RaeAllen.net

Day: 29 July 2005

  • Downtown Train

    Outside another yellow moon
    Has punched a hole in the nighttime, yes
    I climb through the window and down to the street
    And I’m shining like a new dime
    The downtown trains are full with all of those Brooklyn girls
    They try so hard to break out of their little worlds

    Well you wave your hand and they scatter like crows
    They have nothing that will ever capture your heart
    They’re just thorns without the rose
    Be careful of them in the dark
    Oh, if I was the one you chose to be your only one
    Oh baby can’t you hear me now, can’t you hear me now

    Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
    Every night it’s just the same, you leave me lonely now

    I know your window and I know it’s late
    I know your stairs and your doorway
    I walk down your street and past your gate
    I stand by the light at the four-way
    You watch them as they fall, oh baby they all have heart attacks
    They stay at the carnival, but they’ll never win you back

    Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
    Where every night, every night it’s just the same, oh baby
    Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
    All of my dreams they fall like rain, oh baby on a downtown train

    Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
    Where every night, every night it’s just the same, oh baby
    Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
    All of my dreams just fall like rain, all on a downtown train
    All on a downtown train, all on a downtown train
    All on a downtown train, a downtown train

    – Tom Waits 1985

  • Dead Man Walking blues

    There’s a dead man walking
    And he’s wearing my shoes
    Dead man walking
    And he’s playing the blues.

    There’s a dead man walking
    And he’s wearing my shirt
    Dead man walking
    And he’s feeling my hurt.

    There’s a dead man walking
    And he’s wearing my hair
    Dead man walking
    He don’t want to care

    There’s a dead man walking
    He looks through my eyes
    Dead man walking
    See’s no sunny skies

    There’s a dead man walking
    And he’s wearing my skin
    Knows where I come from
    Don’t care where I’ve been

    © Rae Allen

  • Train songs

    I’ve always enjoyed train songs, probably because I’ve always enjoyed trains and the best train songs have that rolling train travelling feel to them.

    My favourite train songs are in no particular order:

    1. People get Ready by Curtis Mayfield. A lot of people will say this isn’t a train song but more of a metaphor, but it certainly has that rattling train feel to it.

    2. Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash. Though sung by one of the greats of country music, the man in black gives it a great blues treatment.

    3. Downtown Train by Tom Waits. Its had a few covers and one of my favourites is by Everything but The Girl, however the moody Tom Waits version is the best.

    more to come.

  • Folsom Prison Blues

    Well I hear that train a comin’
    It’s rollin’ around the bend
    I ain’t seen the sunshine
    Since I don’t know when
    Well I’m stuck in Folsom Prison
    And time keeps draggin’ on
    That train keeps rollin’
    On down to San Antone

    When I was just a baby
    My mama told me, “Son,
    Always be a good boy
    Don’t you ever play with guns”
    But I shot a man in Reno
    Just to watch him die
    When I hear that lonesome whistle
    I hang my head and cry

    Well I bet there’s rich folks eating
    In a fancy dinin’ car
    I bet they’re taking mushrooms
    And smokin’ big cigars
    Well I know I had it comin’
    I know I can’t be free
    Those people keep movin’
    And that’s what tortures me

    If they free me from this prison
    If that railroad train was mine
    You bet I’d move it on
    A little farther down the line
    Yeah, far from Folsom Prison
    That’s where I want to be
    Well those people keep movin’
    Goddammit, that’s what tortures me

    If they’d free me from this prison
    If that railroad train was mine
    You bet I’d move it on
    A little farther down the line
    Yeah, far from Folsom Prison
    That’s where I want to be
    Well those people keep movin’
    Goddammit that’s what tortures me

    – Johnny Cash