trivia songs that mention trains/ railways

[D6130]

Choo Choo Ch' Boogie by Louis Jordan (1946)

 

[Jakko542]

Might not be to everyone's taste (and a tad sweary for those who dislike such things), but for me Bob Vylan's "Northern Line" is really quite excellent.

 

[choo.choo]

Taking off again
The 5:14 to East Grinstead

“Lonesome Street” by Blur.

 

[Merthyr Imp]

Just remembered this, which I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned before (unless it has and I've forgotten/missed it).

Finchley Central by The New Vaudeville Band:-

Finchley Central is two and sixpence
From Golders Green on the Northern Line
And on the platform, by the kiosk
That's where you said you'd be mine

There we made a date
For hours I waited
But I'm blowed, she never showed

At Finchley Central, ten long stations
From Golders Green, change at Camden Town
I thought I'd made you
But I'm afraid you really let me down

 

[prod_pep]

Just a couple that spring to mind:

'Fellow Hoodlums' - Deacon Blue: 'On the last train from St Enoch's'
'Travelling Man' - Simple Minds: 'The last train left this station long ago'
'Book of Brilliant Things' - Simple Minds: 'Some say our hearts beat like the wheels of a fast train, all around the world'
'Hurry Home' - A-ha: 'Hurry home, freight train running. I've been gone too long honey' (I'm not sure they've quite nailed the lyrics here, but in fairness they are Norwegian!)
'The Game' - Echo & the Bunnymen: 'And the midnight trains I never made, 'cause I'd already played the game'

Also, nine pages in and no mention of The Farm's 'Groovy Train'? Maybe they are only 'big in Liverpool'.

 

[Spaceship323]

Just listening to Hot rails to hell by Blue Oyster Cult

 

[ian1944]

Not a song about rail, but one on a station - the closed Wilbraham Road in Manchester, loosely disguised as Chorltonville. The much-underknown Rosetta Tharpe, in 1964:

 

[class350desiro]

the letter by the box tops mentions how the singer doesn’t have time for a train - has this been mentioned already?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Train I ride, 16 coaches long - Elvis Presley

 

[mm333]

‘Cumberland Gap’ by Lonnie Donegan, and many others

 

[Harvester]

Always had a feeling that the Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride” was about a forthcoming rail journey, although ‘rail’ is not specifically mentioned.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Chris de Burgh wrote two of my favourite songs -

Borderline​

I'm standing in the station,
I am waiting for a train,
To take me to the border,
And my loved one far away,
I watched a bunch of soldiers heading for the war,
I could hardly even bear to see them go;

Rolling through the countryside,
Tears are in my eyes,
We're coming to the borderline,
I'm ready with my lies,
And in the early morning rain, I see her there,
And I know I'll have to say goodbye again;

And it's breaking my heart, I know what I must do,
I hear my country call me, but I want to be with you,
I'm taking my side, one of us will lose,
Don't let go, I want to know,
That you will wait for me until the day,
There's no borderline, no borderline;

Walking past the border guards,
Reaching for her hand,
Showing no emotion,
I want to break into a run,
But these are only boys, and I will never know,
How men can see the wisdom in a war...

And it's breaking my heart, I know what I must do,
I hear my country call me, but I want to be with you,
I'm taking my side, one of us will lose,
Don't let go, I want to know,
That you will wait for me until the day,
There's no borderline, no borderline,
No borderline, no borderline...

"This song 'Borderline' was inspired in 1982 by watching all the veterans coming back from the Falkland Islands war

and ...

Say Goodbye To It All​

No borderline
No borderline
We took a boat over Lake Geneva
It was raining all night long
We were lucky and we saw no enemy
And came from Switzerland, poor refugees
Far from the guns of war
We said goodbye to it all
They brought us in to a nurse's station
Half a mile behind the lines
Oh, Lord, how my heart was breaking to see the children
And the walking wounded
Hoping for a ticket home
To say goodbye to it all
I woke up on a cold blue morning
I see her there, standing right beside me
Long years since I left her at the borderline
And how she found me I'll never know
We decided there and then
To say goodbye to it all (to it all)
Say goodbye to it all
Say goodbye to it all
Took a train from Paris to the ocean
Found a small hotel by the coast
As we walked along the beaches of Normandy
We came to Juno, Omaha and Gold
And whispered a prayer for the boys
Who said goodbye to it all
Now we've got our own place by the water
And I have a job in the old hotel
She is ready and she's hoping for a daughter
Well, I don't mind, we've made our choice
We've got all the time in the world
We said goodbye to it all
We said goodbye to it all
Say goodbye to it all
Say goodbye to it all
Say goodbye to it all
Say goodbye to it all
Say goodbye to it all
Say goodbye
Say goodbye

Neither of them are specifically about trains, but they both include reference to travelling by train.

 

[LAX54]

No one mentioned TRAINS ?

 

[Merthyr Imp]

No one mentioned TRAINS ?

Not actually a song.

 

[LAX54]

Not actually a song.

True, but there are many songs that have been 'spoken' but I do take your point having said that....its a fun record !

 

[mm333]

“I can be the ticket man at Fulham Broadway station.” ‘What A Waste’, Ian Dury and the Blockheads - has just come up on random on my iPod Shuffle

 

[nw1]

Maybe more one for a "misheard lyrics" thread, There was a short period when I first heard Kula Shaker's "Tattva" that I thought the song had the same name as a certain Thames Valley station on the relief lines served only by stopping services.

 

[AY1975]

The show was Chigley.

Indeed, here it is:

 

[mm333]

And then the Half Man Half Biscuit p-take 'Time Flies By (When You’re A Driver Of A Train)'

Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew
Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb
Let it happen bass player…
Time flies by when you’re a driver of a train
Speeding out of Trumpton with a cargo of cocaine
I get high when I’m the pilot of a plane
Touching down in Camberwick I’m stoned out of my brain
Under bridges, over bridges, to our destination
Careful with that spliff Eugene, it causes condensation
Every Saturday I get the Chigley skins
And they always smash my windows ‘cos the home side always wins
Yeah, time flies by when you’re a driver of a train
Gonna get me syringes out and crank up once again
Under bridges over bridges to our destination
Careful with that spliff Eugene it causes condensation

 

[BeijingDave]

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Here's one that randomly came up on my music stream. Cass McCombs - "Northern Train". McCombs is from California, so I doubt the song is inspired by being delayed on a 150 outside Sheffield Midland station!

 

[Mat17]

The Jam - Down in the Tube Station at Midnight

Psychedelic Furs - Into You Like A Train

Guns and Roses - Night Train

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jan 2025 ==

Berlin - The Metro

Pet Shop Boys - Kings Cross

 

[61653 HTAFC]

"Under your thunb" by Godley & Creme.

(snipped to save space)

I'm not sure whether Kevin Godley or Lol Creme are train nerds, but there's a few railway references in their rather weird but great song "An Englishman In New York" (which is IMO a far better song than Sting's song of the same name). The opening couplet-

Demented New York athletes staggering round the block
Deforned Chicanos pour in, Chicago's rolling stock

...then later this line, which at least to me has a vague railway connection:

Two miniature Romans, running on rails
Appear every hour and bang in the nails

 

[mm333]

It coming up on my YouTube suggested videos list this evening reminded me of ‘The Monorail Song’ from The Simpsons.

“Mono… doh!”

 

[Andover]

"Trenulețul" by Zdob și Zdub and Frații Advahov.

Trenulețul - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The song was interpreted by many as being in support of a merger between Romania and Moldova, and lyrics referring to a union were cut from the original version.

I remember being quite surprised this was allowed on Eurovision, seeing as they normally have some fairly strict rules against anything that could even be construed as political. I guess Moldavo-Romanian unionism may be a subject obscure enough that it simply passed the censors by, but it's certainly highly controversial within the countries concerned.

 

[Class15]

Bruno Mars - Grenade

“I’d jump in front of a train for you”

 

[Bevan Price]

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Lodi

"If only I had a dollar
for every somg I'd sung
to people sat there drunk
you know I'd catch the next train
back to where I live"

(John Fogerty_)

 

[Thornaby 37]

Indeed, here it is:

There's also a more "adult" version of the Chigley song

 

[Lewisham2221]

Johnny on the monorail by The Buggles

Locomotion by OMD

Walking in memphis

And one that has trains in the video, Break it up by Scooter, filmed on a heritage line in Germany

Sticking with the Scooter theme, Nessaja features the line
"It's not a bird, it's not a plane ...
It must be Dave who's on the train..."

 

[AM9]

Waiting for A Train - Flash In The Pan
Rock Island Line - Lonnie Donegan
Freight Train - Nancy Whiskey