From Tracy Newman's 1965 PBS series on What's New for children. Rock Island Line is an American folk song from around 1929, apparently written by Clarence Wilson. Folklorist, John Lomax made the first audio recording of the song. Also, a convict from the Cumins State Prison in Arkansas, named Kelly Pace, might have written the song. Leadbelly rearranged it , published it, and recorded it. You can read about this song on Wikipedia. There's too much for me to put down here.