I encountered Never Marry a Railroad Man at Max’s blog – PowerPop. It’s a fantastic song. I remarked to Max how comparable Scottish singer-songwriter Amy MacDonald’s 2007 hit song This Is The Life is in terms of melody and guitar interludes. I would encourage you to read his article – Never Marry a Railroad Man in the link below:
Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in The Hague in 1967. They were known for the song Venus which reached #1 in the Billboard 100 in 1970. “Never Marry a Railroad Man” sold over a million records and became a top-ten hit in several countries around the world.
The song is not well known in America but is a great little song. The singer was Mariska Veres who sounded a bit like Grace Slick but with a maybe stronger voice. I found this group a few years ago while listening to Venus and explored their other releases. They did have more songs than Venus that were good…
Max at PowerPop
Have you been broken-hearted once or twice
If it’s yes how did you feel at his first lies
If it’s no you need this good advice
Never marry a railroad man
He loves you every now and then
His heart is at his new train
No, no, no
Don’t fall in love with a railroad man
If you do forget him if you can
You’re better off without him ah…
Have you ever been restless in your bed
And so lonely that your eyes became wet
Let me tell you then one thing mmm…
References:
1. Shocking Blue – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Thanks Matt! I thought this had good words and a very catchy chorus…The subject matter was different but it’s catchy without being syrupy catchy. I’m glad you liked this one Matt! I’m in love with her voice…and if I may speak as a male pig…her also! She was the complete package.
Listening to it again. What impresses me is how advanced it is for its time. I agree, she’s better looking than you and me and possessed more vocal musical talent. Haha.
Sorry to harp on about the Amy McDonald connection. Listen to the Shocking Blue instrumental at 1:00 onward and then listen to the whole of McDonald’s melody. It’s almost the same. Maybe it’s just uncanny. Both are excellent songs from totally different rock epochs and genre.
When I first played the McDonald song…I did notice that right away. You are better at this than me…you find connections and they are right! It does have a very similar melody going on.
Geez Max, that means a lot. I’m so relieved to read that. I thought maybe I was hearing things.
No you are right. You have a talent for noticing similarities in songs. If it isn’t overly obvious…I’m not good at it.
I believe ‘Never Marry a Railroad Man’ is the superior artistic output with respect to its innovative quality and jumpiness between different instrumentals and the rest, but McDonald sung that chorus for a more placated musical audience, and I can’t get enough of it. Plus, she sung the Scottish anthem just about like no other person I’ve seen. She has talent.
I also like that guitar intro he does…it sets up the song when they evolve into it.
Yes I agree McDonald does have a lot of talent…I like her voice a lot.
Yep.
I just have this to send on, which I have before. So please forgive me:
I never knew that anthem but she sounds great! And…I bet SHE didn’t lipsync!
Haha. It doesn’t appear she did. I’m still in dismay at the Whitney lipsync you alluded me to.
Hear this just released from Jeff’s blog Max:
I like Blur…love their nineties stuff….them and Oasis. I like this song.
I didn’t even know they were a band back then. Oasis I’ve heard…You are so far ahead of me on musical history.
Ah… they were the nucleaus of “Britpop”…basically they took the mid sixties and ran with it.
I’m gobsmacked. I never knew that. I got a distinct Smiths and Cure vibe from their track above. That’s about as far as my Brit musical knowledge takes me haha
Oasis really borrowed from the Beatles and Stones…also in their clothes. Blur was part of that.
My mistake. I thought you were referring to Blur. I really don’t want to hear Oasis again, ever. I could be more disparaging, but I won’t go there 😛
Oh I like them…but yea…Blur was in that same Britpop circle. Those two bands made it popular.