chattanooga choo-choo

I first heard "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" when I was a kid. It was after I'd heard it as the punchline to one of those over-set-up Dad jokes ("pardon me Roy, is that the cat that chewed your new shoe?"). When I heard the song, I loved its bouncy cheer and bustling mid-century energy. I squinted my mental eyes and felt a rush of amazement that you could be in a different town by the time you're through reading a magazine.

I pictured an old-fashioned railway station. A little boy, straight from urchin central casting, with cap and knickerbockers; a woman stops him and asks if that's the train she wants.

It wasn't till I was an adult that I realized with a lurch that the "boy" in the song was undoubtedly a grown man with a family to feed.