In the shuffling madness
Of the locomotive breath
Runs the all-time loser
Headlong to his death
Oh, he feels the piston scraping
Steam breaking on his brow
Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train it won't stop
Oh no way to slow down
He sees his children jumping off
At the stations one by one
His woman and his best friend
In bed and having fun
Oh, he's crawling down the corridor
On his hands and knees
Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train it won't stop going
No way to slow down
Hey
He hears the silence howling
Catches angels as they fall
And the all-time winner
Has got him by the balls
Oh, he picks up Gideons bible
Open at page one
I think God he stole the handle
And the train it won't stop going
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
Of the locomotive breath
Runs the all-time loser
Headlong to his death
Oh, he feels the piston scraping
Steam breaking on his brow
Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train it won't stop
Oh no way to slow down
He sees his children jumping off
At the stations one by one
His woman and his best friend
In bed and having fun
Oh, he's crawling down the corridor
On his hands and knees
Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train it won't stop going
No way to slow down
Hey
He hears the silence howling
Catches angels as they fall
And the all-time winner
Has got him by the balls
Oh, he picks up Gideons bible
Open at page one
I think God he stole the handle
And the train it won't stop going
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
Lyrics submitted by KidArt, edited by teffjweedy
Locomotive Breath Lyrics as written by Ian Anderson
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Some misunderstandings I see: Old Charlie is an old euphemism for the Devil. The song is about growing old and losing control of one's life, be it from drug abuse or from corporate de-personalization.
Locomotive Breath can refer to drug abuse, but it is a reference to the de-personalization of the modern industrial society which treats people as parts of a machine.
He is the all-time loser, who has tried and failed to earn the big promotions. "Old Charlie stole the handle" refers to his loss of control over his own life.
"Crawling down the corridor" is his struggle to keep going, though crushed by the weight of his failures, be they alcohol related or simply the weariness of age.
"The all time winner has got him by the balls" is a reference to the impersonal corporate management that keeps him locked into his position as a broken cog in the corporate machine, a position from which he can only escape by dying.
He loses his family and friends in his downward spiral. Gideon's Bible is a reference to the motels he must live in, and when he "opens at page one" he is seeking some salvation from the train-wreck his life has become.
The context of this song is the album Aqualung. In the late '60's and early '70's, rock albums were thematic modern operas. This was the age of Godspell, Hair, and Jesus Christ Superstar. The theme of the Aqualung album as a whole was the failures of the modern industrial society. Not the failures of the system, but the people within it, or falling out of it. (Cross-eyed Mary, the sexually abused teen, and Aqualung, the homeless alcoholic are examples of this.)
Locomotive Breath is about the corporate worker who never measured up and wound up in a dead in job with a dead end life that consumed him.
The central question of the album is, what part does God play in a de-personalized industrial society? The album asks the question, but gives no answer.
i was thinking that the 'all time winner' might be a reference to God...
@brian333 A few misunderstandings I see, though you may have changed your views in the preceding 8 years.<br /> <br /> This song, like a few others on the album, is a critique of organised religion. In the song, God is seen as capricious and not to be relied upon to deliver justice (rather like the Greek view of their gods), which is the only rational way to see him in a world where innocent children are routinely maimed or killed, to name but the most obvious injustices.<br /> <br /> Several years before the movie Speed, Anderson imagines a runaway train with the "all time loser" aboard. He hasn't done anything wrong (that we know about) but he is condemned to die. Injustices are heaped upon him. His best friend is in bed with his wife.<br /> <br /> He picks up the bible to start praying but it is fruitless as it is God who has engineered the disaster and there is nothing that he can do to stop it. This reinforces Anderson's assertion that organised religion is a waste of time (cf Wind Up). You can pray all you want to but it will make not a jot of difference. God, whatever he is, cannot be propitiated - he is indifferent to human suffering whether or not he is the creator.<br /> <br /> Locomotive Breath can be seen as a parable, but within the story, I am not sure that there is any overt symbolism to current corporate life, the guilt or otherwise of the protagonist and find that any ideas about drug addiction entirely fanciful.
@brian333 The 'BEST' accurate description of what the meaning of the song is about.<br /> Many Thanks!
@brian333 <br /> Some misunderstandings I see: Ian Anderson has said in an interview that Old Charlie is a euphemism for God. <br /> Old Charlie stole the handle <br /> And the train, it won't stop going<br /> No way, it could slow down
@brian333 Old Charlie, according to I. A., is God who has stolen the handle, removing any control the protagonist has over his life, which is marred by an unfaithful wife, spiritual bankruptcy, & estrangement from his children & must make the best of it.