trivia songs that mention trains/ railways

[westernpunk]

as the title says bit of fun songs that directly or even inadvertantly mention trains, locos stations railway infrastucture etc,
heres a couple to start, one well known, one not so

the adicts 727

7:27 Lyrics.​

I found another baby
She wore metal boots
I found another baby
She was kinda cute
Thought she was only away for a day
It was a one way ticket
Now she's gone to stay
Choo choo choo choo
My baby got knocked off her feet
Choo choo choo choo
It was the 7:27 to Liverpool Street

Silver Star
The Four Seasons
In my dream i'm a western hero
riding my palomino. obviously totally unintentional

 

[Taunton]

Chattanooga Choo-Choo

 

[Western 52]

Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull.

 

[Merle Haggard]

At the time it was in the charts , I liked to think the line 'thank you very much for the Aintree Iron' in the The Scaffold's hit referred to Aintree marshalling yard (Edge Hill yard was a.k.a. 'the Gridiron', so why not?) And, if it didn't, what did it refer to?

 

[Western 52]

Raising Steam- Jethro Tull, Crest of a Knave album.

 

[Gloster]

At the time it was in the charts , I liked to think the line 'thank you very much for the Aintree Iron' in the The Scaffold's hit referred to Aintree marshalling yard (Edge Hill yard was a.k.a. 'the Gridiron', so why not?) And, if it didn't, what did it refer to?

There is an old Grauniad Notes & Queries that has a long list of possibilities. However, a certain Mike McGear did contribute a comment that it wasn’t the Gridirion. Unfortunately, he didn’t say what it was.

 

[DaleCooper]

Cream - White Room

You said no strings could secure you at the station
Platform ticket, restless diesels, goodbye windows
I walked into, such a sad time, at the station
As I walked out, felt my own need, just beginning

 

[Gloster]

Homeward Bound by Simon & Garfunkel. There are a number of candidates for where the idea for the song first came to Paul Simon: Warrington Bank Quay is his recollection.

 

[Merle Haggard]

There is an old Grauniad Notes & Queries that has a long list of possibilities. However, a certain Mike McGear did contribute a comment that it wasn’t the Gridirion. Unfortunately, he didn’t say what it was.

Thank you.
The first time I heard it I thought firstly 'that's the marshalling yard' and immediately afterwards how bizarre it would be if that's what was meant.

 

[W-on-Sea]

The first verse of "Looking for Linda" by Hue and Cry goes as follows:


"I was not looking for Linda, but Linda found me
Hiding away on the slow train home
'Is this one for Paisley? Oh you've got to help me'
(She used to work there a long time ago)
She'd spent 35 pounds on one pack of ciggies
Running an errand for him indoors
Then she kept running straight down to Leeds Central
Took Intercity and left her remorse
I'm looking out for Linda"

Apparently written about the songwriter's daughter when she left home

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Chattanooga Choo-Choo

My wife and I go there at least 6 times per year!

 

[LYradial]

King of the road —— roger miller.


third boxcar midnight train

 

[Trackman]

The obvious Chris Rea one:

Burlington Zephyrs
And Kenworths that pass in the night
Deltics and Steamers and F88's in full flight
Old train take me back again
To the one that I love
Deltics

 

[Rescars]

Flanders and Swann - "On the slow train". Mostly a list of stations

 

[Magdalia]

Midnight train to Georgia by Gladys Knight and the Pips.
Love Train by the O'Jays
Trains and Boats and Planes various (Bacharach/David song)

Some lyrics for working out:

The old home town looks the same as I step down from the train

Take a look up the rail track from Miami to Canada

Silver Star
The Four Seasons
In my dream i'm a western hero

5705 by City Boy is unintentionally about a CoBo.

 

[Recessio]

A Town Called Malice, by The Jam. The song is about growing up in Woking and includes

The ghost of a steam train
Echoes down my track
It's at the moment bound for nowhere
Just going round and round

 

[norbitonflyer]

I must have left my house at eight because I always do
My train, I'm certain, left the station just when it was due
.....................
.....................
The train back home again
Undoubtedly, I must have read the evening paper then
Oh yes, I'm sure my life was well within its usual frame
The day before you came

ABBA

Train whistle blowing makes a sleepy noise
Underneath their blankets, go all the girls and boys
Rocking, rolling, riding out along the bay
All bound for Morningtown, many miles away

The seekers

The idiot who, in railway carriages,
Scribbles on window-panes
We only suffer
To ride on a buffer
In Parliamentary trains.
(Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado)

For you dream you are crossing the Channel, and tossing about in a steamer from Harwich –
Which is something between a large bathing machine and a very small second-class carriage –
And you're giving a treat (penny ice and cold meat) to a party of friends and relations –
They're a ravenous horde – and they all came on board at Sloane Square and South Kensington Stations.

(Also G&S, the Nightmare Song from Iolanthe)

Does "Up the Junction" (Squeeze) count?
"We spent our time just kissing
The Railway Arms we're missing
But love had got us hooked up
And all our time it took up"

5705 by City Boy is unintentionally about a CoBo.

Or a 2EPB - a regular on my then commute at the time

 

[morrisobrien]

Slow Train Coming - Bob Dylan
Choo Choo Train - Box Tops
Train Kept a Rollin' - Johnny Burnette
Train Kept a Rollin' - Yardbirds

 

[barringtoncem]

Out of my brain on the 5.15 by the Who if that counts & also down in the tube station at midnight by the Jam for infrastructure

 

[DaleCooper]

The KLF - Last Train to Trancentral

 

[morrisobrien]

One foot on the platform
The other foot on the Train
I'm going' back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain
House of the Rising Sun - The Animals

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Last train to Transcentral - KLF
Don’t stop believing - Journey “took the midnight train going anywhere”

 

[martinsh]

City of New Orleans - Arlo Guthrie
City to City - Gerry Rafferty
Down In the Tube Station At Midnight - The Jam
Tons of Steel - Grateful Dead
Midnight Flyer - The Eagles
Last Train to Clarksville - The Monkees
Banks of the Ponchartrain - Nanci Griffith

 

[Ridercross]

Belinda Carlisle - Summer Rain:

Whispering our goodbyes, waiting for the train
I was dancing with my baby in the Summer rain
I can hear him saying, "Nothing will change"
Come dance with me, baby, in the summer rain

I remember the rain on his skin
And his kisses hotter than the Santa Ana winds
Whispering our goodbyes, waiting for the train
I was dancing with my baby in the summer rain

I remember laughing 'til we almost cried
There at the station that night
I remember looking in his eyes
I can hear the whistle, military train
I was dancing with my baby in the summer rain
I can hear him singing, "Ooh, love is strange"
Come dance with me, baby, in the summer rain

I remember the rain pouring down
And we poured our hearts out as the train pulled out
I can see my baby waving from the train
It was the last time that I saw him in the summer rain

 

[W-on-Sea]

"9 to 5" by Sheena Easton (known in America as "Morning Train", presumably to distinguish it from perhaps the better known song of the same name by Dolly Parton).

Interestingly I came across a Hungarian cover version of it, by a singer called Auth Csilla, the title being "8-tól fél 6-ig" - obviously, meaning "From 8 to 6". No mention of a train in the lyrics although the basic concept of the song is the same.

 

[Magdalia]

Whispering our goodbyes, waiting for the train
I was dancing with my baby in the Summer rain

Another that rhymes train with rain

I was standing in the station being pounded by the rain
So I chose the last compartment of a stationary train

 

[Eyersey468]

The Wreck of the Number 9 by Jim Reeves
Morningtown Ride by The Seekers
The Day We Caught the Train by Ocean Colour Scene
The Slow Train by Flanders and Swann

 

[barringtoncem]

The Ballad Of John Axon by Ewan Mcoll

 

[StephenHunter]

"Smalltown Boy" by Bronski Beat is about a gay teenager who runs away to London by train:

(Can someone identify the rolling stock used here?)

 

[Rover]

Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks
"Terry meets Julie, Waterloo station, every Friday night"