♫ Marrakesh Express ♫

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I played this one a couple of years ago, but it was well-received and so tonight I shall … “Play it again, Sam” (Keith’s recent post has me spouting quotes from Casablanca!) 

Marrakesh is a city in Morocco famous for leather goods. The “Marrakesh Express” is the train Graham Nash took on a trip there from Casablanca in 1966. The lyrics are filled with the sights, sounds and vibes that he encountered on the trip.

Prior to exiting the Hollies in 1968, Nash offered this to his band mates. However, the tune was ultimately rejected as being not commercial enough. Their refusal to record this and other tunes he wrote was one of the main reasons Nash left the band and moved to Los Angeles to join up with Crosby and Stills.

“After a couple months of that, a man is liable to go insane. Especially being the only one who was smoking grass at the time.”

Fortunately, his new band mates liked the tune and it ended up on their debut album.

This became Crosby Sills And Nash’s first hit in the US, and surprisingly their only Top 40 single in the UK.  According to Nash …

“In 1966 I was visiting Morocco on vacation to Marrakesh and getting on a train and having a first-class ticket and then realizing that the first-class compartment was completely f–king boring, you know, ladies with blue hair in there – it wasn’t my scene at all. So I decide I’m going to go and see what the rest of the train is like. And the rest of the train was fascinating. Just like the song says, there were ducks and pigs and chickens all over the place and people lighting fires. It’s literally the song as it is – what happened to me.”

Marrakesh Express
Crosby, Stills & Nash

Looking at the world
Through the sunset in your eyes
Trying to make the train
Through clear Moroccan skies
Ducks and pigs and chickens call
Animal carpet wall to wall
American ladies five foot tall in blue.

Sweeping cobwebs from the edges of my mind
Had to get away to see what we could find
Hope the days that lie ahead
Bring us back to where they’ve led
Listen not to what’s been said to you

Would you know we’re riding
On the Marrakesh Express
Would you know we’re riding
On the Marrakesh Express
All on board that train

I’ve been saving all my money just to take you there
I smell the garden in your hair

Take the train from Casablanca going south
Blowing smoke rings from the corners of my my, my, my, my mouth
Colored cottons hang in air
Charming cobras in the square
Striped Djellebas we can wear at home
Don’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express
Don’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express
They’re taking me to Marrakesh Express
Don’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express
Don’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express
They’re taking me to Marrakesh
All on board that train
All on board that train

Songwriters: Graham Nash
Marrakesh Express lyrics © Spirit Music Group

33 thoughts on “♫ Marrakesh Express ♫”

  1. Remember my parody of Toto’s Africa, Trump Took the Train Down Through Africa? I think I might have stolen the image of Trump sleeping in a train car with pigs from this song. Not a direct or intentional steal, because I know I have seen scenes of animals and fowl in train cars, but as soon I heard the line here, I immediately thought about my parody. And now I can’t get it out of my head!

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    • I remembered that you really liked this one last time I played it, so I was hoping you’d still like it today! I don’t recall “Judy Blue Eyes” off the top of my head, but I do remember “Teach Your Children”. I’ll check out “Judy” later today!
      Cwtch

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    • I’m so glad you liked this one! Yes, I was surprised to find this was the only one by CSNY that charted in the UK. I wonder why? Often I think it is due to poor or non-existent marketing … sadly.

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      • I never really understood it, and apart from Neil Young none of their solo releases were especially successful here either. Even if the marketing was poor the music spoke for itself. I guess not enough people were listening.

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  8. Jill, thanks again for the shout out. I have always been amazed by stories of success after someone or some group turns down an opportunity. This song was turned down because it was not commercial enough only to be successfully commercially. The Temptations had a huge hit “My Girl” as other Motown groups turned it down as it was too similar to “My Guy” by Mary Wells. Fred Astaire turned down the role of “Columbo” only to see Peter Falk be very successful with it. And, so on. Keith

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    • PS – In this same vein, many of the actors hurried through “Casablanca” as they did not think it would be very good. They wanted to get to the next film. The may have been off on that conclusion.

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    • My pleasure … I so enjoyed your ‘Casablanca’ post that I wanted others to enjoy it, too! Yes, the commercial success of this song is the ultimate irony, isn’t it! I bet the members of The Hollies kicked themselves a few times for not having better distance vision. Ahhhh … we all have to make decisions sometimes based on either imperfect, incomplete information, or gut instinct. My experience is that gut instinct is right about 50% of the time!

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      • Jill, in today’s music world, they have so many computers helping writers replicate song patterns, too much sounds alike. Yet, while the technology changes, the story is the same, unusual sounding songs find it hard to break through. One of the most acclaimed albums is Meatloaf’s debut album “Bat out of Hell.” Every song is memorable, yet no one wanted to produce it. At the urging of other artists like Billy Joel, the record labels finally gave in. Keith

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        • Yes, and I think that’s why today’s music really doesn’t appeal to me at all. It has no … personality, no real feeling. I recall Bat Out of Hell, but don’t recall the tune … I’ll check it out in a few. I took a look at the stats for the song just now, and while it reached #8 in the UK, it doesn’t seem to have charted here in the U.S. … or anywhere other than the UK. Lack of marketing?

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          • The biggest song off “Bat out of Hell” was “Two out of three ain’t bad,” but the one that takes the cake as innovative is “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” which is about a teen boy who promises love for sex in his car. The story is accentuated by Yankee baseball announcer Phil Rizzuto calling a play by play of the heavy petting prior to her demands for love. Keith

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