Something for the weekend. Get Off The Track! by the Hutchinson Family Singers, a family group of singers who were very popular in the North during the 1840’s, 1850’s and 1860’s. They were fiery abolitionists and this song became the anthem of the crusade against slavery in the US.
Ho! the car, Emancipation,
Rides majestic thro’ our nation
Bearing on its train, the story
Liberty! a nation’s glory.
Roll it along! Roll it along!
Roll it along! thro’ the nation
Freedom’s car, Emancipation
Roll it along! Roll it along!
Roll it along! thro’ the nation
Freedom’s car, Emancipation.
Men of various predilections,
Frightened, run in all directions;
Merchants, editors, physicians,
Lawyers, priests and politicians.
Get out of the way! Get out of the way!
Get out of the way! every station,
Clear the track of ‘mancipation.
Get out of the way! Get out of the way!
Get out of the way! every station,
Clear the track of ‘mancipation.
All true friends of emancipation,
Haste to freedom’s rail road station;
Quick into the cars get seated,
All is ready, and completed.
Put on the steam! Put on the steam!
Put on the steam! All are crying,
And the liberty flags are flying.
Put on the steam! Put on the steam!
Put on the steam! All are crying,
And the liberty flags are flying.
Hear the mighty car wheels humming!
Now look out! the engine’s coming!
Church and statesmen! hear the thunder!
Clear the track! or you’ll fall under.
Get off the track! Get off the track!
Get off the track! all are singing,
While the liberty bell is ringing.
Get off the track! Get off the track!
Get off the track! all are singing,
While the liberty bell is ringing.
See the people run to meet us;
At the depots thousands greet us;
All take seats with exultation,
In the car, Emancipation.
Huzza! Huzza! Huzza! Huzza!
Huzza! Huzza! Emancipation
Soon will bless our happy nation.
Huzza! Huzza! Huzza! Huzza!
Huzza! Huzza! Emancipation
Soon will bless our happy nation.
Donald R. McClarey
Paul Zummo
Almost Chosen People 
I had a vague memory of the Hutchinsons being run out of camp by Gen. McClellan and found this:
http://www.civilwarpoetry.org/union/songs/hutchinson.html
. . .
Mark Boatner, writing in his Civil War Dictionary, states that “. . .in the summer and fall of 1861 [Union General George B.] McClellan barred their appearances in the [Virginia] camps when their anti-slavery songs had angered many of the soldiers. After the offending verses were read by [Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P.] Chase to [President Abraham] Lincoln at a cabinet meeting, the President said, ‘It is just the character of song that I desire the soldiers to hear.’ Thereafter the Hutchinsons were permitted tunefully to do their part for the war effort.”
A great anecdote Thomas and a foreshadowing that Lincoln and McClellan were going to have a very rocky relationship.
That’s pretty catchy. Irresistibly fast, too.