I know, it's been a while. You've been getting Top Ten withdrawal, haven't you? To make up for it, here's 20 songs about trains. Because there's a new Denzel Washington movie out this week where the train don't stop for nobody... or something. It's got Captain Kirk in it too (no, not The Shat). I might have to go watch that...
20. The Doobie Bros - Long Train Running
Likely to be the first and last time the Doobie Brothers appear in one of my lists, unless I do a What A Fool Believes Top Ten.
19. Whistler - Don't Jump In Front Of My Train
A wistful indie gem from the mid-90s, dedicated to all of you who have been held up on your way home by some selfish suicide...
18. ELO - Last Train To London
Considering my love for all things Electric, Light and Orchestral, this should be higher in the list. Unfortunately it suffered a little overkill in my head between 15 and 20 years ago when "the radio" decided it was one of the best testing oldies ever and subsequently played it three times an hour for about 6 months nonstop.
17. Johnny Cash - Hey Porter
You can't help but think it was a simpler, better world when Johnny Cash began writing songs back in the early 50s. You know, when train companies paid someone to help you with your bags...
See also Rock Island Line, Orange Blossom Special, and a bunch of other Man In Black songs I don't have time to link to.
16. Thea Gilmore - Don't Set Foot Over The Railway Tracks
Sadly, one of Thea Gilmore's greatest songs can't be found anywhere online for me to point you to. It's available on her album Songs From The Gutter though, and well worth tracking down.
Don't set foot
Over the railway track
The Heathens and the spin-doctors
Are waiting round the back
The skies are always sullen and
Rain races to the tarmac
So don't set foot
Over the railway track
Don't set foot
Over the railway track
The grass isn't green its yellow
And the pavement is all cracks
The graveyard's in a coma
The church has got the blues
And Jesus has a nose-ring
And Mary has tattoos
Girls paint their skins like corpses
And have hair of scouring wire
And the men all look like demons
See them dancing round their fires
Every door has leprosy
Every house has got the clap
So don't set foot
Over the railway track
15. The O'Jays - Love Train
A prime slab of Philly cheese.
14. Bruce Springsteen - Downbound Train
You should have realised by now... if these lists don't contain a Morrissey track, they must by law feature The Boss. If you don't like it, you know where the Next Blog button is.
13. Gordon Lightfoot - Canadian Railroad Trilogy
A true story of blood, sweat and tears. Songwriting as history lesson - if my history teacher had sounded like Gordon Lightfoot, I wouldn't have dropped it at the end of the Third Year.
12. Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip - Last Train Home
In which the beardy rapper finds himself on the last train home, surrounded by people who are "either stinking of weed or stinking of beer, being loud and obscene or sitting in tears". No wonder he doesn't want to be there.
11. The Monkees - Last Train To Clarksville
I'll meet you at the station... for our last bit of nookie before they ship me off to war.
10. Soul Asylum - Runaway Train
I'll play this one for Tony McGee, the biggest Soul Asylum fan I know.
9. The Cure - Jumping Someone Else's Train
Don't say what you mean
You might spoil your face
8. Spearmint - The Train
Shirley Lee's observational tale will be familiar to most commuters...
Everybody runs down the steps in case the train is coming
They didn't run when they left their houses
Didn't run along the street or down the escalators
Just for this very last bit
As the train arrives they start to walk along the platform
As though it might just go right past
As though today it might be too short
People crowd around the doors, initially letting people get off
But soon pressing forward
Even though there are empty seats they push anxiously
As though the doors may close before they manage to get on
A man insists that people should "move down, please!"
He does this in a haughty and petulant manner
But he's the same man who didn't move down the other day
I see him often
And just as the door is closing, and as the beeper's beeping
A man with a backpack hurls himself in
His rucksack gets trapped between the closing doors
He struggles, the doors re-open, and he stumbles into the carriage
Embarrassed and relieved
People look disapproving
"How selfish," they think
Some look away, but each of them has done the same at some point in the past
Some people are reading newspapers
Many seem transfixed by the newspaper of the person next to them
And are snatching covert glances
Even if they have the same paper themselves
Several people are reading novels
You can tell what the latest bestsellers are
Just by looking down the carriage...
And that's when the story really begins.
7. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Midnight Train To Georgia
I never realised just how sad this song is until I heard the Neil Diamond version.
6. Elvis Presley - Mystery Train
I love the illiterate arguments people have on youtube...
The words to the song is : Train I ride , sixteen coaches long NOT Train arrive ..... At least if you are gonna put up info on the record at least get it right ........
THANQ a lotttt for ur info but this is not my problem, It's the lyric 's web site problem ,and The English not my 1st language ,I just love the King and adore this song u should thank me and say good word .
5. Stephen Duffy & The Lilac Time - The Girl Who Waves At Trains
You're as welcome as a Christmas rose
Like a shotgun in a field of crows
As breathless as my fifth form prose
Stephen, I hate to pick, but how welcome is that shotgun if you're a crow?
4. Elbow - Station Approach
Guy Garvey describes the uplifting emotion of returning to your hometown by train after a long time away...
The streets are full of Goths and Greeks
I haven't seen my mum for weeks
But coming home I feel like I
Designed these buildings I walk by
This song also wins through the typical Garvey compliment, "You little sod, I love your eyes". What an old romantic he is.
3. Paul Simon - Train In The Distance
Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance
Everybody thinks it's true
One of the best songs Paul Simon ever wrote.
2. Ocean Colour Scene - The Day We Caught The Train
Say what you want about Britpop, say what you want about Ocean Colour Scene... but this is a gorgeous blast of euphoric, picture-painting singalong pop that I'll never grow tired of. Could have been Number One but I bottled it...
1. The Jam - Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
Weller used to be such a great storyteller. Why doesn't he tell stories like this anymore?
So... which train did I miss?
