Song Lyric Sunday – Long Train Running

The prompt this week is trains.

I chose a Doobie Brothers classic, “Long Train Running”. This song was written and sung by Tom Johnston, who for me, is the epitome of the Doobie Brothers. According to him, the lyrics do not mean much of anything, but the lyrics fit the music so Voila!

The song started out just as a sort of jam that the band performed in live concerts. It was a crowd please and producer Ted Templeman who persuaded Tom to write lyrics because he felt it could be a hit as a single. The song had several titles ( “Rosie Pig Moseley,” “Osborne,” and “Parliament“) before the lyrics were written.

I choose it because it has a strong connection to a particular time in my life.

Lyrics

Down around the corner, half a mile from here
See them long trains run, and you watch them disappear
Without love, where would you be now
Without lo-o-o-ove
You know I saw miss Lucy down along the tracks
She lost her home and her family and she won’t be coming back
Without love, where would you be right now
Without lo-o-o-ove
Well the Illinois Central
And the Southern Central Freight
Got to keep on pushin’ mama
You know they’re running late
Without love, where would you be now
Without lo-o-o-ve
Well the Illinois Central
And the Southern Central Freight
Got to keep on pushin’ mama
You know they’re running late
Without love, where would you be now
Without lo-o-o-ve
Well the pistons keep on turning
And the wheels go round and round
The steel rails are cold and hard
For the miles that they go down
Without love, where would you be right now
Without lo-o-o-ve ooh
Where would you be now
Mmm, got to get you, baby baby, won’t you move it down?
Won’t you move it down?
Baby, baby, baby, baby, won’t you move it down?
When the big train run
When the train is movin’ on I got to keep on movin’
Keep on movin’
Won’t you keep on movin’?
Gonna keep on movin’

Rules here if you want to play along.