[i][/i][i][/i][b][/b]Midnight Special was composed by Huddie "Leadbelly" Leadbetter. Leadbelly was doing time on the " Harlem Farm" of the Texas prison system when he wrote Midnight Special. The Harlem Farm today has been renamed the "Jester Unit" of the Texas Dept of Criminal Justice. The Midnight Special was what the prison inmates called the train that ran nightly between San Antonio and Houston along US Hwy 90A through Sugarland , Texas. The train typicaly passed the Harlem Farm around midnight and the inmates viewed it's light as their ticket to freedom. Leadbelly liked to drink and he liked to fight. He ended up on the Harlem Farm for killing a man in a knife fight. He also served time on the "Shaw Farm" which was sold by the state of Texas in 1930. He also did time in Louisiana at the "Angola State Prison" .

Twilight Zone
 

Twilight Zone the movie, w/ Dan Akroyd. He is the eerie EMS driver that takes the airplane victim away during this song, which I believe is right at the end.

Anyway, that's the incidence of this song that has been haunting me ever since I heard it on the radio again recently. I knew it was a "scary" scene/movie, but couldn't remember without Google's help.

-- Will

[QUOTE=Anonymous]Slightly OT but still on. Tonight on the way home I heard Buckwheat Zydeco's version of the song. Now I know that CCR's Midnight Special was was used in a movie but I cannot remeber which movie it was to save my soul. I just remeber that it was near the end of the movie, Anyone remember the film?[/QUOTE]

Prisoners of Huston jail believed that if the lights of midnight train shined on them, they'd be soon given freedom. So yes - it's a train:)

[b]Äàéòå ïîæàëóéñòà ññûëêè íà àëüáîìû Äæîíà Ôîãåðòè.[/b];)

There was this old black dude singing "Midnight Sprecial" in karaoke clubs in Louisville. It was the only song he sang. It was funny. Everytime he went to the stage, we all knew what he was going to sing.

my theory is... midnight special is a great night with any woman
why not?

midnight special
 

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...

I think, no no no, i remember, rock n roll


:super: