It’s a misty, rainy night
Temperature’s dropping fast
How many times did I walk like this alone
Playing back the past
I don’t spend much time asking myself why I got the blues
I just tell it like it is
‘Cause making sense of this life is like riding a train
Oh yes it is
Once upon a time we used to live
Just like them tramps in Born To Run
But we can’t run away
Life keeps rolling on
Like a rolling heartbeat
The train keeps on rolling
Like a rolling heartbeat
I lay back and think of all the crap
That I’ve been through in my lifetime
It hurts to think
And at the same time I can’t help but remember all the good times
With a grin and a wink
Oh give me some music to ease the pain
Play that saxophone
It feels so strong walking out in the rain
Walking all alone
Oh I need, I need, I need that tune
Play it for me
Oh babe, oh babe, I wanna shoot for the moon
To be all I can be
You can’t go back to where you grew up
You can’t go back, it’s been lost or stolen
You can’t go back, you can only remember
Ain’t no maniac gonna stop time rollin’
Like a rolling heartbeat
The show must go on
Like a rolling heartbeat
These days I don’t talk much
It ain’t worth my while
I don’t joke around much anymore
At the most I’ll just smile
But I know that though I can’t ever go back
And things will never be the same
I’m always looking at what’s ahead on the tracks
And I never feel ashamed
I never feel ashamed
‘Cause when I see what I want
And I think I know that I’m home
I’ll get off that train
I’ll get off that train . . .
©2023 The Hesh Inc.
This song dates back to the last days of my service in the Israeli army. After three long years I was finally seeing the end, and I was pondering the immediate future and life outside the military framework, which for me had been on hold while all my friends back in the USA, who did not serve, went on with their lives. One night off base, I found myself wandering through the old neighborhood in Jerusalem where my high school campus had been (it had since been moved to a more suburban location) and I began thinking of all those friends who had been in school with me during that tumultuous, adventurous period only five years earlier. And of course, a sense of maudlin melancholy set in as I realized those days were over, and it's time to get ready to go out into the world and chase my dreams. Several years later I was at the Jersey Shore, in the throes of chasing those dreams, but lo and behold, I found myself wandering down the Asbury Park boardwalk alone on a misty, rainy night, pondering the people and past times I had known in the area, wondering if there was any point in revisiting all that. I never quite got a satisfactory answer to all those ponderings and wonderings ... but I did get a cool song, which became one of my set closers whenever I played solo (depending on the mood of the audience, I'd either end with the upbeat, rousing "I Can't Get Protection" or this one).
For a long time, as a result of those late-night boardwalk ponderings and the song having been included in sets I played at the Shore, I had thought to include it in my Shore-influenced magnum opus Soul In Exile, but lately I've been rethinking that idea. Instead, I recorded it at Bruce Tunkel's Beanland Studio, in piano-and-voice-only format, designed to showcase my singer-songwriterness in preparation for a new round of solo shows.
It may or may not end up in full-band format as part of the extended Soul In Exile ... the jury is out. In the meantime, enjoy this version and come see me play sometime soon.