This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Crushed in the corridor
Swimming in smoke
Broken leg; aching head
Tried polite conversation in braille, broken French
Though my friend chews his garlic
he's dead from his head to his sandles
I tear at the handle
and we came to a shuddering stop
and we topple like dominoes, swallowed
the hot tide of bread crumbs and cheap wine
The cavalry dived into action
with batons; knives
they gave me a fine
ripped the shirt off my back
threw my case on the tracks
saw it smashed to a fragmented mess
by the midnight express from Atlantis
oo-oo
A manifestation of pure liquid light
Never stops at the stations, it flies overnight
as we crawl in a circle; the sinks overflow
All the windows are enclosed
and the ape on my shoulder's overdosed
He rattles a can for some change
then he rolls around, over in pain
and wraps his legs around my ankles; I try to complain
All I want is a coffee and get off this train
oo-oo
Swimming in smoke
Broken leg; aching head
Tried polite conversation in braille, broken French
Though my friend chews his garlic
he's dead from his head to his sandles
I tear at the handle
and we came to a shuddering stop
and we topple like dominoes, swallowed
the hot tide of bread crumbs and cheap wine
The cavalry dived into action
with batons; knives
they gave me a fine
ripped the shirt off my back
threw my case on the tracks
saw it smashed to a fragmented mess
by the midnight express from Atlantis
oo-oo
A manifestation of pure liquid light
Never stops at the stations, it flies overnight
as we crawl in a circle; the sinks overflow
All the windows are enclosed
and the ape on my shoulder's overdosed
He rattles a can for some change
then he rolls around, over in pain
and wraps his legs around my ankles; I try to complain
All I want is a coffee and get off this train
oo-oo
Lyrics submitted by Delirium
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
There are several "train" songs featured in the lyrics of Edward Ka-Spel, such as "The Train to Never" from his solo album "Textures of Illumina" and "The Train to China" from the Tear Garden album "Eye Spy with my Little Eye".
Expresso is a variant on Espresso which is a strong coffee brewed by forcing steam under pressure through darkly roasted, powdered coffee beans. It seems also to be a play on "Express" as in an Express train ride.
Noir, is a genre of film and subsequent literature which can be characterized by:
Certainly this strange train ride seems to have those things in it, mixed with the fact that all he wants is some coffee and to get off hte train (to never? to nowhere?)
I love the idea of conversation (polite, even) in braille - a form of divets on paper or other mediums used by the blind.
The Braille system was based on a method of communication originally developed by Charles Barbier in response to Napoleon's demand for a code that soldiers could use to communicate silently and without light at night called night writing. Barbier's system was too complex for soldiers to learn, and was rejected by the military. In 1821 he visited the National Institute for the Blind in Paris, France, where he met Louis Braille. Braille identified the major failing of the code, which was that the human finger could not encompass the whole symbol without moving, and so could not move rapidly from one symbol to another. His modification was to use a 6 dot cell — the Braille system — which revolutionized written communication for the blind.
So, Edward's next line - "broken French" is even funnier.
Placing garlic in the mouth of a corpse suspected of being a Vampire was part of the ritual for making sure the corpse never reanimated.
The character pulls the emergency stop.
The "Calvary" give him a fine. Usually the phrase would be something like "Gosh, he's so nice he would hive you the shirt right off of his back." In this case they rip it off his back.
Then they throw his "case" on the tracks. Is this the "case" in which he was just fined, or a "case" one carries onto a train like a business or suitcase? Are these tracks even the ones that regular trains run on, or are they the grooves of a record?
Lastly, I wonder if this ape is the one Edward speaks of in "Guilty Man" from the next year's album "Shadow Weaver":
"All wired up with no-one to kick but myself in a cell and an ape with a stick who's bigger than me and complains that he's sick of my story."
I'd want off this train too. Make mine black, please.
This is a great song. I first heard it live on a gig, and only after that I got The Maria Dimension. It’s one of the best pieces there, musically and lyrically. A wonderfully dark story of a ride on a mysterious train that never stops, nobody knows where it’s going and strange this happen there. Like a bad dream, it has the dreamy atmosphere. I love all the wordplays, it’s EK-S at his best. “midnight express from Atlantis...”
This is a great song. I first heard live on a gig, and only after that I got The Maria Dimension. It’s one of the best pieces there, musically and lyrically. A wonderfully dark story of a ride on a mysterious train that never stops, nobody know where it’s going and strange THINGS happen there. Like a bad dream, it has the dreamy atmosphere. I love all the wordplays, it’s EK-S at his best. “midnight express from Atlantis...”
Crushed in the corridor Swimming in smoke Broken leg, aching head Tried polite conversation in braille
Broken French Though my friend chews his garlic He's dead from his head to his sandels I tear at the handle
And we came to a shuddering stop And we topple like dominoes Swallowed the hot tid Of bread crumbs and cheap wine
The cavalry dived into action With batons... knives... They gave me a fine Ripped the shirt off my back
Threw my case on the tracks Saw it smashed to a fragmented mess By the midnight express from Atlantis
00:00
A manifestation of pure liquid light Never stops at the stations, it flies overnight As we crawl in a circle
The sinks overflow All the windows are enclosed And the ape on my shoulders overdosed
He rattles a can for some change Then he rolls around, over in pain And wraps his legs around my ankles
I try to complain. All I want is a coffee And get off this train
00:00