Soul Train for King Day

Jackie Paine - Go-Go Train
Little Royal - Soul Train

The concept of a "soul train" preceded the famous TV show by quite some time in R&B recordings, with several R&B songs and jazz tunes having the title, and other songs using the motif. (For the record, "Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius used the title from a promotion he did while working on Chicago soul powerhouse WVON radio that featured artists going from one venue to the next.)

The notorious "Crazy Cajun," Huey Meaux, wrote the song which would be recorded several times under several titles. Two versions are presented today. I'm not sure if Jackie Paine's "Go-Go Train" was indeed the first (I think I read something saying that Roy Head did one), but it was one of the earlier versions. Little Royal's "Soul Train" takes the song into the '70s and is probably the best version overall. Both versions name-check various R&B acts of the time (and, strangely, pop and/or country ones as well) and are a lot of fun. I wasn't able to copy an MP3 of it in time to post this, but Rodger Collins also did one for Ike Turner's Pompeii concern (this one entitled "Soulful Train") that is very good also.