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Classic Songs
Revisited
Love Train
written and produced by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff
June 16th, 2021: 79th birthday of Edward Willis Levert.
Happy Birthday, EL!!
In non-sequence according to my List, most of these are being done
as birthday tributes, going by the chronological days I’m building
these pages. This one is for Eddie Levert, lead singer/frontman of The O’Jays. He’s also the Dad of Gerald Levert, who had some ’80s success with the group LeVert and as a solo performer in the ’90s. As for Eddie, like many destined for greatness, he started out very young. He teamed up with some schoolmates and formed The Triumphs, which evolved into The O’Jays. They hopped around from minor label to label in the mid-late-’60s before landing themselves a contract with Philadelphia International. A few of their ’60s singles charted, but it was the ’70s which would be the true breakthrough era for the group.
The title track from their Philadelphia Intl. debut Back Stabbers shot all the way up to #1 on the US R&B chart. It was commercially surpassed just a bit by the later single “Love Train” from the same album, released right around Christmas of ’72. It would take a few more years and as many albums for another O’Jays single to rival their success, though these would hardly be their last hits. They would keep going strong with new recording material into the next four decades.
I’ve got two versions of “Love Train” on CD to present here: the original 3-minute album/single version on a compilation of 1973 hits, and the 6-minute extended version on a collection of longplay club mixes of dance songs. Great song with a great message. Cheers. (Yeesh... I know I do not have the lyrics below absolutely perfect, but I hope I at least did them some justice; a lot of them were hard to make out. Listen to the thing in its entirety, you’ll see what I mean.)
Have notes to add? Let me know!
YT:
1972
Lyrics
People all over the world (everybody), join hands (join) / Start a love train (choo), love train (choo) / People all over the world (all the world now), join in (love ride) / Start a love train (love ride), love train / The next stop that we make will be England / Tell all the folks in Russia and China too / Don’t you know that it’s time to get onboard / And let this train keep on riding, riding on through, well, well / People all over the world (you don’t need no money), join hands (come on) / Start a love train (don’t need no ticket), love train (come on) / People all over the world (join, ride this train), join in (ride this train, y’all) / Start a love train (come on, train), love train / All of you brothers over in Africa / Tell all the folks in Egypt and Israel too / Please don’t miss this train at the station / ’Cause if you miss it I feel sorry, sorry for you, well / People all over the world (sisters and brothers), join hands (join, come on) / Start a love train (ride this train, y’all), love train (come on) / People all over the world (don’t need no tickets), join in (come on, ride) / Start a love train, love train / Ride, let it ride / Let it ride, let it ride / People, ain’t no more / People all over the world (on this train), join hands (ride this train) / Start a love train, love train (ride the train, y’all) / People all over the world (this train, come on), join in (you can ride or stand, yeah) / Start a love train, love train (makin’ love) / People all over the world (’round the world, y’all), join hands (come on) / Start a love train (hey), love train (goin’ over and meet ya) / People all over the world (ride, ride), join in (come on and meet y’all) / Start a love train (ride), love train (I said just groove) / People all over the world (come on, love train), join hands / Start a love train (yeah), love train (get onboard) / People all over the world (come on ride, ride), join in / Start a love train/[fade]
original version first release: Back Stabbers (1972/08)
audio treated sample
extended version first release: Club Epic:
A Collection Of Classic Dance Mixes—Volume 3 (1994/08/02)
audio treated sample
This page was originally made on June 16th, 2021 and last edited on July 27th, 2021