodeo. Although he was only with the rodeo for three months (before his parents tracked him down and he was sent home), Elliott was exposed to his first singing cowboy, a rodeo clown who played guitar and banjo and sang songs.
Returning home, Elliott taught himself to play guitar and started busking for a living. Eventually he hooked up with Woody Guthrie and lived with him as a kind of student.
With banjo player Derroll Adams, he later toured Great Britain and Europe and had a lasting effect on the music scene there. By 1960, he had made three folk albums for the British label, Topic. Playing in the small clubs and pubs of London by day, he would then take his act to the smart, west end night clubs. Upon arriving back in the U.S., Elliott discovered he had become well-known within the folk scene.
Elliott's greatest influence was Woody Guthrie. Guthrie's son, Arlo, has said that because of his dad's illness and early death, he never really got to know him. Arlo acknowledged that he learned his dad's songs and musical style through Elliott.
Elliott's musical style influenced Bob Dylan so heavily that Dylan's first gig in New York City was billed as "Son of Jack Elliott." While Dylan rose to prominence through his compositions, Elliott continued as an interpretive troubadour, bringing old songs to new audiences in an idiosyncratic manner.
Elliott appeared on Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue and played Longheno de Castro in Dylan's Renaldo and Clara.
Jack Elliott's style is distinctive in its use of excellent guitar technique matched with laconic, humorous storytelling and an emotional intensity in the singing.
Elliott's nickname is due not to his travel habits, but rather to the countless stories he would relate before answering the simplest of questions. Folk singer Odetta claims that it was her mother who gave him the name by remarking, "Oh Jack Elliott, yeah, he can sure ramble on!"
He was famously parodied in on the BBC in the 1960s by Kenneth Williams as Rambling Syd Rumpo who was a recurring character on Round the Horne. His claims of authenticity as a folk artist (despite being a Jewish doctor's son from New York City) and disparagement of other folk artists were also parodied by the Folksmen (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer) in A Mighty Wind both in the name of their "hit" Ramblin' and in their claims that their version was more authentic than the New Main Street Singers's version.
Jack Elliott's first recording in 20 years, "South Coast", earned him his first Grammy in 1995. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1998. Ramblin' Jack's long career and strained relationship with his daughter Aiyana were chronicled in her 2000 documentary, "The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack".
At 75, he has recently changed labels and released "I Stand Alone" on the Anti- label, with an assortment of guest backup players including members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers; again, an idiosyncratic collection of little-known music delivered with humor and intensity. He is on record as saying his intention was to title the album "Not For The Tourists" because it was recorded in response to his daughter's request for songs he loved but never played in concert. When she asked why he did not play them in public, he replied "These songs are not for the tourists".
Engine 143
Ramblin' Jack Elliott Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Running o'er the C&O road just twenty minutes behind
Running into Seville head quarters on the line
Receiving very strict orders from a station just behind
Georgie's mother came to him with a bucket on her arm
Saying my darling son be careful how you run
For many a man has lost his life in trying to make lost time
Up the road he darted against the rocks he crashed
Upside down the engine turned and Georgie's breast did smash
His head was against the firebox door, the flames were rolling high
I'm glad I's born for an engineer to die on an old sea road
The doctor said to Georgie, my darling boy be still
Your life may yet be saved if it is God's blessed will
Oh no, cried George that will not do, I'd want to die so free
I want to die for the engine I love, one hundred and forty three
The doctor said to Georgie your life may not be saved
Murdered upon a railroad and laid in a lonesome grave
His face was covered up in blood and his eyes they could not see
And the very last words poor Georgie said was nearer my God to thee
The song "Engine 143" by Ramblin' Jack Elliott is a mournful ballad about the last run of a train engineer named Georgie. The train on which he was working, the FFV, was the fastest on the line, running on the C&O road. Unfortunately, it was running twenty minutes behind schedule when it received strict orders from a station behind. Georgie's mother warned him to be careful and urged him to run the engine right so that he could get there just in time. Despite her warnings, Georgie was determined to make up lost time and pushed the engine, crashing it into the rocks, causing the engine to turn upside down and crash him.
The doctor who came to Georgie tried to save him, but Georgie insisted on dying for the engine, which he loved. His last words were, "nearer my God to thee," which signifies surrender and acceptance of the impending fate. The narrative takes a tragic turn, and the song reflects upon the harsh and unrelenting nature of the railroad industry during that period.
Line by Line Meaning
Along came the FFV, the swiftest on the line
The fastest train, FFV, arrived on the same track
Running o'er the C&O road just twenty minutes behind
The FFV was running 20 minutes late on C&O road
Running into Seville head quarters on the line
The train ran into Seville headquarters
Receiving very strict orders from a station just behind
The train received strict orders from a nearby station
Georgie's mother came to him with a bucket on her arm
Georgie's mother carried a bucket and went to meet him
Saying my darling son be careful how you run
She warned him to be careful while driving the engine
For many a man has lost his life in trying to make lost time
She told him that many had lost their lives while trying to catch up
But if you run your engine right, you'll get there just on time
She told him that if he drove safely, he would reach on time
Up the road he darted against the rocks he crashed
He rushed ahead and crashed into the rocks
Upside down the engine turned and Georgie's breast did smash
The engine overturned and hit Georgie's chest
His head was against the firebox door, the flames were rolling high
His head was near the firebox and the flames were high
I'm glad I's born for an engineer to die on an old sea road
He was glad he was an engineer, dying while working
The doctor said to Georgie, my darling boy be still
The doctor asked Georgie to stay calm
Your life may yet be saved if it is God's blessed will
The doctor said he might survive if it is God's will
Oh no, cried George that will not do, I'd want to die so free
Georgie refused and wanted to die freely
I want to die for the engine I love, one hundred and forty three
He wanted to die for the engine he loved, #143
The doctor said to Georgie your life may not be saved
The doctor said that Georgie may not survive
Murdered upon a railroad and laid in a lonesome grave
Georgie was killed on the railroad and buried alone
His face was covered up in blood and his eyes they could not see
His face was bloody and eyes shut
And the very last words poor Georgie said was nearer my God to thee
Georgie's final words were 'nearer my God to thee'
Contributed by Claire C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.