Music and the railway – universal languages that adapt to the times

It happens to all of us that when we listen to certain songs we automatically get on a train that rapidly transports us to different moments in our lives. Music has a universal capacity which means that, in addition to the message that some artists may want to convey, the lyrics and melodies created by the composers have a special meaning for each individual listener.

This doesn’t imply that the composer’s message loses its meaning, but it is important to know what the creator felt when he or she composed the song, what was happening in the world at that time and what important events influenced their work as a whole and each song in particular.

This is what gives music that universal and democratic character. The same is true of the railway, a means of transport used by hundreds of millions of people around the world and easily understood by all of them. A means of transport that has also been capable of adapting to the times, to the different realities of the world and to the evolution of people’s needs. Perhaps that’s why musicians have resorted to the railway so many times to express themselves, to convert this very important part of daily life into a way of channelling their emotions, their vision of the world or their opinions and feelings at different historical moments.

Looking beyond bands like Train, whose name is obviously a direct reference to the railway, musicians like Udo Lindenberg have made reference to the train on multiple occasions, to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall in his “Sonderzug nach Pankow” (a German version of the well-known “Chattanooga Choo Choo”), for example, but also to talk about how love enters into and leaves our lives until someone comes along who really touches us and remains forever in our mind, as in his “Ein kommen und gehen”.

Other artists like the famous Bob Marley have gone further with his “Zion Train”, in which, strongly influenced by his religious beliefs, he talks about how to save your soul by getting on that Zion train. Another great example of the diversity of musical interpretations is that an artist like Josh Turner, unlike Marley, discourages from catching certain trains, namely those that offer dangerous temptations.

On a less sombre note, Undrop, in their song “Train”, made world famous thanks to a television advertisement, take us on the Carpe Diem railway, so that we can live in the moment and take advantage of the opportunities that life presents us with. Somewhat more laid-back is the well-known Carole King song “The Loco-Motion”, covered by so many artists, with Kylie Minogue’s being the most recent version to become a big hit.

And of course there is no shortage of references to love, such a recurring theme in music and in all forms of art. One of the most popular songs with a railway theme is “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight & The Pips, which talks about how two people leave their previous lives behind with the aim of keeping their relationship alive. And finally, “Train in vain” by the Clash tells of a love that is not reciprocated.

The way in which each artist has used the railway to express different ideas and feelings returns us to the beginning of this article and confirms the notion that both music and the railway are universal languages that have evolved with the realities that people experience, languages that everyone understands and that each person uses to reach very different places.

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