This old blues song is driving me crazy!   :D  Can anybody tell me what might be meant by "She took the Katy"?  Is that a train, mispronounciation of Caddy, as in Cadillac, or something else?!  Thanks for any help.

isn't the next line "The train pulled out, I swung on behind"?

anyhow the Missouri, Kansas and Texas RR (MKT) was always called the Katy here in Texas.

depending upon when this song came out (Im surprisingly not familiar with it) it probably means Cadilliac

isn't the next line "The train pulled out, I swung on behind"?

anyhow the Missouri, Kansas and Texas RR (MKT) was always called the Katy here in Texas.


I'm likin this answer!  Thanks.

The song is an old blues song and can be found in the Blues Brothers with John Belushi singing the stink out of it!  Great tune!

Paulie

check out the version by Taj Mahal, recorded in the 70's. It is one of the best.

This old blues song is driving me crazy!   :D  Can anybody tell me what might be meant by "She took the Katy"?  Is that a train, mispronounciation of Caddy, as in Cadillac, or something else?!  Thanks for any help.


Yep !  Train !  It's "She CAUGHT The Katy" - here is the first verse :

She caught the Katy
And left me a mule to ride
She caught the Katy
And left me a mule to ride
Now my baby caught the Katy
Left me a mule to ride
The train pulled out
I swung on behind
Crazy 'bout her
That hard headed woman of mine

The Katy Flyer
The Katy Flyer was built by American Car & Foundry in 1954 as 44-seat coach No. 5468. It was renamed the Katy Flyer in 1993.

In 1896, the Missouri Kansas & Texas Railroad announced the inauguration of the Katy Flyer, with service between St. Louis, Missouri, and southwest Texas. By 1905, “The Fast Train to St. Louis” raced between Galveston, Texas, and St. Louis in about 37 hours. The Flyer carried a boiler-buffet-sleeper for the convenience of those passengers who wished to have their meals served aboard the train. Other passengers were permitted to detrain at Parsons, McAlester or Dallas, Texas, to eat at the company-owned dining station where “the price is only fifty cents and the railway spares no pains or expenses to please the most fastidious.”

This old blues song is driving me crazy!   :D  Can anybody tell me what might be meant by "She took the Katy"?  Is that a train, mispronounciation of Caddy, as in Cadillac, or something else?!  Thanks for any help.


As others have noted, it really is the Katy (properly spelled) and it was the common name of a passenger train during the heyday of train travel.  As this is a blues song, it carries the common theme of a man losing his woman (wife or girl friend unknown, but largely irrelevant).  In her departure, she "Took the Katy".

The meaning of "left me the mule to ride" is slightly more obscure.  The term "mule" could have two likely connotations here.  The obvious is the reference to the animal "mule".  The second possible reference is railroad slang referring to either a small switch engine used exclusively in rail yards to shuttle cars around, or a small train used in mines to carry out rocks and ore.  Given the fact that "she took the Katy" may suggest a better link to the railroad "mule" instead of the animal, but the exact link may be lost to history.

From a blues perspective, the distinction is of no importance.  What is important is that she left her man, traveling in style, and he was left behind working.  That's the essence of a good blues song and a reason why so many blues artists have covered it.

My friend the oldies expert was sure "Katy" mean "Cadillac," but the railroad reference sounds more plausible. 

All those times I saw the Blues Brothers I thought Taj was singing,
"She complicated, left me a mule to ride."
:D

'Till I thought, "that doesn't make any sense."  On closer listen I heard "Katy" and guessed it was some regional slang for "Cadillac," but I cannot find "Katy" for "Cadillac" anywhere else, so I'd dismiss that explanation.

She Caught the Katy is a very old blues song that has been covered by sooo many people to trace back Taj Mahal, Hooker, Blues Brothers, Alman Brothers, etc.)

This is a St Louis blues sone, and no Katy is not a Caddie its the K-T. 

The term 'She caught the Katy' referrs to the MKT Railroad (Missouri Kansas Railroad) commonly called The K-T  (thus pronounced Katy). See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri-Kansas-Texas_Railroad

The mule is The Kansas City Mule, a train running from St Louis to Kansas City. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_Mule

So she caught the Katy and left me the mule to ride.  Means She got on the Katy at St Louis headed for Kansas City, and he got left going after her on the Mule.

The hardheaded and longing for his woman suggest that they had a fight, she left to KC, and he ran after her just to catch the next Kansas City Mule as it was pulling out of the station.

Thanks in passing to the guests and former members who posted to this and solved the mystery. 

I'd completely missed the issue when I first saw the movie, wondered about it last year during a 30th anniversary showing, and never thought about it until I stumbled upon this old thread.

I rode the Katy Flyer and the MK&T Moberly Local many a mile in the early fifties. My dad was a conductor/brakeman on the Katy. The Hobos made the sign of an "X" with a circle around it on his caboose meaning he was good for a handout, and wouldn't throw you off his train. I've ridden in Katy caboose # 1006 (Sloan yellow) with my dad and have seen many a Hobo riding in the empty gondola car ahead of his caboose. When I'd tell dad about it, he'd say, "Well, don't worry about it. He's probably looking for work or trying to get home". Dad worked for the Katy during the Depression, and saw lots of Hobos riding his trains. He said he didn't have the heart to throw them off because he had a job and they didn't, and may by letting them ride they would find work, or a better way of life. Great memories of the Katy.

I rode the Katy Flyer and the MK&T Moberly Local many a mile in the early fifties. My dad was a conductor/brakeman on the Katy. The Hobos made the sign of an "X" with a circle around it on his caboose meaning he was good for a handout, and wouldn't throw you off his train. I've ridden in Katy caboose # 1006 (Sloan yellow) with my dad and have seen many a Hobo riding in the empty gondola car ahead of his caboose. When I'd tell dad about it, he'd say, "Well, don't worry about it. He's probably looking for work or trying to get home". Dad worked for the Katy during the Depression, and saw lots of Hobos riding his trains. He said he didn't have the heart to throw them off because he had a job and they didn't, and may by letting them ride they would find work, or a better way of life. Great memories of the Katy.


Wow.  As the old saying goes, "A hobo wanders and works, a tramp wanders and dreams, and a bum neither wanders nor works."

Do you remember (and if he's still alive, does he still remember) any of the old pictographs I've hotlinked here or on the linked articles?  Do you remember/can you describe any others not mentioned or otherwise widely known?

http://acontinuouslean.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/hobo.gif
http://acontinuouslean.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/hobo2.gif

This set (from this website) has some.

http://www.worldpath.net/~minstrel/signs-2.gif

This other set (from this other site featuring hobo signs) is confusing - the signs for "Go", "get out fast", and "don't go this way" are very similar and may reflect regional differences.

The earliest source I can find is this book:

http://cdn.onelargeprawn.co.za/wp-content/uploads/hobo_code_man_with_gun.jpg

Ernst Lehner, Symbols, Signs and Signets (apparently copyright 1950, but the Dover edition was published in 1969)

I've seen "Good Road To Follow" (a circle, with a slash from upper-left to lower-right, the slash extending through the border of the circle) in real life as recently as last year.