In 1964, Elektra Records produced a compilation album of various artists entitled The Blues Project which featured several white musicians from the Greenwich Village area who played acoustic blues music in the style of black musicians. One of the featured artists on the album was a young guitarist named Danny Kalb, who was paid $75 for his two songs. Not long after the album's release, however, Kalb gave up his acoustic guitar for an electric one. The Beatles' arrival in America earlier in the year signified the end of the folk and acoustic blues movement that had swept young America in the early 1960s. The ensuing British Invasion was the nail in the coffin. Seeing the writing on the wall, Kalb gave up acoustic blues and switched to rock and roll, as did many other aspiring American musicians during this period.
Danny Kalb's first rock and roll band was formed in the spring of 1965, playing under various names at first, until finally settling on the Blues Project moniker as an allusion to Kalb's first foray on record. After a brief hiatus in the summer months of 1965 during which Kalb was visiting Europe, the band reformed in September 1965 and were almost immediately a top draw in Greenwich Village. By this time, the band included Danny Kalb on guitar, Steve Katz (having recently departed the Even Dozen Jug Band) also on guitar, Andy Kulberg on bass and flute, Roy Blumenfeld on drums and Tommy Flanders on vocals.
The band's first big break came only a few weeks later when they auditioned for Columbia Records, and failed. The audition was a success, nevertheless, as it garnered them an organist in session musician Al Kooper. Kooper had begun his career as a session guitarist, but that summer, he began playing organ when he sneaked into the "Like a Rolling Stone" recording session on Bob Dylan's seminal album Highway 61 Revisited. In order to improve his musicianship on the new instrument, Kooper joined the Blues Project and began gigging with them almost immediately.
Soon thereafter, the Blues Project gained a record contract from Verve Records, and began recording their first album live at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village over the course of a week in November 1965. While the band was known for their lengthy interpretations of blues and traditional rock and roll songs (making them, along with the Grateful Dead, rock's first "jam band"), their first album saw them rein in these tendencies because of record company wariness as well as the time restrictions of the vinyl record.
Entitled simply Live at the Café Au Go Go, the album was finished with another week of live recordings at the cafe in January 1966. By that time, vocalist Tommy Flanders had left the band and was not replaced. As a result, Flanders appears on only a few of the songs on this album.
The album was a moderate success and the band toured America to promote it. While in San Francisco in April 1966, during the height of the city's Haight-Ashbury culture, the Blues Project played at the Fillmore Auditorium to rave reviews. Seemingly New York's answer to the Grateful Dead, even members of the Grateful Dead who saw them play were impressed with their improvisational abilities.
Returning to New York, the band recorded their second album and first studio album in the fall of 1966, and it was released in November. Arguably better than their first album, Projections was certainly more ambitious than their first album, boasting an eclectic set of songs that ran the gamut from blues, R&B, jazz, psychedelia, and folk-rock. The centerpiece of the album was an 11-and-a-half minute version of "Two Trains Running", which, along with other songs on the album, showed off their improvisational tendencies. One such song was the instrumental, "Flute Thing", written by Kooper and featuring Kulberg.
Soon after the album was completed, though, the band began to fall apart. Al Kooper quit the band in the spring of 1967, and the band without him completed a third album, Live At Town Hall. Despite the name, only one song was recorded live at Town Hall, while the rest was made up of live recordings from other venues, or of studio outtakes with overdubbed applause to feign a live sound.
The Blues Project's last hurrah was at the Monterey International Pop Festival held in Monterey, California, in June 1967. By this time, however, half the original line-up was gone and most of their early magic was, too. Al Kooper had formed his own band and played at the festival as well, but no sort of reunion was in the offing. Guitarist Steve Katz left soon thereafter, followed by founder Danny Kalb. A fourth album, 1968's Planned Obsolescence, featured only drummer Roy Blumenfeld and bassist Andy Kulberg from the original lineup. Upon the album's completion, the remaining members formed Seatrain.
In 1968, Al Kooper and Steve Katz joined forces once again to fulfill a desire of Al Kooper's to form a rock band with a horn section. The resulting band was Blood, Sweat & Tears. While Kooper led the band on its first album, Child Is Father to the Man, he did not stick around for any subsequent releases. Katz, on the other hand, remained with the band into the 1970s.
The Blues Project, with a modified lineup, reformed briefly in the early 1970s, releasing three further albums: 1971's Lazarus, 1972's The Blues Project, and 1973's Original Blues Project Reunion In Central Park (which featured Al Kooper but not Tommy Flanders). These albums did little to excite the public, however. Since then, the group's activity has been confined to a few sporadic reunion concerts.
Two Trains Running
The Blues Project Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Well before I was born
You got a boy child coming
Sure is gonna be
He's gonna be
The boy will be a rolling stone
SOLO
I went to my baby's house
Well I fell down right on the steps
She said come in come in Danny
Oh well my other man
Well well well my other man
Don't you know my husband he just now left
SOLO
I've been crazy
People I've even been a fool too
I've been crazy most all of my life
I been in love people
Well with some other mans
I'm with some other mans
I've been in love with some other man's wife don't you know
SOLO
My baby she's so long and tall
She moves just like a willow tree
Well she's the one I love
She's is the very one
I do hate to
I hate to lose I hate to lose
Oh baby
SOLO
There are two two trains running
They're never going my way
Oh well the other one
Oh well the other one
Oh well the other ones runs at the break of day
Of day
Of day
The Blues Project's "Two Trains Running" is a classic blues tune that explores the themes of love, infidelity, and the struggle to find one's place in the world. The song begins with a prophetic message from the singer's mother to his father before he was born, predicting that their child would be a "rolling stone." This idea of restlessness and constant motion is a recurring theme throughout the song, as the singer recounts his own experiences of feeling like a "rolling stone" and his struggles with finding love and companionship.
The second stanza of the song finds the singer at his lover's house, where he is greeted by her and her other man. The line "Don't you know my husband he just now left" is delivered with a hint of irony, suggesting that perhaps the husband is not actually gone or that the singer is simply one of many lovers this woman has taken. There is a sense of competition between the two men, with the singer trying to assert his dominance and win the woman's affection.
The middle stanza of the song takes a more introspective turn, with the singer admitting to his own faults and mistakes. He describes himself as "crazy" and a "fool," and confesses to being in love with other men's wives. This sense of moral ambiguity adds depth and complexity to the song's themes of infidelity and desire.
The final stanza of the song returns to the theme of competing forces, with the singer acknowledging that there are "two trains running" that will never go his way. The idea of two opposing forces is a metaphor for the struggles he faces in life, both in love and in finding his place in the world. The song ends with a sense of uncertainty and resignation, as the other train "runs at the break of day," leaving the singer alone and searching for answers.
Line by Line Meaning
My mother told my father
His mother tells his father this story before he was born
Well before I was born
This event happened before his birth
You got a boy child coming
His mother is prognosticating the birth of a baby boy
Sure is gonna be
She is very sure that it will be a baby boy
He's gonna be
She is sure it will be a male baby who will grow into a man
The boy will be a rolling stone
She is alluding to the fact that the child may grow up to be restless, moving from place to place with no permanent home.
I went to my baby's house
The singer goes to his girlfriend's place
Well I fell down right on the steps
The singer stumbles when he reaches the steps of her house
She said come in come in Danny
His girlfriend invites him to come in
Oh well my other man
She has another man in her life
Well well well my other man
She repeats the statement to emphasize the presence of the other man
Don't you know my husband he just now left
She further clarifies that her other man is her husband who had just left the premises.
I've been crazy
The singer implies that he's done irrational, even silly things in life.
People I've even been a fool too
He admits to sometimes making foolish decisions, like everyone else.
I've been crazy most all of my life
He claims that he's often acted crazily his whole life.
I been in love people
He's been in love before
Well with some other mans
He's loved other women in the past, possibly married ones.
I'm with some other mans
Now, he's seeing someone else's wife.
I've been in love with some other man's wife don't you know
He's admitting he's in love with a married woman.
My baby she's so long and tall
The singer's girlfriend is a tall, probably leggy lady.
She moves just like a willow tree
The girlfriend's movements are smooth, languorous and sinuous like a willow tree.
Well she's the one I love
He professes his love for her.
She's is the very one
Out of all the women he's met, she's the one he's choosing to be with.
I do hate to
He doesn't want to lose his girlfriend.
I hate to lose I hate to lose
He repeats that he does not want to let her go.
Oh baby
An affectionate way of expressing how he feels about his girlfriend.
There are two two trains running
The singer is aware of two trains running, but neither of them is going in his direction.
They're never going my way
He cannot catch any break in his life.
Oh well the other one
One of the trains is not his concern.
Oh well the other one
He repeats that he wasn't worried about the other train.
Oh well the other ones runs at the break of day
The other train he is aware of runs during the early morning hours.
Contributed by Carter G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@MrJsmith49
I love the " I gotta tune my guitar on the fly" about 9 minutes into the song pure genius & one of those things that could only happen when real musicians are playing live in the studio long before pro-tools etc.
@pastorcurtis52pfunk
When I was 13 I used to listen to this song every nigh when I went to bed. The whole album was great, and the band I was in covered "Steve's Song." Music from a very magical time reminds me how impoverished of style and innovation today's processed psuedomusic really is.
@marksnyder2365
Danny Kalb ,what a great underrated guitarist
@mic982
I still own the original vinyl of this seminal work, but it's sooooo worn out now that this is a god-send to have a clean, digital version to listen to once again. What an album this was, is and will be for a very long time. Thank you for this upload!
@Byrontheone
One of their rawest and most powerful efforts in their genre of psychedelic blues-rock
@amir4r803
Too bad you never hear the Blues Project on "classic rock "stations. What a travesty
@lawrencemintz4088
I love this band. I lived next door to Danny Kalb in NYC for 6 months and took guitar lessons from him for awhile. He was a really nice guy.
@Aviv52
Danny Kalb was one of the finest white electric blues guitar guys and his playing here matches anything by Bloomfield, Peter Green etc.(and I am a big early Peter Green fan).
@steveborst5386
I'm sure you mean this as a compliment, but you have a misunderstanding if you think most of the great blues guitarists are black.
@bobgarr6246
@Steve Borst no need to read more into it than there is. Just the distinction between the older black Chicago and Delta blues guitarists and the then up and coming white British and American blues guitarists.