Tiny Bradshaw and his band first recorded "The Train Kept A-Rollin'" in 1951. They performed the song as a mid-tempo jump blues, which uses a boogie-woogie bass line and a shuffle rhythm. The introductory section features scat singing by Bradshaw answered by a chorus. The verses are delivered in a lively vocal style, followed by an instrumental break with a raucous, honking-style tenor saxophone solo by Red Prysock and backed by drummer Philip Paul's a heavy backbeat. Bradshaw's lyrics use early jazz hipster references: