I've Been Working On The Railroad - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

  • The thematic musical motif is strikingly similar to the lied "Die Forelle" composed by Franz Schubert in the Summer of 1817 (Ref. Personal Observation; 12/2012 JPerry)
  • In the Band of Brothers episode "The Breaking Point", the Americans were singing this song after capturing the town of Foy, Belgium, just before a German sniper began firing at them.
  • A version of "I've Been Working on the Railroad" as recorded by Johnny Cash appeared on the third disk of the box set of Cash's works called The Legend.
  • The Chambers Brothers released a version in 1966 as a single by Direction, catalog number 58-3760. It later appeared as a bonus track on the CD reissue of The Time Has Come.
  • In the South Park episode "Elementary School Musical", Stan Marsh performs the "Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah" section of the song.
  • In the episode "Virtuoso" of Star Trek: Voyager, the Doctor sings the beginning of this song.
  • In the movie Kelly's Heroes, a group of Sherman tanks destroy a German occupied railway station, while playing Johnny Cash's version of the song, over loudspeakers attached to the tanks.
  • In the Desperate Housewives episode "Where Do I Belong", Lynette Scavo is singing it when she plots a revenge against her husband.
  • In season 2, episode 5 of I Love Lucy, "The Operetta," Lucy falls back on the railroad tune after she fails to demonstrate singing ability in a more conventional voice exercise.
  • In the 1986 movie Tough Guys the main heroes, Harry Doyle and Archie Long, are singing it when running the hijacked train full throttle to the Mexican border.
  • There is a reference to "Somebody in the House with Dinah" in Joyce's Ulysses (15.420) and Finnegans Wake (141).

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