Talk:I'm Alabama Bound

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Inaccuracies[edit]

According to the Traditional Ballad Index (California State University at Fresno), "I'm Alabama Bound" is part of a cluster of songs that includes "Don't You Leave Me Here", "Elder Green", and "She Left Me a Mule to Ride". The connection between the songs remains unclear. Even Norm Cohen, author of Long Steel Rail, probably the most extensive work available on train songs, is uncertain on many issues, and he devotes three sections of his book to what he believes are separate strands.

The Ballad Index article does point to something that is known: that "Wikipedia incorrectly states that the recording by Prince's Orchestra includes lyrics, which it does not." Take a listen: Prince's Orchestra "I'm Alabama Bound". The rest of Wikipedia's History section touches on a number of songs that include the phrase "Alabama bound" but are loosely related at best. However, if you read this section, you're led to believe that somehow the 1909 song was the basis for all else that followed.

Here's a link to Cohen's book: Long Steel Rail. You can't access all of his references to "I'm Alabama Bound" but if you search for the term "Alabama bound", you can read enough to get a sense how off base Wikipedia's history is. Meanwhile, I'm attaching a "Disputed" template to the History section, and I'll be working on a replacement over the next few weeks (no easy task). Allreet (talk) 16:50, 22 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]