Call you up in the middle of the night
Like a firefly without a light
You were there like a slow torch burning
I was a key that could use a little turning

So tired that I couldn't even sleep
So many secrets I couldn't keep
Promised myself I wouldn't weep
One more promise I couldn't keep

It seems no one can help me now
I'm in too deep
There's no way out
This time I have really led myself astray

Runaway train never going back
Wrong way on a one way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there

Can you help me remember how to smile?
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile
How on earth did I get so jaded?
Life's mystery seems so faded

I can go where no one else can go
I know what no one else knows
Here I am just drownin' in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway train

Everything seems cut and dry
Day and night, earth and sky
Somehow I just don't believe it

Runaway train never going back
Wrong way on a one way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there

Bought a ticket for a runaway train
Like a madman laughin' at the rain
A little out of touch, little insane
It's just easier than dealing with the pain

Runaway train never goin' back
Wrong way on a one way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there

Runaway train never comin' back
Runaway train tearin' up the track
Runaway train burnin' in my veins
Runaway but it always seems the same


Lyrics submitted by brokenheartkit

Runaway Train Lyrics as written by David Pirner

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Runaway Train song meanings
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  • +2
    General Comment

    bought a ticket for a runaway train like a madman laughing at the rain little out of touch, little insane it's just easier than dealing with the pain

    Without a doubt, these are my favorite lines of any song I've ever heard. As far as meaning, I think his buying a ticket for a runaway train represents his lack of meaning and control in his life. I always imagine it as though he knows that he knows he has no reason or purpose for which to live, but he 'buys a ticket' for it anyways--that is to say he tries to ignore his inescapable depression and ennuie in order to continue on living ("it's just easier than dealing with the pain").

    Also, although he is talking to another person asking for help in finding meaning and happiness in his life, I don't really think that he genuinely believes this person can retrieve him from his depression. I'm sure that this is just because I am filtering the meaning of this song through my own personal outlook on life and love, but I think that this person he is talking to serves not as a means of escape, but mainly as a counterpoint of love and hope against which he can juxtapose his own hopelessness ("firefly without a light" vs. "blowtorch burning"). While I certainly think that other interpretations are equally valid, it is this personal, subjective interpretation that has made this song so special to me.

    fiver452on October 06, 2010   Link

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