This is life
This is where it’s at
All you need is your ticket
Take your seat and that’s that
The world looks different
Although the landscape’s the same
A whole new perspective
When seen from the train
Freedom and liberty, is what it’s about
Proclaim it to the world, declare scream and shout
Take yourself out, don’t take it inside
Take the long way there on a train ride
Go out into the world, don’t stay in and hide
Take the long way there on a train ride
So this is living
This is the real scene
Point A to Point B
And everything in between
Try driving to the airports
Every day, you’ll feel the pain
Or commuting to the city
You’ll learn to love the train
Which way to travel, the choice is clear
It’s almost always better when you don’t have to steer
Take yourself out, don’t take it inside
Take the better way on a train ride
Diesel powered or electrified
Either way, it’s better on a train ride
Someone to talk to
Someone to hold
You wish you had that someone
With whom to watch the scenery unfold
Winding through the mountains
Speeding across the plains
Instead of feeling railroaded
How about riding the trains
Canyons and rivers, mile after mile
It’s trips like these that make life worthwhile
Take yourself out, don’t take it inside
Take the long way there on a train ride
Get out and live, you haven’t yet died
Take the long way there on a train ride
© 2024 The Hesh Inc.
This song started its life as another one of my piano-power-pop gems from the 1984-85 era, before I started my army service in Israel. The Israeli trains at the time were holdovers from the British Mandate and even Ottoman eras, especially the ride from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which wound and crept through the Judean hills and stretched an hour-long trip by bus into a three-hour trek ... but oh, what scenery. I compared that to the trains I remembered riding back in the New York metro area ... the trains back in the USA at the time were so much more modern and efficient than the relics riding the rails in the holy land. But now, several decades later, I rewrote the lyrics after seeing how the state of American railroads has declined to almost third-world levels while the Israeli railroad infrastructure and rolling stock have gotten major upgrades. However, I was always a railfan, since I was a kid, and no matter where I am in the world, if I can get around by train, I'd much rather do that than ride a bus or pound my own steering wheel in stop-and-go traffic.
As of this repost, this song is slated to be recorded on my next album, together with others among my piano-power-pop tunes.
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