(The CTA Jeffery Express served our Hyde Park Chicago Neighborhood. )
Jeffery Express (Tune – Wabash Cannonball)
Lyrics (c) 1978 Joan D. Levin
From the mighty southside steelworks, to the Loop’s fast give and take,
From busy Stony Island, to the borders of the lake,
She’s huge, she’s hot, she’s dirty; her insides are a mess,
She’s commuter consternation; she’s the Jeffery Express!
(Chorus)
Feel the jarring and the swaying and the weaving of the ride,
Bucking o’er the pavement while you suffocate inside,
What’s this strange creation? You only get one guess,
It’s the Southside abomination, the Jeffery Express!
All the seats are taken, by big tough looking dudes,
Dynamic body builders and booted ducktailed hoods,
Old folks stand there in the aisles, but they don’t mind unless,
Someone tries to mug them on the Jeffery Express!
Listen to transistors, obscenities and smell,
The Colonel’s good home cooking, and Boone Farm Wine as well;
And what that guy is smoking, is anybody’s guess,
You’ll get high by osmosis on the Jeffery Express!
Say you’ve got a dollar but no silver to your name,
Better take a taxi or play the hitching game.
It’s putting you through changes but you’ll get no ride unless,
Your changes total fifty on the Jeffery express!
Listen to the shrieking of people with their feet,
Trapped there in the doorway as the bus rolls down the street,
The driver has a schedule that he sticks to, more or less,
He’ll make up time while you’re running for the Jeffery Express!
Here come seven buses, moving in a line,
The last six nearly empty, looking mighty fine,
But if you miss that convoy, you’ll wait an hour, no less,
Thanks to the herd instinct of the Jeffery Express!
Steven Douglas gazes down and sees beneath his feet,
One hundred stranded riders, all milling in the street,
The lakefront breezes chill them; it’s a daily scene unless,
They get some new equipment on the Jeffery Express!
See that mighty tailpipe, discharging blackened smoke?
Better hold your breath now, it’s sure to make you choke!
Ozone locks the city in a smothering caress,
Aided by the engines of the Jeffery Express!
If you can’t climb up the stairway, if you can’t get through the door,
If you need some extra room inside, it’s gonna cost you more.
Bilandic’s bus will take you; five bucks to be his guest,
Til’ a Federal Court puts you aboard the Jeffery Express!
Here comes Milt Pikarsky, in his cool limousine,
Waving to his buddies, who run the big machine.
They don’t seem to see him, perhaps they never will;
The Jeff Express will simply have to make it up Lou’s Hill!
Read about the fixes and the politicians’s scam,
While riders stand like cattle in the old Chicago cram.
If a working stiff needs wheels each day, why should he pay much less,
Than his precinct captains caddy on the Jeffery Express?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daniel Levin (who was knocked over and almost flattened underneath the Jeffery Express as it rounded the corner by the viaduct at Lake Park Avenue as he was on his way to Kenwood High School around 1977) added these lines:
Dan’s Addition to Jeffery Express
August 30, 2019
I love it!
If the folk tradition allows each generation to adds verses reflecting their personal experience, here’s my cautionary addition:
Keep your wits about you crossing Lake Park Avenue.
And remember that the viaduct can obstruct a driver’s view.
A moment of distraction could leave you in distress,
Flattened ‘neath the bumper of the Jeffery Express!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note: The original Jeffery Express lyrics were written in the 1970's; the Jeffery Express may no longer be running as of 2019 when I entered it on this blog! This was the reponse to my inquiry to the CTA about this (and about the spelling):
How do you spell Jeffrey Express and does this No. 5 Jeffrey express even exist anymore?
You have #100 Jeffrey Manor Express and #14 Jeffrey Express and #15 Jeffry local and you also have #14 Jeffrey also 100 Jeffery Manor Express and Jeffery Jump, # 15 Jeffery local and 100 Jeffery Manor Express and J14 Jeffery jump etc. etc. Can you tell me the correct spelling?
CTA Answer September 2, 2019:
webmaster@transitchicago.com
The correct spelling is “Jeffery”, as it is spelled on street signs, in maps, and on the route pages for routes #J14 Jeffery Jump (formerly the #14 Jeffery Express), the #15 Jeffery Local and the #100 Jeffery Manor Express.
The only route with #5 we have is the #N5 South Shore Night Bus. See maps for more information on where routes go. We hope this answers all your questions; have a good holiday.
The only route with #5 we have is the #N5 South Shore Night Bus. See maps for more information on where routes go. We hope this answers all your questions; have a good holiday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The L-4 Bus in Washington, D.C.
I often rode the L-4 Bus which stopped near our house.
At one point the DC transit agency proposed getting rid of the L-4 Bus saying people should take the fairly new underground Metro subway instead.
But the title has another meaning: there was a revolution in El Salvador at the time and the motto for opposing U.S. intervention was "Hands Off El Salvador." So this is a play on that as well.
HANDS OFF L-4
Tune: Wabash Cannonball
Lyrics (c) 1981 JoanD. Levin
Lyrics (c) 1981 JoanD. Levin
From stately Federal Triangle,
To the hills of Chevy Chase,
With slow but steady motion,
She moves from place to place.
She’s the Grand Dame of the Great Northwest,
You’ve heard her name before,
She’s the pride of the Metro system,
She’s the elegant L-4!
Chorus: Hear the fare box jingle,
Oh what a pleasant sound!
Look right out the window,
And see the city round!
Let us travel on the road,
We’ve traveled oft before,
You can keep your Metro train,
Just leave us our L-4!
She rolls along Thirteenth Street,
And down the mighty K,
She passes on to Twentieth,
And Florida by the way.
She cruises up Connecticut,
And lumbers down once more,
She’s a shelter in a time of storm,
Our very own L-4!
Chorus:
If you would like to make a trip,
For lunch in Cleveland Park,
Or if you’d like to see the sights,
At DuPont after dark,
The L-1 will not stop for you,
The L-7 doesn’t run,
So hop aboard the old L-4,
To get in on the fun!
Chorus:
If you go downtown shopping,
To catch up on the sales,
To doctor or to dentist,
To fix whatever ails,
To work, to play, most any day,
Or anywhere you roam,
The L-4 bus will take you there,
And bring you safely home!
Chorus
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ONWARD YELLOW TAXICAB -
TUNE: ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS
Lyrics by Joan Levin around 1981
This was written after an incident on Castlewood Terrace a tiny, three block long one way street on the north side of Chicago. Famous Chicago author and entertainer Studs Terkel lives there, and one day Dan Rather, one of the best known TV newscasters in Chicago, went to visit him and got into an altercation -- that turned physical -- with the taxi driver (who may have just gotten lost looking for this tiny street).
This story made all the local papers -- as here:
The second verse is just a knock on city workers. Pam Zekman was a Chicago journalist who wrote many stories, going underground to learn how city corruption worked.
Sauganash is a residential enclave in northwest Chicago where city workers could have nice homes and excellent schools while still living in the city, as they were required to do.
Sauganash is a residential enclave in northwest Chicago where city workers could have nice homes and excellent schools while still living in the city, as they were required to do.
Onward Yellow Taxicab,
Here's a one-way trap,
Castlewood is hidden
On your city map.
If you drive Dan Rather,
Don your oldest duds,
For you'll have a free-for-all,
Before you get to Studs.'
Onward Taxi Driver,
Punch a fare today!
Knock him senseless while your,
Meter ticks away!
Onward Civil Servant,
You can earn your pay,
Underneath some park bench,
Or in some café.
Grease a little palm, then,
Oil a squeaky wheel --
Pray that Pammy Zekman will not
Join you in your deal!
Onward Civil Servant,
Squirrel away that cash,
So you can retire to,
Sumptious Sauganash.
###