The Midnight Special

This week I focused on a few versions of 'The Midnight Special' and read the lyrics carefully. I was expecting to find sadness and oppression, since after all it's a prison song, but the energy of the song is lively and optimistic - especially the lines about the apron and dress, and of course the idea of the midnight special. The 'Midnight Special' itself is a Southern Pacific train that inmates hoped to ride when they were free. I couldn't find any reason why they called it that, but it fits.

The idea of a freedom train reminds me of slave songs and also of Elizabeth Cotten's Freight Train song, so it's a bit otherworldly, but Leadbelly sang about it in a faster-paced world that feels more familiar to me.

I also found optimism in the chapters about Leadbelly and Alan Lomax. Alan discovering over and over again what he wanted to do with his life, Leadbelly believing that recording with Alan got him out of jail. And the telling of it makes everything seem as simple as magic.

So I painted a magic train coming out of the dimness.

The Midnight Special (acetone transfer and watercolor)