Trains

This song plus Blackest Eyes got me into PT. I have since discovered they have a lot of excellent material.

What I think of when I hear this song is it is a song about a boy who goes and stays with his cousin over the summer and falls in love with a girl while he is staying with his cousin. His cousin must live a pretty good distance from him and we he leaves he knows he will not be able to see the girl he has fallen in love with for a whole year. He knows in a year a lot can happen and they may never be able to be together again. I remember when I was a around 12 or 13 I would go stay with and aunt and uncle of mine and there was a girl that lived next to them and one summer we really hit it off. Being the age I was and full of hormones it was a pretty intense experience. Once my 3 weeks of staying there was up, I went back home which was about 5 hours away. The intense experience I had was over instantly and I was back home and was basically love sick. To me that is what I think of when I hear this song.

“Train set and match spied under the blind Shiny and contoured the railway winds And I've heard the sound from my cousin's bed The hiss of the train at the railway head”

I think his cousin lived near a RR track. He is just describing the sounds of what he heard. Probably when ever he hears a train it takes him back to the summers spent with his cousin and reminds him of the girl.

“Always the summers are slipping away”

I think he is lamenting the fact that the times he visits go by so fast and he will not see the girl again once the summer is over.

“A 60 ton angel falls to the earth A pile of old metal, a radiant blur Scars in the country, the summer and her”

Again I think he is describing the sound of the train as it comes. If you live close to train tracks the sound of the train going by is pretty intense. You can feel the earth shake.

As far as “Scars in the country, the summer and her:”

I think the scars in the country has two meanings. First of all the scars in the country are simply the railroad tracks winding through the countryside. Also I think the scars in the country is the pain he feels now that he is no longer at his cousin's and is back home and simply longing to be back at his cousin’s.

“Always the summers are slipping away Find me a way for making it stay”

He simply does not want the summer to end because he will no longer see the girl he has feelings for.

"When I hear the engine pass I'm kissing you wide The hissing subsides I'm in luck"

I think this is a reference to him spending time with the girl and kissing her near the train tracks.

"When the evening reaches here You're tying me up I'm dying of love It's OK"

This makes me think of the boy being back at home after having to leave the girl behind lying in bed at night thinking of the girl. "your tying me up" just refers to the pain he is feeling knowing he will not see the girl again until next summer or possibly never.

That is what I think of when I hear this song. I just relate is to an experience I had as a kid. It is such a beautiful song I just want it to mean something that is not dark and sinister. I am not saying my interpretation is correct but it is what it means to me.