Story Behind The Song
The old depot in Boulder, Colorado, as in many small towns and cities, has been moved from its original sight to the city park, and after mouldering there, it was eventually warehoused in a shopping center parking lot, across from a Barnes and Noble bookstore. Heard a freight train going by my house a few blocks away one day about noon, and when it blew its horn, somebody said that was a lonesome sound. This song popped almost instantly into mind.
Song Description
The idea here was to pick up on how McCartney and the Beatles, in "Oh, Darlin," both commented on Presley rockers like Heartbreak Hotel, and simultaneously had fun doing a version of them.
| Song Length |
4:30 |
Genre |
Rock - Roots/Rock n' Roll, Rock - Psychedelic |
| Tempo |
Slow (71 - 90) |
Lead Vocal |
Male Vocal |
| Mood |
Troubled |
Subject |
Change, Machines |
| Similar Artists |
The Beatles, Elton John |
Language |
English |
Lyrics
Don't the train sound lonesome
Rolling past my door?
Used to carry people
But it carries them no more,
It's just a locked down line of boxes,
I don't know who or what it's for.
Gate is down and clanging
Cars are stacked behind,
No one's going nowhere,
Ain'[t no way to leave the line.
Oh don't the train sound lonesome,
Chugging past my run-down door?
There used to be a depot,
It's in a parking lot,
And no one seems to know why it's there.
And I hear you can see some phantom riders
With ticket stubs in hand,
Waiting for a train that's not there.