Is This The Chattanooga Choo Choo?
History in Song
Turned Specialty Hotel
Pardon me boys, is this the Chattanooga Choo Choo?
That is the first line from the Glenn Miller classic
that has been played by big bands and orchestras since the 1940's. In
fact, it was the number one song in the United States on December 7th,
1941.
After the song was commercially recorded in May of 1941
by RCA Victor's Bluebird Label, it became the first record to be
certified a gold disc on February 10, 1942. Sales at that time past one
million, two hundred thousand copies!
The hit song was written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren
while traveling on Southern Railway's "Birmingham Special" train.
From 1880, most trains bound for the southern United
States passed through Chattanooga, a city in southeastern Tennessee,
often on to Atlanta, the south's super-hub for railroads. There is some
dispute as to whether the song referred to a particular train or not.
Roy Rogers once made a play on the lyrics of the song as
a joke. Instead of "Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga
Choo Choo?", a man walking with Roy said it like this,
"Pardon me Roy, is that the cat who chewed your new shoes?"
In 1984, there was even a comedy movie starring Barbara
Eden and George Kennedy about the the famous train/song.
