Harvest Moon

While the song is about longing for change, it's also about creating change. To stop waiting and be the change. There is a rather dark overtone to the song that suggests a longing for death or perhaps the end of the world (when the angels coming soon, river rising).

Also, I think the first time the singer sings about the night train he says he "drinks" night train every evening, not hears it. If you go back and listen carefully it sounds like drink, at least to me it does. The second time he sings about the night train he clearly says hears the night train. I think that's an important point to catch (if I'm right). If he's drinking Night Train every evening, then he's obviously drinking some pretty nasty stuff, not enjoying life, definitely an alcoholic.

The images of the night train and the harvest moon are significant for a number of reasons depending on the interpretation. The harvest moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox, is often seen as larger than a "normal" full moon because of it's closeness to the eastern horizon, and rises more often (due to position) so that there is more light during dark hours during this time from the moon. This could represent an enlightenment of sorts, but coupled with the classic symbolic representation of the moon, it's a more intimate, mystical, or fearful kind of light in that moonlight, occurring at night, illuminates things that don't necessarily want to be seen.

The reference to the night train as a train or Night Train as an alcoholic drink, which I believe both are used, allows us a lot of room for interpretation. I've already discussed the use as a drink, but the image of a train travelling at night give a sort of dark and internal sort of image, a lonely headlight chugging along in the distance coming to carry the singer away into the night. To me the two images of a night train coming in the distance and a harvest moon rising on the horizon are powerful not as much by themselves, but in conjunction with each other. It's a sad, lonely, and sorrowful image of this train bringing the angels to take the singer away.

Ultimately I think that the song is about wishing for death, then finally saying, wait, we can make things better. "It's all up to me an you."