Trains
Al Stewart

Stewart Al

Famous Last Words

Trains

In the sapling years

Of the post war world in

An English market town

I do believe we traveleed

In schoolboy blue

The cap upon the crown

And books on knee

Our faces pressed against the

Dusty railway carriage panes

As all our lives went rolling

On the clicking wheels of trains


The school years passed

Like eternity and at last were left behind

And it seemed the city was calling

Me to see what I might find

Almost grown I stood before

Horizons made of dreams

I think I stole a kiss or two While

Rolling on the clicking wheels of trains


Trains all our lives were

A whistle stop affair

No ties or chains

Throwing words like fireworks in the air

Not much remains

A photograph in your memory

Through the colored lens of time

All our lives were just a smudge of

Smoke against the sky


The silver rails spread

Far and wide through

The nineteenth century

Some straight and true

Soome serpentine from the cities to the sea

And out of sight of those who

Rode in style there worked the military mind

On through the night

To plot and chart

The twisting paths of trains

On the day they buried Jean Juarez

World War One broke free

Like an angry river overflowing

Its banks impatiently

While mile on mile

The soldiers filled the railway

Stations arteries and veins

I see them now go laughing on

The clicking wheels of trains


Trains rolling off to the front

Acorss the narrow Russian gauge

Weeks turn into months

And the enthusiasm wains

Sacrifices in seas of mud

And still you don't know why

All their lives are just a puff of

Smoke aginst the sky

Then came surrender

Then came the peace

Then revolution out of the east

Then came the crash

Then came the tears

Then came the thirties

The nightmare years

Then came the same thing

Over again

Mad as the moon

That watches over the plain

Driven insane


But oh what kind of trains

Are these that I never saw before

Snatching up the refugees from

The ghettoes of the war

To stand confused

With all their worldly goods

Beneath the watching guard's disdain

As young and old go rolling on

The clicking wheels of trains


And the driver only does this job

With vodka in his coat

And he turns around and

He makes a sign

With his hand across his throat

For days on end through sun and snow

The destination still remains the same

For those who ride with death

Above the clicking wheels of trains


Trains what became

Of the innocence they hand in childhood games

Painted red or blue

When I was young they all had names

Who'll remember the ones

WHo only rode in them to die

All their lives are just a smudge of

Smoke against the sky


Now forty years have come and gone

And I'm far away from there

And I ride the Amtrak from

NewYork City to Philadelphia

Now there's a man

To bring you food and drink and

SOmetimes passengers exchange

A smile or two while rolling on

The humming wheels

But I can't tell you if it's them or if it's only me

But I believe when they look outside

They don't see what I see

Over there beyond the trees

It seems that I can just make out

The stained fields of Poland

Calling out to all

The passing trains


Trains I suppose there's nothing

In this life remains the same

Everything is goverened

By the losses and the gains

Still sometimes I get caught up

In the past I can't say why

All our lives are just a smudge of smoke

Or just a breath of wind

Against the sky

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Lyrics by Al Stewart

  (A Child's View Of) The Eisenhower Years   \   A Long Way Down From Stephanie   A Long Way Down To Stephanie   A Man For All Seasons   A Small Fruit Song   Accident On 3rd Street   Almost Lucy   Amsterdam   Angel Of Mercy   Angry Bird   Anna   Anniversary   Antarctica   Apple Cider Re-Constitution   Bad Reputation   Ballad Of Mary Foster   Bedsitter Images   Beleeka Doodle Day   Black Hill   Broadway Hotel   Cafe Society   Candidate   Candy Came Back   Candy Came Back [*]   Carol   Charlotte Corday   Class of '58   Cleave To Me   Clifton In The Rain   Constantinople   Denise at 16   Don't Forget Me   Ear Of The Night   Electric Los Angeles Sunset   Elvis At The Wheel   End Of The Day   Feel Like   Fields Of France   Flying Sorcery   Football Hero   Genie On A Table Top   Gethsemane, Again   Gypsy & the Rose   Hanno The Navigator   Here in angloa   Here in angola   Hipposong   How Does It Happen [*]   I'm Falling   If It Doesn't Come Naturally, Leave It   If It Doesn't Come Naturally, Leave It [Live]   In Brooklyn   In Red Square [*] - Al Stewart, Peter White   In the Dark   Indian Summer   Ivich   Josephine Baker   Katherine Of Oregon   King Of Portugal   Last Days Of The Century   License To Steal   Life And Life Only   Life In Dark Water   Like William McKinley   Loneliest Place On The Map   Lord Grenville   Lord Salisbury   Lori don t go right now   Lori, Don’t Go Right Now   Love Chronicles   Lover Man   Lover Man [*]   Manuscript   Merlin's Time   Midas Shadow   Midnight Rocks   Modern Times   Mona Lisa Talking   Mondo Sinistro   Murmansk Run / Ellis Island   Murmansk Run\/Ellis Island   Murmansk runellis island   My Enemies Have Sweet Voices   Necromancer   Next Time   Night Meeting   Night Rolls In   Night Train To Munich   Nostradamus   Not The One   Old Admirals   Old Compton Street Blues   On the Border   One Stage Before   One That Got Away - Al Stewart, Peter White   One Two Three   One two three 1 2 3   One, Two, Three (1, 2, 3)   Optical Illusion   Out in the Snow   Paint By Numbers   Peter On The White Sea   Post World War Two Blues   Pretty Golden Hair   Rain Barrel   Real And Unreal   Red Toupee   Ringing Of Bells   Ringing of Bells [*]   Roads To Moscow   Roads to Moscow [Live]   Rocks In the Ocean   Royal Courtship   Rumours Of War   Rumours of War - Al Stewart, Peter White   Running Man   Russians & Americans   Sailing Into The Future   Samuel, Oh How You've Changed   Samuel, Oh How You've Changed!   Sand in Your Shoes   Scandinavian Girl   Shah Of Shahs   Silver Kettle   Sirens Of Titan   Sleepwalking   Soho (Needless To Say)   Soho (Needless to Say) [Alternate Take]   Somewhere in England 1915   Song On the Radio   Song on the Radio [Live]   Songs Out of Clay   Strange Girl   Swiss Cottage Maneuvers   Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres   Terminal Eyes   The Candidate   The Carmichaels   The Dark And Rolling Sea   The Dark And The Rolling Sea   The Ear Of The Night   The Elf   The Gypsy and the Rose   The Last Day of June 1934   The Loneliest Place On The Map   The News From Spain   The One That Got Away   The Palace Of Versailles   The Year of the Cat   Time Passages   Time Passages [Live]   Timeless Skies   Tonton Macoute   Tonton Macoute [*]   Trespasser   Turn Into Earth   Valentina Way   Warren Harding   What's Going On?   Where Are They Now   Where Are They Now?   Year Of The Cat   You Don't Even Know Me   You Should Have Listened To Al   Zero She Flies

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