tl;dr; charlie on the mta
Last night, I rewatched the mockumentary, A Mighty Wind, and while I was watching, my thoughts obviously turned to other folk music. This is the one that got stuck in my head last night.
Boston, in addition to the its many other historical points of interest, constructed the first subway station in the USA in 1897, and created what would become the Massachusetts Transit Authority, or the MTA.
“In the 1940’s, the MTA fare-schedule was very complicated – at one time, the booklet that explained it was 9 pages long. Fare increases were implemented by means of an “exit fare”. Rather than modify all the turnstiles for the new rate, they just collected the extra money when leaving the train. … One of the key points of O’Brien was to fight fare increases and make the fare schedule more uniform. Charlie was born. …
The text of the song was written in 1949 by Jacqueline Steiner and Bess Lomax Hawes. It was one of seven songs written for O’Brien’s campaign, each one emphasized a key point of his platform. One recording was made of each song, and they were broadcast from a sound truck that drove around the streets of Boston. This earned O’Brien a $10 fine for disturbing the peace.
Walter A. O’Brien lost the election, by the way. He moved back to his home state of Maine in 1957 and became a school librarian and a bookstore owner. He died in July of 1998.”
This and more information about the song is eloquently discussed at Jonathan Reed’s Transit Page.
In 1959, the Kingston Trio recorded Charlie on the MTA, substituting the actual “Walter” O’Brien for “George” O’Brien. This is the version I learned growing up in Boston.
The one thing I always wondered was this: Why did Charlie’s wife toss him a sandwich through the window everyday instead of a nickel to get off the train? Hmm? Makes one wonder, don’t it?
Please enjoy Charlie on the MTA.
wondering aloud 