Songs that you associate with public transport.

[STEVIEBOY1]

"National Express" by Divine Comedy.

Yes that's a good one as are all the above. What about Waterloo by Abba, which often goes round in my head when I arrive at that Station.? (The theme tune to "The Liver Birds" TV series also comes to mind when I arrive at Liverpool Lime Street station as does "Sale of the Century" when I arrive at Norwich.)

 

[Groningen]

I am not so sure that Going Underground by The Jam is about the London Underground, but more an attack on Margaret Thather.

 

[DarloRich]

Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
Midnight Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight & the Pips
Long train running - The Doobie Brothers
Downtown Train - Tom Waits or Rod Stewart
Ferry cross the Mersey - Gerry & the Pacemakers
Inaugural trams - Super Furry Animals
Nightrain -Guns n Roses
Train in Vain - Clash
Trans Europe Express - Kraftwerk

And a personal favorite of mine: Convoy - C. W. McCall

Leaving On A Jet Plane by, er, (Googles) Peter Paul & Mary

Written by John Denver - who died in a plane crash.

 

[317 forever]

Going Underground (The Jam)
Last Train to Transcentral (KLF)

Going Underground went straight in at no 1 on 18.3.80, the Tuesday ahead of a 25% increase in London Underground fares!

 

[317 forever]

Must be the Circle Line if it keeps coming round!

Bill Lovelady's Reggae For It Now (1979) mentions the Circle Line in the lyrics.

 

[317 forever]

An 80s song with an accidental connections with buses is Madness's Cardiac Arrest as includes the lyric Got to get the First Bus

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Wasn't there a song some years ago, that mentioned Warwick Avenue UndergrounD station?

 

[Controller1701]

Wasn't there a song some years ago, that mentioned Warwick Avenue UndergrounD station?

The only one I know of is "Warwick Avenue" by Duffy

 

[DavidGrain]

I thought about Warwick Avenue Underground station but it is just a meeting point outside rather than a transport song

When I get to Warwick Avenue
Meet me by the entrance of the tube
We can talk things over a little time
Promise me you won't step out of line
When I get to Warwick Avenue
Please, drop the past and be true
Don't think we're okay just because I'm here
You hurt me bad but I won't shed a tear

 

[yorksrob]

I don't know whether the song has anything to do with the tube station, But "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty always makes me think of that station and its Sherlock Holmes silhouette tiles.

 

[DarloRich]

I don't know whether the song has anything to do with the tube station, But "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty always makes me think of that station and its Sherlock Holmes silhouette tiles.

how could i forget that one?

 

[Groningen]

Please do not think of: I don't wanna die in an air disaster by Albert Hammond. I am a train is more positive!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

As a Youtube comment puts it, the song is history of UKs rail from 1993 to present day.

I quote some lyrics for those who can't who can't bear to listen:

"But it’s utter crime that these private companies have their greasy paws on our historic railways
Northern Rail appeal to the more seasoned, bottom set maths, jobsworth
Not to tail them all under the same brush
Heaven forbid"

"If you’ve noticed anything suspicious, then please report it to a member of this train crew”
It is bizarre to know how the tannoy pattern varies depending wholly on how much the conductor enjoys the sound of their own voice
Clearly a highlight for the blissfully unaware
Who loves to think he is providing much needed local knowledge and humour
I don’t have time to be hanging around Huddersfield station’s lovely little café
I’m on this train because I’ve got actual places to be"

I was unaware of this band, thanks for posting. Very Fall-esque, with a sprinkling of early Blur.

 

[Groningen]

Zoo Station - U2

Why not add movies to this topic? Murder on the Oriënt Express, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and The Cassandra Crossing. There is also a movie where the train does not stop at all and the locomotive (after disconnecting the wagons/coaches) plowes into Chicago station. Oh yes; Silver Streak from 1976.

 

[antharro]

Pet Shop Boys - Kings Cross, but with the better video of King's Cross in it, the Underground, and HSTs!

West End Girls has a brief clip of Waterloo station in the 1980ies

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Another film is "Von Ryan's Express".

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The opening verse of "National Sh*te Day" by Half Man Half Biscuit springs to mind whenever I have to negotiate the concourse of Leeds or Huddersfield at busy times, particularly when there's a fair bit of bustitution going on!

Pulling the ice axe from my leg
I staggered on
Spindrift stinging my remaining eye

I finally managed to reach the station
Only to find that the bus replacement service had broken down

After wondering to myself whether or not it should actually be called a train replacement service
I walked out onto the concourse and noticed the giant screen seemed to have been tampered with
Probably by a junior employee
Disgruntled commuters were being regaled with some dismal TVM
Involving a tug-of-love-custody-battle
Stockard Channing held sway...

Also, here's the aforementioned Violent Femmes song:

 

[Old Yard Dog]

"Last Train to Clarksville" by the Monkees.

This relates to the closure of Clarksville station in Tennessee. The most famous train on the Memphis Line through Clarksville was the Pan American, which had it’s beginning in December of 1921. This train was discontinued on November 15, 1965. This was due to the drop in passenger business. The Monkees came out with the song, “Last Train to Clarksville” due to this discontinuation. But that was not the last train to Clarksville. Night trains 101 & 104 ran on until February 28, 1968 when C. W. Harrison, night ticket agent, sold the last passenger ticket in Clarksville.

For more details see

http://www.mchsociety.org/Sub-Pages/Hist-TrainStation.html

 

[yorksrob]

"Last Train to Clarksville" by the Monkees.

This relates to the closure of Clarksville station in Tennessee. The most famous train on the Memphis Line through Clarksville was the Pan American, which had it’s beginning in December of 1921. This train was discontinued on November 15, 1965. This was due to the drop in passenger business. The Monkees came out with the song, “Last Train to Clarksville” due to this discontinuation. But that was not the last train to Clarksville. Night trains 101 & 104 ran on until February 28, 1968 when C. W. Harrison, night ticket agent, sold the last passenger ticket in Clarksville.

For more details see

http://www.mchsociety.org/Sub-Pages/Hist-TrainStation.html

I heard somewhere that there was a big military training facility at Clarksville and the song was about some young soldier arranging for his girlfriend to come up for a last night of nookie before getting shipped off to "Nam".

Quite a moving theme for what was on the face of it, quite an upbeat song.

 

[yorksrob]

Pet Shop Boys - Kings Cross, but with the better video of King's Cross in it, the Underground, and HSTs!

West End Girls has a brief clip of Waterloo station in the 1980ies

Play Spot the VEP !

 

[martinsh]

I don't know whether the song has anything to do with the tube station, But "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty always makes me think of that station and its Sherlock Holmes silhouette tiles.

And off the same album City to City which is the story of a journey (home for Gerry) from London to Glasgow on the seated portion of the sleeper.

 

[yorksrob]

And off the same album City to City which is the story of a journey (home for Gerry) from London to Glasgow on the seated portion of the sleeper.

I'll have to listen to that one again !

 

[Old Yard Dog]

On the same theme, Johnny Duncan's "Last train to San Fernando" was acrually written in Trinidad in the 1940's and preceded the closure of the line thereto by some 25 years.

http://www.guardian.co.tt/entertainment/2012-12-30/last-train-san-fernando-was-it

A map of the former system may be found at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trini...edia/File:Railroad_Map_of_Trinidad_-_1925.png

Britain's most famous anti-Beeching song was of course recorded by Flanders and Swann

 

[Bevan Price]

"East Coast Flier" by Big Big Train

"Train To Nowhere" - versions by Savoy Brown & Rare Earth.

"Sylvester's Last Voyage" by Forevermore (about a ship sinking)

 

[martinsh]

Jet Airliner - Steve Miller Band
City Of New Orleans - Arlo Guthrie (and other versions)

 

[61653 HTAFC]

How about this, for those with more "urban" tastes:

(Del the Funky Homosapien - The Wacky World of Rapid Transportation)

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Sugababes - Overload

Mainly because the chorus is “Train comes I don’t know it’s destination. Got a one way ticket for a madman situation.”

That is very much the case with the trains I get on at Reading now, what with the Derby works and Great Western Railway electrification scheme. Madness these days.

I do love the sugaz. Sorry not sorry.

 

[Fireless]

"The Bulgham Bombshell"
Perfect for celebrating the MER's 125th birthday today.