Play Jimmie Rodgers’ Bluesy Hit “Waiting for a Train”

Jimmie Rodgers’ influence spans country, blues, and early rock ’n’ roll, earning him a place in multiple halls of fame. With a career that lasted just five years before his death from tuberculosis in 1933, Rodgers left an indelible mark on American music.

“Waiting for a Train” became a hit in 1929, just as the Wall Street crash ushered in the Great Depression. Though credited to Rodgers, the song’s roots trace back to the 18th-century English broadside ballad “Standing on a Platform.” Rodgers first sang a rough version in the mid-1920s, pulling from the fragments he remembered. When he recorded it in 1928, he and producer Ralph Peer reshaped the lyrics and melody to suit his style, ultimately copyrighting it under Rodgers’ name. It became his second-best-selling song, right behind “Blue Yodel (T for Texas).”

The song has been covered many times, often with distinct interpretations. Rodgers himself recorded multiple versions: the original, a slow Dixieland-style arrangement in the key of G major, and a solo, more up-tempo take in C for The Singing Brakeman—arguably one of the first music videos. These recordings are as different from each other as any later versions by other artists, illustrating how there’s no single correct way to play this tune.

For this version, we’re keeping it simple and playing in C—an easy key for open-position cowboy chords. The progression is an eight-bar bluesy structure that repeats three times, with a slight variation in the ending the last time around. The verse chords, in order of appearance, are C, G7, C7, F, A7, and D7. The third time through (the coda), the last two bars change: instead of D7 to G7, we land on C.

And then there’s the yodel. Rodgers’ signature move is optional, but it adds flavor. Some players yodel in the intro, others between verses, and the length varies—two bars, four bars. I’m including it here as a two-bar phrase between verses, just for the fun of it. But it’s your version, so you make the call.

And that’s not even getting into Rodgers’ train whistle technique!