[njtvguy460]

Many people wrongly attribute Midnight Special to Leadbelly due to Alan Lomax recording him performing the song in Angola prison in 1934. The first actual appearance of the lyrics in print came in 1905 and was attibuted to Howard Washington Odum.

The Midnight Special was a train that transported prisoners from a Houston county jail to the state pen in Sugarland, TX. It was also used as a metaphor for death. When the light would shine in your cell it was your maker calling you home...the only way the Warden was gonna let you outta the clink!

Another metaphorical meaning was it represented freedom, transportation away from the prison and to be careful in Houston or you'd wind up back in Sugarland.

the movie the song appeared in by Credence was Twilight Zone the Movie. In the wrap around scene with Dan Akroyd and Albert Brooks where they're singing TV theme songs and they discuss old TZ episodes and Akroyd turns into a monster...