Good morning, America, how are ya? In this jet engine age we look back wistfully to the time of trains with some of the best train songs we could find. Sure, we missed a few great ones (and probably your favorite) but for now here are some songs about the mighty locomotives that criss-crossed our nation in days of yore. All aboard!
"Waiting for a Train" - Jimmie Rodgers
"Driver 8" by REM
"Born on a Train" - Arcade Fire covering Magnetic Fields
"Folsum Prison Blues" - Johnny Cash, live at San Quentin
"Train of Love" by Bob Dylan at Johnny Cash tribute
And if the snow buries my, my neighborhood. And if my parents are crying then I'll dig a tunnel from my window to yours...
"Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" performed at the Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands.
Snow this morning! The neighborhood was completely covered with snow when I woke up, a surprise after the weatherman tried faking us out last night. They called off the warning, and sure enough the cold front hit--which they say will be the longest frigid stretch since the 1980s. I opened the blinds and made hot coffee and kept singing this song about digging tunnels through the snow.
Arcade Fire are perfect for a bright, wintry day. The band is from Montreal, so they know snow. Led by Texan Win Butler and Québécoise Régine Chassagne, this indie rag-tag multi-instrumental troupe powers through joyous and heartbreaking anthems guaranteed to roust the coldest, moribund soul. They bring an axe for the frozen sea within us.
Fun couple: Win Butler and Régine Chassagne
They remember that childhood wasn't all cake and ice cream, and they soar and dive and capture that midnight terror reserved for little ones still wearing feet in their jammies. In their songs, we see a world where sleep is giving in, where an older brother is bitten by a vampire, and the entire neighborhood dances to flashing police lights. It's weird stuff, sure, more art than entertainment, and not for everyone, but if you wake up snowblind and vulnerable this band will blend seamlessly with the illogic of your dreams. Listen to them work their magic.
Somethin’ filled up my heart with nothin’, someone told me not to cry.
But now that I’m older, my heart’s colder, and I can see that it’s a lie.
Children wake up!
"Wake Up" performed live at Glastonbury
People say that your dreams are the only things that save ya. Come on baby in our dreams, we can live our misbehavior.
Every time you close your eyes Lies, Lies!
"Rebellion (lies)" performed live at Coachella festival
Shot by a security camera You can't watch your own image And also look yourself in the eye Black Mirror, Black Mirror, Black Mirror I know a time is coming All words will lose their meaning Please show me something that isn't mine But mine is the only kind that I relate to Le miroir casse The mirror casts mon reflet partour Black Mirror, Black Mirror, Black Mirror
Arcade Fire makes our top ten albums of the year. Here they play Black Mirror live at the Reading Festival, 2007.
Good morning, America, how are ya? In this jet engine age we look back wistfully to the time of trains with some of the best train songs we could find. Sure, we missed a few great ones (and probably your favorite) but for now here are some songs about the mighty locomotives that criss-crossed our nation in days of yore. All aboard!
