From the recording Along The Way (an 11 Track Album) . . . Hover Over Any Song Title To Pre-View a Track
A “movin’-on-down-the track” train song that boogies to the rhythm of the “steel rails”. Inspired and influenced by an actual train, the “Music City Star”, which is Nashville’s commuter train originating from downtown Nashville and travels east daily. The songwriter, Linda Mckenzie, lives just a house link away from these clickity tracks, where she decided “if you can’t beat em’ … join em’! ” and succumbed to the moving sound of the tracks by writing a song to go along with the daily repeating rhythm of the passing locomotive. It is somewhat ironic that this very same train, formerly named “The Broadway Dinner Train”, is the same place where Mckenzie received her first gig in Nashville performing as a soloist with her guitar in the rear dinner car of the train (for guests & tourists). The song relates a fast moving train to a fast moving relationship, where there is definitely something alluring or soothing about the sound of a distant train approaching, and something very real and present when it arrives, exiting as fast as it approached.. Certainly, you can’t stop a train, nor the whistle noise that happens everyday promptly at 5:30am, 6:30am, and 7:30am, like clockwork. So for this songwriter, the train is a sort of “Love/Hate” relationship and not a “quiet one” for a music maker.
Lyrics
Can’t Stop a Train
THAT LIGHT at the end of the tunnel … that’s a train
That steel locomotive comin’ at you … that’s a man
A one way destination and a one track mind
He’ll meet you at the station leave you cryin’ every time
Built for speed & motion
that’s something you won’t change
Cause You can’t train a man just like you ... Can’t stop a train
WHEN THOSE STEEL RAILS CALL HIM there won’t nothin’ hold him back
He’s causin’ a commotion
When he’s rollin’ down the track
He’ll engineer his moves just right and calculate his stay
He’ll love you but he’ll leave you ‘fore you’ll see the light of day
And If you think you can change him you’re derailed in your brain
Cause You can’t train a man just like you ... Can’t stop a train
YOU CAN’T TRAIN A MAN TO LOVE YOU … You can’t Train a man at all
When you hear his whistle blowin’ that’s a warnin, heed the call
And they’ll put up a big red flag when he’s passin’ thru your town
Don’t meet him at the depot
and mothers lock your daughters down
If you think you’ll detain him
You’re derailed in your brain
Cause You can’t train a man just like you ... Can’t stop a train
I said you Can’t Train A Man Just like You Can’t Stop A Train
© Jan. 16, 2013 Linda Mckenzie ~ Addagirl Music (ASCAP)