Penny on the Train Track

I'm pretty sure the first verse, and possibly whole song, is about living life not worrying about the afterlife.

"come on baby girl let me see those legs before i get flattened away"

I think that this video offers a little bit more insight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvuRN-mfM4g .

Ben is just saying to just go do things and have fun, because we're all pennies on a train track, and our train is eventually going to come. His line about picking up the guitar after the train takes him away is telling people that when he dies he just wants them to enjoy their own lives even more. Everybody grows up. Everybody gets old. Everybody dies. Why not have fun while you're at it?

thanks for posting these.

and welcome back mr. kweller. We've missed you.

I love this song too..its just....GREAT. and I don't care what its about..

"The reflective rocker “Penny on the Train Track,” where Kweller muses about running into an old friend who is now a police officer. “I was at the Wal-Mart in Greenville looking for a mouse trap when I bumped into a buddy from high school and he showed me his badge. That was a big moment for me to realize that we're all growing up. To think that somebody I used to get in trouble with is now a cop!”

• http://www.atorecords.com/?title=artists&aid=2&what=bio

I definitely think that this is Ben taking a more conservative look at his life, maybe because he saw that old friend all grown up.

I think Ben realized that he still lives very much the same way he used to, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I think the song is sort of a plea (to someone, probably Liz) to tell him to just keep going the way he's going, because it's worked for him so far. I think he's having a sort of "crisis of lifestyle", and is sort of acknowledging that and saying "okay, fine, yes, I feel a little weird about this now, but I'll be fine in a day or two."

I think the "even lucky man has a bad day and pretty girl has a scar" part is saying "everybody has off days. This is mine."

When he gets to the "he's in the yard just washin' his car thinkin' 'bout his pretty wife makin' lemonade with the kitchen aid makin' him a perfect life

and it's grim, so dim when you wish that you were just like him" part, I think he's sort of reassuring himself that a traditional life is not something he wants.

And he can't stop doing what he's doing. . . he doesn't know why.

this song makes me very happy

Great Song! Suprised not more comments...

Amazing song! Reminds me of some of the songs that were in Shrek...

anyways, just beautiful!

I like the 70s? vibe of this song. Makes me wanna just drive away from here and get lost somewhere and scream at random strangers on the way.

This song has a lot of meaning for me. I live right by some train tracks, and my friends and I used to put pennies on the tracks all the time. It was such a carefree and innocent time, and it makes the penny metaphor a very powerful one. I also love the part about the man with the perfect life. Brilliant.