Before coming across this arrangement of
Chattanooga Choo Choo, I always associated it with the close-harmony singing of the Andrews Sisters who I no doubt first heard on radio at the end of the 1940's. This is a light-hearted arrangement well-suited to beginners and even experienced players can have a lot of fun with it. For me, as a bass player, the work is marked by an onomatopoeic passage (say that when you've had one pint too many) which brings the
Choo-Choo bit very much to life on the bass line.
Chattanooga Choo Choo has been played by both
Blue Tuesday and
Bremen Recorder Touring Company. It was one of
Sybelle Wolf's favourites and she played it particularly well when performing at
Ceilidh 2000.
This arrangement may be found in
Chattanooga Choo Choo/
Moonlight Serenade.