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 Charlie of the MTA

Q:  There was a folk song recorded in the late 50's or early 60's that had a line in it "oh he never returned, oh he never returned, and his fate is still unlearned."  Who sang it and where can I get the lyrics? Thanx so much - Susan

A: Hi Susan-

Thank you for your question: "There was a folk song recorded in the late 50's or early 60's that had a line in it "oh he never returned, oh he never returned, and his fate is still unlearned."  Who sang it and where can I get the lyrics?"

Oh ho! Susan - you asked the right girl!

That is a HUGE song in the Boston area, where I happen to be from.  It is Charlie of the MTA, aka The MTA Song.

This song started as a campaign song for Walter O'Brien, a Progressive Party candidate for Boston Mayor in 1948.   The text of the song was written by Jacqueline Steiner (nee Berman) and Bess Lomax Hawes and deals with the campaign issue of rates being raised on the Massachusetts Transit Authority (MTA) .  The tune itself is an old folk tune, reportedly "The Wreck of the old 97" and/or "The Ship That Never Returned".  The song was recorded by the Almanac Singers whose members included a young Pete Seeger!

The song was recorded again in the early 50s by Will Holt on Coral records. The record company was over run with protests from the Boston area over the release of the song because McCarthyism had recently painted Walter O'Brien as a Communist, as did nearly all members of the Progressive Party during that era.

In 1959, The Kingston Trio altered some of the lyrics (including changing "Walter" to "George") and released a recording of it. That is most likely the song you know.

The lyrics are:

CHARLIE OF THE MTA **

Well, people let me tell you of the story of a man named Charlie on a tragic and fateful day.
He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family, went to ride on the M.T.A.

Chorus:
Well, did he ever return?
No, he never returned and his fate is still unlearned.
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston.
He's the man who never returned.

Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square Station and he changed for Jamaica Plain.
When he got there the conductor told him, One more nickel. Charlie couldn't get off of that train.

(Chorus)

Now, all night long Charlie rides through the station, crying, What will become of me?
How can I afford to see my sister in Chelsea or my cousin in Roxbury?

(Chorus)

Charlie's wife goes down to the Sculley Square Station every day at quarter past two,
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich as the train comes rumblin' through.

(Chorus)

Now, you citizens of Boston, don't you think it's a scandal how the people have to pay and pay?
Fight the fare increase! Vote for George O'Brien! Get poor Charlie off the M. T. A.

(Chorus)

He's the man who never returned.
He's the man who never returned.



Of course - since my earliest memory of this song, I could not understand why his wife could hand him a sandwich, but not a nickel? lol!