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Southbound Train Lyrics
Oh, and I guess they'll say I've grown
I know more than I wanted to know
I've said more than I wanted to say
I'm headed home
Yea but I'm not so sure
That home is a place
You can still get to by train
So I'm looking out the window
And I'm drifting off to sleep
With my face pressed up against the pane
With the rhythm of my heart
And the ringing in my ears
It's the rhythm of the southbound train
Oh, well the wind starts to look like her hair
And the clouds in her bright blue eyes
As the sea and the shore fall and rise
Like her breast as she breathes by my side
And the moon is her lips as the sun
Is headed on down to the sea
Like her head as she lays down on me
Until we reach ocean side
Over and over I hear the same refrain
It's the rhythm of my heart
And my sleepy girl's breathing
It's the rhythm of my southbound train
Oh, I suppose they'll say I should've known
Or maybe I'm just feeling old
Like a lawyer with no one to blame
I'm headed home
Yeah but I'm not so sure
Home is a place that'll ever be the same
So we gather up our things
And we head out in the cold
And your eyes are where you carry the pain
When I hear the whistle weeping
It's crying to the skying
It's the rhythm of your southbound train
It's the rhythm of this southbound train
I know more than I wanted to know
I've said more than I wanted to say
Yea but I'm not so sure
That home is a place
You can still get to by train
And I'm drifting off to sleep
With my face pressed up against the pane
With the rhythm of my heart
And the ringing in my ears
It's the rhythm of the southbound train
And the clouds in her bright blue eyes
As the sea and the shore fall and rise
Like her breast as she breathes by my side
Is headed on down to the sea
Like her head as she lays down on me
Until we reach ocean side
It's the rhythm of my heart
And my sleepy girl's breathing
It's the rhythm of my southbound train
Or maybe I'm just feeling old
Like a lawyer with no one to blame
Yeah but I'm not so sure
Home is a place that'll ever be the same
And we head out in the cold
And your eyes are where you carry the pain
When I hear the whistle weeping
It's crying to the skying
It's the rhythm of your southbound train
It's the rhythm of this southbound train
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I just realized that since most of Switchfoot's and Jon Foreman's songs don't deal with love or relationships or romance or whatever, it's that much more beautiful when they do...you know what I mean?
When I read this for the first time I thought, "Woah, "her breasts"? Jon!" and then I read the rest of the line....
Has God created a more gifted songwriter than Jon? Simply amazing
"It's the rhythm of my heart And my sleepy girl's breathing It's the rhythm of my southbound train"
I love that line. As to what it's talking about, when I first heard it I thought it had to do with heaven, because of the "Yea but I'm not so sure/That home is a place/You can still get to by train/" line. Now I'm not so sure, because it's definitely talking about his wife in the rest of it.
This song really hit home with me because i've been out of the house for 2 years now.
The whole spirit of the song is about not knowing where your home is. of feeling alien everywhere you go. we hear it said that, there's that point in your life where the home you grew up in ceases to be home, and you haven't found a new home yet, so you're somewhere between.
It seems to me that, in this song, jon's talking about finding that home in his new family (his wife), but still feeling that hopelessness that you feel when you don't have a home. like his old home is gone, but his new home is yet to come.
Absolutely beautiful song. Just found Jon's solo stuff and it is just great. This song is the best though.
"I'm headed home Yea but I'm not so sure That home is a place You can still get to by train"
I think by "home" he means Heaven.
This is my favorite on these albums full of amazing poetry and music. My favorite line is the "hear the whistle weeping, it's crying to sky" because of the imagery invoked by the whistle "crying" to the sky, like an intense cry of desperation which sums up the whole mood of the song. Coupled with the music that mimics musically the sounds of a train, all coming to a climax at these lines, makes it incredibly intense and moving. Wonderful.