Talk:I've Been Working on the Railroad

message: This song is in the list of songs about masturbation. It wouldn't surprise me, but without references I'd be inclined to delete it. --IanOsgood 19:26, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: There's arguably a reference to hanky-panky of some sort in the "kitchen with Dinah" section, but masturbation seems like a leap. Nareek 21:07, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Masturbation? 

message: Cara al sol, has a reference to this song. But this... --213.60.42.231 00:23, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cara al sol 

message: The final stanza in some versions of the article ("Someone's makin' love to Dinah") I find to be of dubious veracity.  The words don't fit the established rhythm, for one thing, and the blatantness of the sexual reference is out of character with the rest of the song.  It sounds like something someone made up in school one day.  Oddly enough, the only non-Wikipedia reference I found for it is from the University of Austin.  Given all these factors, it is essential that a reliable source be found to back up the inclusion of that stanza.  Powers T 14:15, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It's 4 paragraphs above this one, "Folksinger's Handbook" and "Folksongs of the Past" include the lines. My copy of the "Folksinger's Wordbook" has it. I also just did a quick look on the net and found it at homeschoolfamily.com and encyclopedia.com.  If you notice NONE of the article has a listed source for the lyrics and when playing on the guitar I find the words fit the rhythm just as well as the other stanzas. I can't help it if you were taught a expurgated version but this is the version I learned many years ago. A couple of friends were brought up with "kissing" instead of "making love" but the book references I've seen have "making love" so that's what is used here. Fyunck(click) (talk) 19:44, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I apologize for missing the book references.  I can't find any information on those books, so I really can't judge their reliability.  As for encyclopedia.com, I couldn't find an article on this topic; can you link it directly?  I don't think homeschoolfamily.com is a reliable source; the search came up with a personal essay that referenced another web site as a source for lyrics.  For all we know those lyrics might have come from Wikipedia, because they're unreferenced.  The books might be reliable, but they might not; I just don't have enough information to say.  Powers T 12:03, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I guess the encyclopedia.com one won't link unless you are a paid subscriber. I can say that the site lists as its source for the lyrics, "New York Public Library Book of Popular Americana" which I see at amazon.com. However the "Folksinger's Wordbook" is available from amazon.com right now too: (http://www.amazon.com/Folksingers-Wordbook-Irwin-Silber/dp/0825601460/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197924605&sr=8-1). I have the '73 edition so I can't comment on the newer versions. The site homeschool references is a campsong website and it has a few other different lines added so I doubt it came from wiki. My old campsong handout sheets from the 60's have both kissing and making love listed. I didn't use them since they were ditto copied (love that smell) from an unknown source. It's the only way I've ever heard the song and most of my relatives learned it the same way. I was surprised when someone once wrote they had never heard those lyrics, but not shocked, since most don't know the extra verses to the Star Spangled banner either. Fyunck(click) (talk) 21:25, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: You'd written "Handbook" not "Wordbook" before, so that's why I couldn't find it.  Amazon's copy of the latest edition of the Wordbook has an additional verse that isn't in this article; any reason for that?  Regardless, it looks like Irwin Silber is a reliable enough source.  I'd remove the other two references since they're of dubious reliability; the Silber book should be good enough. Powers T 03:02, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I saw the other verse but I didn't include it because 1)I had never learned it in all my camping days, though one of my buddies did 2)The other two old books I had lying around that listed the "makin love" verse did not have that additional verse. I wanted a secondary source before listing it here...since I couldn't find one I thought it better not to include it in the wiki encyclopedia lest there be even more controversy. Thanks for being civil about this thing... I find most of the time that is not the case on wiki. Fyunck(click) (talk) 04:20, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

text: "Making love" used to mean "courtship/wooing". One chapter of Tom Sawyer is even called "Making War and Love" in some versions (in others it is "Busy at War and Love" - possibly a modern alteration). So that verse probably wasn't meant to be as explicit as it sounds now. Rwestera (talk) 01:45, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Making Love to Dinah 

message: Wondering why this article is flagged under technology folklore?  No technology references are given.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.167.255.151 (talk) 15:35, 18 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Technology Folklore? 

message: What's the point of the "in popular culture" section? To mention every single time this song has been recognized, no matter how fleeting, on every TV show or other media? Seems silly and trivial to me.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.59.3.142 (talk) 15:44, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Popular culture 

message: What is the source of this section and where were the lyrics gathered from?
Lbparker40 (talk) 01:30, 10 September 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: The sources were already there...at the bottom of the last 1894 lyric. I moved the sources towards the top because if you missed them then perhaps others would also. Fyunck(click) (talk) 04:35, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

text: Indeed, they should be sourced at the top. Previously it seemed they were for the bottom section only. Being that this is a little known version I just didn't want people to mistake it with something that's "made up". Thank you. Lbparker40 (talk) 13:38, 11 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: The 1894 version

message: It would be nice if the Interrogation Sketch from the Carol Burnett Show (in which this song is sung by a Hitler hand puppet) could be added to the "In Popular Culture" section. Dcwaterboy (talk) 22:42, 21 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Interrogation Sketch

message: I sang in a high school glee club in 1948 and 1949, and the second verse (which I just included in the 25 minute long version I sang a few minutes ago putting my granddaughter to sleep) is
"(Lead) That little old dog sat up and beg,
(Chorus) A wukken on de lebee.
(Lead) Till I done give him chicken leg,
(Chorus) A wukken on de lebee.
(Continues as normal)"
Over the years I've also sung that as a quartet number using several alternative versions of the "Fee, Fie, Fiddle-ee-eye Oh..." chorus segment that would be sung featuring various sound effects in place of certain syllables.  One such began "Fee, plunk, Fie, plunk, Fiddle-ee-eye Oh, plunk.  Another stanza used a double plunk instead of the single.  Another used another sound effect word but I'm not recalling it tonight.
My apologies if this is not in the proper wiki order.  This is my first attempt to contribute.  I've probably done poorly.  I will not be offended if my comments are deleted or otherwise ignored.
Dwight38 (talk) 07:10, 27 August 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Second verse of 1947 high school glee club version 

message: Franz von Suppé's "Dichter und Bauer" [= "Poet and Peasant Overture"] predates the first publication of "I've been working on the railroad" by about 50 years, and have an identical tune in them. Is it coincidence, or was it borrowed from von Suppe? Aaron Bruce (talk) 17:44, 18 September 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for the hint. Yes, you're right. The cello solo seems to have inspired "I've been working on the railroad". All the best --Popmuseum (talk) 16:58, 26 December 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Melody seems to be influenced by the cello solo of Franz von Suppè's "Poet and Peasant Overture" 

message: WP:Notlyrics doesn't say to remove all lyrics from all articles. It does say to be careful about lyrics after 1924. Maybe we don't need all these lyrics here, but we do discuss the transition of the song lyrics and changes in the song, so not to list the lyrics leaves our readers guessing what is being discussed. I suggest a discussion about what is pertinent and what is not rather than a blanket removal. Fyunck(click) (talk) 06:51, 21 June 2020 (UTC)
thread_title: Full lyrics removal not warranted

message: Hello, 
I found this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz5SBtwuZnY
At the beginning a Bundesbahn-choir is singing this song with german lyrics. Where I can find the full version of this song in german?
--Trisi0511 (talk) 23:48, 9 July 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Looking for german version 

message: References to them, sure, but the N-word doesn’t seem warranted in an encyclopedia article. See WP:BOWDLERIZE and WP:GRATUITOUS for policy on this. 
Morganfitzp (talk) 03:57, 28 August 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: So you are asking to censor the original lyrics? That doesn't sound right. Fyunck(click) (talk) 04:15, 28 August 2023 (UTC)

text: There's nothing gratuitous about including the original lyrics. That's not an endorsement of them; it's a historical fact. DonIago (talk) 04:30, 28 August 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Can we remove the racist lyrics, please?