I was just joking with a friend that I have no idea how he took so long to be diagnosed with autism when he has a playlist dedicated to songs about trains; he made this playlist after randomly having 3 songs about trains come on in a row when he put his music on shuffle, and decided to start collecting them in a playlist. There aren’t too many on there at the moment, and he’d like to collect more, if anyone has any suggestions.
I will share the resulting playlist on here afterwards as either an edit to this post, or a comment reply. If you want to be pinged about this, let me know in your comment, and I’ll make sure you receive a link to the playlist.
Bonus question: if you’re autistic, what are your opinions on trains? I’m personally ambivalent about trains, but they also feel like they’re my culture, because of how many of my fellow autistic nerds like trains.
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Train Kept a Rollin by Aerosmith
Also,
Okaihau Express by Peter Cape (other Jet Lag fans in here?)
A few you might not have heard
Two feet ahead of the train - Michael McNevin
And I know it’s a Christian song but Josh Turner Long Black Train is so good.
Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer - Hey Conductor
Train Underwater - Bright Eyes New Virginia Creeper - Old Crow Medicine Show Let the Train Blow the Whistle - Johnny Cash
Am undiagnosed but definitely autistic. My opinion on trains is they used to scare the shit out of me when I was a child. Coal trains are all over the place where I live, and I was right up next to them while they were making terrifying loud noises. I think that ruined any interest I might have had from a distance. Now as an adult, I am very interested in the engineering and workings of trains, but not much more than the engineering and workings of all other complex engineered systems. But I’m more interested in buildings and architecture than mechanical engineering.
Not strictly about trains, but it’s prominent in the lyrics of “Casey Jones” by The Greatful Dead.
I mean, he was certainly driving that train, high on cocaine
But seriously though, he gotta watch his speed.
She caught the Katy - Blues Brothers or Taj Mahal*
Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
Midnight Special - Creedence Clearwater Revival or Leadbelly*
Love in Vain - Robert Johnson*
Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull
Barricades and Brickwalls - Kacey Chambers
Train to Nowhere - Savoy Brown
Hear My Train A Comin - Jimi Hendrix*
*There have been loads of songs about trains or that mention trains in American blues history… I’m barely scratching the surface, here. In the early days of the 20th century the blues artists used to travel around by hopping on freight trains to get from town to town, so they featured in many, many songs. There would have been even more songs written to the rhythm of a rolling carriage, too, that don’t even mention trains at all.
I was thinking how much does friend like blues, for that reason.
I haven’t seen mention of Ozzy’s maybe biggest hit, Crazy Train
ALL ABOOOAAARRRDD! HAHAHA!
Rest in power, Legend Of Darkness.
I had to scroll way to far to find this.
Dethklok - Murder train a comin
Not autistic, probably, but trains are pretty cool. I’ve hopped trains before and that was fun, but I also don’t recommend it.
Edit: just remembered, Townes Van Zandt - Desperados waiting for a train
The Monkees - Last Train to Clarkesville
Gladys Knight & The Pips - Midnight Train to Georgia
Edit: also https://hellomusictheory.com/learn/songs-about-trains/
Bonus question: if you’re autistic, what are your opinions on trains? I’m personally ambivalent about trains, but they also feel like they’re my culture, because of how many of my fellow autistic nerds like trains.
Not autistic, but an urbanist and transportation engineer: trains are fucking awesome! Second only to bicycles in terms of efficiency of land-based transportation, and with such high capacity that induced demand actually becomes a positive effect for them (as opposed to a very negative effect when talking about automobiles).
I appreciated it much more after watching this video analyzing it.
My favourite rendition is still this one: https://youtube.com/watch?v=UvaKgwvNKhw
You might like this then https://youtu.be/TdvnusxTf0E
Came in to post Tom Waits and was happy to be beaten to it.
So many Johnny Cash songs:
Special Streamline by Bukka White.
Blue Railroad Train by Doc Watson
Choo Choo Train by the Box Tops
Downbound Train by Chuck Berry
Take the A Train by Esquivel
There are SO many songs about trains.
L & N Special by Christine Kittrell
Good list, but not crediting either Duke Ellington (who made it famous), Strayhorn (who wrote it), or mingus (who has a banger version of it) for Take the A Train is wild!
I’m a sucker for that amphetamines-and- cocktail-fueled level of mid-century pep that comes from Esquivel.
Oh yeah, it’s a wild trip. Just gave it a listen, thanks for the culture
Not sure it’s it’s been mentioned, but the corny and old school answer is Chattanooga Choo Choo
Til it was also the first gold selling record (1 million+)
Can’t believe that no one has mentioned this one yet…
“No one”? 'm a little hurt… :)
Granted, I mainly heard the John Denver cover so that’s what I listed.
It was written by Steve Goodman. Arlo Guthrie was like the first person to cover it, and he sort of helped popularize it. It is a folk song so it’s meant to be passed around. With that said, I don’t know if it really matters which version people post or even who it’s attributed to really.
Ah well. Ijust posted this song too before scrolling the thread. One of my favorite songs of all time.
Driver 8 by R.E.M. is a great one. Will try to think of more 👍
EDIT:
- Solomon Burke’s version of Fast Train
- Last Train to Trancentral - The KLF
- Blue Train - John Coltrane
- More of a tram than a train, but still in the same spirit I think - The Trolly Song - Judy Garland
- Actually the theme song to a Saturday-morning kids’ TV show in the UK, The 8:15 from Manchester by Inspiral Carpets is a cracker. It might be about a bus though, I’m not sure.
EDIT 2
- How could I forget Dark and Long (Dark Train) by Underworld???
- Also by them - Techno Shinkansen
- Groovy Train - The Farm
Upvote for The KLF.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh-uh-huh.
Beep boop, boop beep.
