| Ghost Train From "August and Everything After" Took the cannonball Down to the ocean 'Cross the desert From sea to shining sea I rode the ladder That climbed across the nation There's 50 million feet of earth Between the buried and me CHORUS How do you do? She said, "Hey, how do you do?" She buys a ticket 'Cause it's cold where she comes from She climbs aboard 'Cause she's scared of getting Older in the snow Love is a ghost train Rumblin' through the darkness Hold on to me darlin' I've got nowhere else to go CHORUS I took the cannonball Down to the ocean And watched the diesel Disappear beneath the tumblin' waves Love is a ghost train Howlin' on the radio Remember everything, she said 'Cause only memories remain CHORUS x2 |
| This was one of those songs I always liked, but never really understood until I saw the Storytellers episode. AD's explanation is beautiful. His take is that memories are like ghosts. And they're all strung out behind you like a train. And when you fall in love with someone, you show each other your respective ghosts. And the chorus of the song is him remembering the first time he met this girl and she said, "how do you do?". The song is about a journey in his life. And with every chorus he remembers why he thought he wanted to ride the train at one point. But he doesn't. He changes his mind and gets off the train. "I took the cannonball down to the ocean and watched the diesel disappear beneath the tumblin' waves. Love is ghost train howlin' on the radio, 'remember everything', she said,'cause only memories remain'". That is the memories of this relationship. I think this song is about regret. You can hear it in his voice at every chorus that maybe he should have rode the train a little longer. They both get on the train for different reasons, maybe. Maybe their reasons are a little too similar. But I love this song because it touches on the most important part of life: the different journeys we take while finding out what kind of people we will become. I've written about hurting people and being hurt, but the truth is that making all these decisions and having some decisions made for us make us who we are. Some are hurtful, some are relieving. But with all the extracurriculars that go with everyday life, you should remember that the journey is so much more important than the destination. Some people reach that destination quickly. Others need to change trains rather frequently. But sooner or later, they all get to their destinaton. |