# Going to heaven on the Frankfurt El **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2004, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-heaven-on-the-frankfurt-el/258621 "2004-08-06T14:29:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aegypt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@aegypt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aegypt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-heaven-on-the-frankfurt-el/258621/1 "2004-08-06T14:29:41Z")
The following lines are from a song I heard a long time ago. I can’t remember the rest of the song, just these lines: You can’t get to heaven on the Frankfurt El You can’t get to heaven on the Frankfurt El No you can’t get to heaven on the Frankfurt El, 'Cause the Frankfurt El goes straight to Frankfurt 1. Does anybody know which song this is, by which band? Year? 2. Where’s Frankfurt? (I suppose it’s not the Frankfurt in Germany.) What kind of place is it? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-heaven-on-the-frankfurt-el/258621/2 "2004-08-06T14:38:44Z")
Sounds like a song we used to sing round the campfire when I was in the Boy Scouts, as a call-and-return thing: “Oh you’ll never get to heaven” _“Oh you’ll never get to heaven”_ “In an old Ford car” _“In an old Ford car”_ “'Cos an old Ford car” _“'Cos an old Ford car”_ “Won’t get that far” _“Won’t get that far”_ It was sung in rounds, with people making up new verses on the spot… Oh you’ll never get to heaven On a double decker bus 'Cos a double decker bus Gonna cost too much and so on… I don’t know where it originates though - I assumed it’s just one of those campfire standards. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-heaven-on-the-frankfurt-el/258621/3 "2004-08-06T14:40:36Z")
Yep, I just Googled for _“you’ll never get to heaven in an old ford car”_ and got several hits for campfire songbooks. Here’s one with [full lyrics](http://songs-with-music.freeservers.com/nevergettoheaven.html). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-heaven-on-the-frankfurt-el/258621/4 "2004-08-06T14:44:36Z")
And a bit more info… it seems to be based on a “traditional negro song” called “Ain’t Gonna Grieve My Lord No More”. [Cite, of sorts](http://www.lesandhelga.com/sermons/1999/072599.htm). I imagine the version you heard was a version of this. Google is no help - the only page it finds is somebody’s Yahoo profile which uses it as a sig. ---
**Author:** ![aegypt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@aegypt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aegypt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-heaven-on-the-frankfurt-el/258621/5 "2004-08-06T14:54:08Z")
No, it was definitely not a campfire song (although that might be where the band got the inspiration)… It was (what I would call) a pop song… by a band that sounds American, sometime in the mid to late eighties, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-heaven-on-the-frankfurt-el/258621/6 "2004-08-06T15:03:41Z")
I’d say it’s _definitely_ where they got their inspiration. And I don’t think it started out as a campfire song - more of a negro “working” song, I imagine. Oh alright, don’t say I never do anything for you. It’s on an album called [Zig Zag](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000026RW/qid=1091804579/sr=ka-3/ref=pd_ka_3/102-4872830-7476107) by The Hooters, and it’s called “Beat Up Guitar”. Don’t even ask me how I found that. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-heaven-on-the-frankfurt-el/258621/7 "2004-08-06T15:07:37Z")
Full lyrics are [here](http://www.inlyrics.com/lyrics/H/Hooters/153051.html). Apparently it’s the [Frankford El](http://world.nycsubway.org/us/phila/market-frankford.html) (not Frankfurt), in Philadelphia. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-heaven-on-the-frankfurt-el/258621/8 "2004-08-06T16:05:21Z")
Yes the great '80s band the Hooters used a couple lines of it their song _Beat Up Guitar_, but the full song is _Frankford El_ by **the American Dream**. Eric ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-heaven-on-the-frankfurt-el/258621/9 "2004-08-06T16:36:50Z")
:smack: You could’ve posted that a bit earlier. I was quite proud of tracking that one down, and it turns out I got the wrong song anyway! ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-heaven-on-the-frankfurt-el/258621/10 "2004-08-06T16:48:45Z")
Frankford: Section of Philadelphia, PA…USA El = **El** evated train line ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-heaven-on-the-frankfurt-el/258621/11 "2004-08-06T17:57:23Z")
I should have jumped in with my WAG earlier. Since I ride the Frankford El twice a week, it was the first thing that came to my mind. Before it eventually goes underground, the El passes through a lot of poor neighborhoods. There are some stretches where the El follows the same course as the street. The support beams are sunk into the lines dividing lanes. The El rumbles past about every fifteen minutes, from six am until after midnight. The track blocks out the sky. OTTOMH, I’m not quite sure what the significance of Vine street, Kensington or Franklin are. Franklin is almost certainly a place or building named after Benjamin Franklin, but there are many of those in Philly and I’m not sure which one they mean.