trivia songs that mention trains/ railways

[Benters]

XTC, released an album called “The Big Express” which was unusual because the record sleeve was circular and depicted a steam locomotive wheel on its cover. I believe there is only one track on the album that is railway related; “Train Running Low on Soul Coal”.

XTC were from Swindon IIRC. Home of the GWR, so you can see the 'railway' influence.

 

[Gloster]

Barry Andrews, former member of XTC, released Rossmore Road (NW1), which includes two brief railway mentions, one being the erroneous ‘Next stop on the tube/Marylebone Road’. (The only record that I have ever worn out.)

 

[Siemens Trains]

Apologies if this has already been cited but Kadoc's Night Train has a railway theme running all the way through.

The dispatcher's voice is possibly sampled from a James Brown recording.

Kadoc's track also features the distinctive horn sound used on The Only Way Is Up by Yazz in the 1980s, although I think this is sampled from elsewhere. An interesting thing for me here is that Kadoc identified a kind of Doppler effect on this sample (albeit in amplitude rather than frequency) and used it to evoke a train's horn.

 

[Trackman]

How about Madness -(Waiting for the) Ghost train
I love this line...

The Stationmaster's writing with a piece of orange chalk.

 

[Falcon1200]

XTC were from Swindon IIRC. Home of the GWR, so you can see the 'railway' influence.

Dave Gregory of XTC went on to play (no longer, however) with Big Big Train, who I mentioned earlier.

 

[d9009alycidon]

"She caught the Katy" by the Blues Brothers. Took me a while to find out what this referred to but the "Katy" is the KT, a short form of the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad.

 

[Rover]

5.15 The Angels Have Gone, David Bowie on the album "Heathen"

 

[jtek]

5.15 The Angels Have Gone, David Bowie on the album "Heathen"

Southbound Train by David Crosby and Graham Nash.

 

[Harvester]

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

Quite a coincidence that it was released in the early summer of 1967 and was in the charts during the final weeks of Southern steam. Ray Davies has since stated that it was titled Liverpool Sunset when first written! Were Terry and Julie fictitious characters in the song?

 

[Merle Haggard]

Quite a coincidence that it was released in the early summer of 1967 and was in the charts during the final weeks of Southern steam. Ray Davies has since stated that it was titled Liverpool Sunset when first written! Were Terry and Julie fictitious characters in the song?

I thought I posted this earlier, might be wrong - but I thought back then it was just a happy coincidence. . But the reason for this post is that, on a Rover ticket travelling behind steam on the S.W.D. near the end a common catch phrase was 'clean machine'; there was a graffito on a bench at Bournemouth that read 'Clean Machines' then a list of Bulleid numbers. The segue is that these words were from a contemporary Beatles song - Penny Lane.

 

[Gloster]

Quite a coincidence that it was released in the early summer of 1967 and was in the charts during the final weeks of Southern steam. Ray Davies has since stated that it was titled Liverpool Sunset when first written! Were Terry and Julie fictitious characters in the song?

At one time Ray Davies suggested that they may have been Terence Stamp and Julie Christie, very much the ‘in‘ people of the time. Many years later he denied it and has suggested that they were people that he knew, that Terry was someone he knew but Julie was just a name, or that they were just names. Take your pick.

 

[32475]

Night Mail by Public Service Broadcasting. Look it up on YouTube- sorry I can’t do a link

 

[Rover]

Quite a coincidence that it was released in the early summer of 1967 and was in the charts during the final weeks of Southern steam. Ray Davies has since stated that it was titled Liverpool Sunset when first written! Were Terry and Julie fictitious characters in the song?

It's one of my favourite songs, when it comes on the radio I sing it to my wife, her name is Julie, only I replace Terry with my name Kevin (she likes it!)

 

[Trainfan2019]

Aha - Train Of Thought

Madonna - Angel (as in the tube station)

Elo - Last Train To London

Silent Circle - Night Train (Italodisco, not the Visage song)

 

[reb0118]

Brabbins & Fyfe had one about train toilets or some such.

 

[Pigeon]

Jethro Tull - Pussy Willow
Jethro Tull - Watching Me Watching You
Pink Floyd - Your Possible Pasts
Blue Oyster Cult - Shooting Shark
Ivor Biggun - Underground Music
Barclay James Harvest - I'm Like A Train
Nina and Frederik - 900 Miles
Camel - Highways of the Sun
Marillion - Bitter Suite
That hymn "At The Name Of Jesus"

 

[Western 52]

Jethro Tull - Black Sunday "...no trains running..."

 

[Harvester]

Tom Jones‘s biggest hit has not been mentioned (Green green grass of home).

 

[Spaceship323]

Ian Anderson (from walk into light) - Trains "I seem to spend my life on trains"

Rush (2112) - Passage to Bangkok "Aboard the Thailand express"

 

[Western Sunset]

REM - Driver 8

The walls are built up stone by stone
The fields divided one by one

And the train conductor says
Take a break, Driver 8
Driver 8, take a break
We've been on this shift too long
And the train conductor says
Take a break, driver 8
Driver 8, take a break
We can reach our destination
But we're still a ways away, but it's still a ways away

I saw a treehouse on the outskirts of the farm
The power lines have floaters so the airplanes won't get snagged
The bells are ringing through the town again
The children look up, all they hear is sky-blue bells ringing

And the train conductor says
Take a break, Driver 8
Driver 8, take a break
We can reach our destination
But we're still a ways away, but it's still a ways away
But we're still a ways away, but it's still a ways away

A way to shield the hated heat
A way to put myself to sleep
A way to shield the hated heat
A way to put myself, my children to sleep

He piloted this song in a plane like that one
She is selling faith on the Go Tell Crusade
Locomotive 8, Southern Crescent, hear the bells ring again
The fields of wheat is looking thin

And the train conductor says
Take a break, Driver 8
Driver 8, take a break
We've been on this shift too long
And the train conductor says
Take a break, Driver 8
Driver 8, take a break
We can reach our destination
But we're still a ways away, but it's still a ways away
But we're still a ways away, but it's still a ways away

 

[High Dyke]

Madness - Bingo

(This train is destined for all stations to High Barnet. Thank you.)

(Mind the gap)

Albany Down - The Train Song

Jack Penate - Torn On The Platform

A weekend away, leave the city today
Don't want the big smoke to leave me behind
The train leaves at 2, platform 3 Waterloo
50p to the tramp makes me feel kind

Beat Masters - Ska Train

The Pyramids - Train Tour To Rainbow City

Enya - Trains and Winter Rains

City streets passin' by

Underneath stormy skies

Neon signs in the night
Red and blue city lights
Cargo trains rolling by
Once again someone cries

Trains and winter rains
No going back, no going home
Trains across the plains
And in the sky, a star alone

Every time; it's the same
One more night, one more train
Everywhere; empty roads
Where they go, no-one knows

 

[Benters]

Black Sabbath -'Tomorrow's Dream'.
Opening lines:
"Well I'm leaving tomorrow at daybreak
Take the fastest train that I find"

 

[westernpunk]

iv been everywhere man
lyrics now changed to tyne metro stations

 

[cadder toad]

Has 'Me and Booby Magee' been mentioned?
"Bobby flagged the diesel down..."
Are there still flagstops in the US where someone could do this - or does this song preserve a memory?

 

[Harpo]

Slow Train - Status Quo (Quo)
Slow Train - Deep Purple (Fireball - Extended version)
Night Train - Steve Winwood (Arc Of A Diver)
A Train Roars - The Horrors (Strange House)
Downbound Train - Bruce Springsteen (Born In The USA)
Get On The Boogie Train - Michael Katon (Live)
Railroad - Status Quo (Dog Of Two Heads)

Rendevous 6:02 - UK (Danger Money)
It's cold and late and I can't miss that train
I turn around, walk through the arch
of Waterloo

James Dean Bradfield - The Great Western

And anything by ‘Sleeper’ ???

 

[Merle Haggard]

Has 'Me and Booby Magee' been mentioned?
"Bobby flagged the diesel down..."
Are there still flagstops in the US where someone could do this - or does this song preserve a memory?

Always thought they gave up waiting for a train and hitch hiked.

Busted flat in Baton Rouge waiting for a train.
... ...
Bobby thumbed a diesel down;
... ...
Windshield wipers slapping time
... ...
we sang every song that driver knew.

(Janis version)

It is about trains but possibly the message is that it's quicker to hitch-hike.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Ostbahnhof - Miss Kittin & The Hacker.

 

[infobleep]

Someone mentioned Status Quo's Slow Train but I'm not sure if their song Railroad was mentioned. Yes it has been mentioned.

Elizabeth Cotton did a song called Freight Train. Worth seeking out too. Iswe it has al4easy been mentioned.

Ridin' on the L & N was recorded originally by Lionel Hampton, with covers by John Mayall, Dr Feelgood and Nine Below Zero. Thus too has been mentioned but not every version I list here I suspect.

 

[nw1]

Back to "Last Train to London" (ELO).

Correct me if I'm wrong but he seems to sing "it was 9.49" (as in, 2149, presumably) and the chorus goes "Last train to London.. just leaving town".

For many years of course trains from Birmingham (where they are from) New Street to Euston were xx18 and xx48. I wonder if there was a bit of inspiration from the actual timetable here?

Sadly the actual Last Train to London in 1979, when the song was released, appeared to be the 2030 ex-Wolverhampton, so presumably the 2048 ex New Street. Does seem remarkably early, if I hadn't seen the marshalling books for 1979 I would have guessed the Last Train might have been the 2148!

 

[cadder toad]

Always thought they gave up waiting for a train and hitch hiked.

Busted flat in Baton Rouge waiting for a train.
... ...
Bobby thumbed a diesel down;
... ...
Windshield wipers slapping time
... ...
we sang every song that driver knew.

Flagged is what I remember. I only know the song from hearing people singing it in pubs. If someone thumbed a ride in a truck would they refer to it as a 'diesel'? Its not a common word for describing a truck. However the the reference to windscreen wipers and being with the driver suggest its a truck rather than a train.

What does, 'busted flat in Baton Rouge' mean? The flat was busted? They had to get out of Baton Rouge? Reached the end as in exhausted? Does it mean a flat tyre? Why would you wait for a train if you had a flat tyre? Would you not try and get it fixed?

To me the song brings to mind a picture of the City of New Orleans train from Chicago stopping at a flagstop in Louisiana. (Although that particular train doesn't go through Baton Rouge!)