Al Stewart - Trains Lyrics

It was holocaust memorial day this weekend, and this song came to mind. So I had to come here and give it a listen. Only Al Stewart cold possibly write such a song, one that memorializes the victim of the darkest time in human history. Thanks Al.

Al Stewart paints beautiful pictures with words, and tells wonderful stories with music.

Terrific singer/songwriter and poet.....love listening to his songs. On the Border, Road to Moscow....brilliant.

I always well up or cry toward the end when he's talking about the Holocaust .. And how all their lives ended up in smoke stacks.  I'm Jewish despite my Irish Last name and that really hits close to the bone.  Al is a genius and this song is powerful, man.

It's sad that people do not appreciate people like Al anymore. But his music will endure long after the throwaway music we have today

noel i hear you
he does history so well in his music

Pasion contra river

I do agree that Al Stewart is a great singer and songwriter and he should be recognized for it. I love his voice and music.

first thks for this turn the young on to this great music🚓🇺🇸

Been listening to this one a lot lately. With thanks to classmate Steve Rudner who had good words for him and his work, and J. Delker who introduced me to "Roads to Moscow" & "The Spanish Border."

Roads to Moscow is definitely another haunting song by Al Stewart. One of my favorites.

Like a ghost. And I know, I'm haunted.

DIS SONG JUS KILLS ME MEANTALY..TRAINS I MEAN REALLY DIS IS PURE TALENT,IM GOIN TO RIDE AH DIS WEEKEND FOR THE 1ST TIME,HEY THANKS TO WHOEVER POST DIS SONG....

Singing ability while singing a distinctive and beautiful voice and vibrato are wonderful techniques of intonation singing. Also, I like rhythm and melody (Match my guidelines · Direttanto · TS · Reviewer · TS) Including music and movie related terminology in comments Mixing · Multitrack · Recording · Camera Split · Many techniques of movie techniques · cinema look filter · images · images · images including beautiful images with deep depth of field · transitions of editing · images of rails are time-lapse expressions · monochrome is a powerful presence feeling · sepia color To the world of nostalgic memories · Cool is a futuristic image · The expression of images against songs is really wonderful.

do you mean he's got it ?

個性的で美しい声を伸ばしながら歌う歌唱力とビブラートは抑揚歌のテクニックが素晴らしいですね。又リズムとメロディーが好きです（私のガイドラインに一致します・ディレッタント・TS・評論家・TS）尚コメントの中に音楽や映画関係の専門用語を含んでいますミキシング・マルチトラック・レコーディング・カメラ割り・多くの映画技法のテクニック・シネマルックフイルター画像と映像・被写界深度が深い美しい画像を含む映像の構成・編集のトランジション・レールの映像は時間経過表現・モノクロームは力強い臨場感・セピア色は懐かしい記憶の世界へ・クールは未来的イメージ・歌に対する映像表現が実に素晴らしいですね。動画の題名は列車〜アル・スチュワート

Al Stewart has a unique approach to lyric writing, so direct and matter of fact, economical but a poetic imagery is woven through his songs. One of the literate, and sensitive song smiths I like his work enormously.

Yes. It is a fantastic song.
I forgot about his music for 20 years and have just rediscovered!
Great musician!

great stuff!!!

I’ve loved trains all of my remembered life and this song for as long as it’s been around (thanks, Al).  I met my fiancé exactly one year ago and through her, I gained a whole new appreciation for the history behind the lyrics.  All of her relatives, save one, her father, were turned into air pollution by the Nazis during the Holocaust.  I still love trains and this song, and now every time I hear it, I take a moment and give thanks for perseverance of her father in escaping from the Nazis and their death camps, and ultimately giving her the
life that lead her to me.

today's dreams are tomorrow's future.

In Dark Waters and Modern Times. They were great. This is as good as British Rail.

Trains must be the worst Al Stewart song ever. Sounds like it was written by Ringo Star and Enid Blyton

Len Halliwell that is a great story song. al Stewart's very best song. ringo starr is a good singer but he could never write a dramatic story song like al stewart.

The picture of the excursion train heading east along the Mississippi River on the Minnesota border is excellent.

Beautiful and hurt tuching song.

If I was asked to write down what I think are, lyrically, the greatest 5 songs ever written, I would write this song down 5 times

Forgot to say before - it's a stunningly good video too for this song!

Think I made the first comment on this and I am so pleased to see that so many others are now appreciating Al stewart. I actually believe he is one of the best singer songwriters the world has ever seen - time of course will tell.

It's something of an irony that really have to be dead to be fully appreciated!!

Time.....has told...already !

Al is one of the most underated songwriters of all time ,,,,,,, Hes one of the best .

Al´s a GENIUS!!!

Wonderful! Thank you!

Wow, need to read some history books to fully appreciate the lyrics, but still think it is a great song on first impact.

Thank you so much

How can someone pen such wonderful lyrics as this?  Everyone knows Year Of The Cat but Al Stewart had written dozens of great songs, some regardless of how great had no real popularity except with a few of us who appreciate lyrics.

nobody cares about the railroads anymore

I'm sorry, you totally miss the point of this, it's about far more than trains.

lol, nice try

A Nostalgic song from days gone by  very sweetly done by Al

Great visual composition that truly does justice to an amazing song. Well done!

Great lyrics to an era people sometimes forget.. 

Yes I love train travel myself  I once traveled from New York City to Las Vegas Nevada by Amtrak train- was 3 full days traveling but worth every minute
I was able to catch the scenery form the observation car and take photos of the Rocky Mountains  as we wound our way through them  It was truly breathtaking
and I would do it again for the experience   The Rocky Mountain snows were the best part of the trip  to see nature  at its best so high up What a Spectacular View !!

@Doug Diemer I haven't forgotten.

Why this song doesn't have at least two million views is absolutely stunning!

Because most people would rather listen to the musical equivalent of junk food. Al's music, especially this, is serious music with lyrics than can make you think.

As a  Ukrainian - Polish - American that has heard the stories from his parents............Al Stewart brings truth and relevance to what many might forget.......may God bless him and keep the song strong.and going!

Nobody does nostalgia like Al Stewart.
I do believe this is the only copy of this track here on YT.
Thank you so much for ensuring it's here.

+smartalek180 Yes, when I was originally looking for it, I was surprised it wasn't on here. That had to be remedied!

Lovely and moving comment.
Brilliant song.

I agree. I always liked this song (and trains!), but never really got that part of it until seeing this video. It's the first time a song has ever really hit me as haunting, I'll never hear it the same way again.

Amazing song by the best (imo) and certainly the most interesting songwriter in the rock/folk genre . 

Love it!

Aside from that, this is an absolutely lovely song and your pictures add so much to it; I am sharing it with friends....

One ctirique: It is "Jean Jaures" not Juarez

Thanks, I'll edit the lyrics.

Superbly done, Beautiful song, and great images to accompany it all. Seen Al many times, even pestered the promoter to put on a hometown gig in Wimborne, Dorset where Al grew up. He played Wimborne Tivoli on Aug 1 2014, with the gifted Dave Nachmanoff.

Nachmanoff has given Al another dimension just as Juber and Peter White did in the past.

Graham Connor You have forgotten the great Tim Renwick.

Only one man on this planet could write this excellent song....Al Stewart.

What a great song!!! 

Very well done, I love trains and I've always liked this song, the images fit perfectly although some are hard to watch. Trains like every other human invention have been used for good and for evil...

First saw Al in Cousins, Soho in 1969.  He is my inspiration, along with Ralph McTell, for my guitar playing of the last 40 years, but Al will always be the best wordsmith I have ever heard.  Road to Moscow brings me to tears.  A totally under-appreciated artist.

Good video.

I still have all my teeth but my husband does not like Al.  That does not matter because marriages are mixtures of things.

Hi this song is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. 

This is a beautifully written song. Al is a real craftsman and his songs really tell a story. A photograph in your memory through the coloured lens of time.

Very poignant and beautiful but sad song.

Thank you - this is one of my favourite Al Stewart songs and it really makes me think and wonder how human beings can do shit like that to other humans . . .

Can and do and will again.

Are doing, as we speak.

"Many and sharp the num'rous ills Inwoven with our frame!
More pointed still we make ourselves, Regret, remorse, and shame!
And man, whose heav'n-erected face The smiles of love adorn, - Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!

Robert Burns, Man was Made to Mourn.

No video can match this spellbinding song, but this is truly magnificent artwork. You get a lump in the throat if you're human.

I always well up or cry toward the end when he's talking about the Holocaust .. And how all their lives ended up in smoke stacks.  I'm Jewish despite my Irish Last name.  Al is a genius and this song is powerful, man.

Many thanks for posting this!  Been thinking about this song for a while and was pleasantly surprised to see it.  I think it's the best of his later 'historical epoch' songs. Hope I can see Al and Dave play it live someday.

It is truly a great song. Wonder if Al Stewart will ever be recognised of one of the greatest singer songwriters - I doubt it. He's too good. Clifton in the rain is his best in my opinion.

Agreed. Though I do think he will be knighted at some point.

Dnarraf This song is Al at his core ... Love of history and telling the story like no one else ... Ever. Such a beautiful tune ... So simple. He's right up with Lennon and McCartny. From me that is high praise indeed.

I would put Al Stewart above Lennon and McCartney. I would also put him above Bob Dylan, and Dylan got a Pulitzer. Al Stewart deserves a Pulitzer and every other award that artists and musicians can earn.

My exact feeling over the years as Al has done so much.  Its almost sacrilege to say but I think he's at that level as a song writer.  They were unique, one offs.  Al is also unique and one of a kind.  It is such high praise that I hesitate to even think it but its true.

i agree clifton in the rain is class ,but the way he does history of the war is brilliant

THANK YOU!!! ,,, What a wonderful tribute to this fantastic song ... your photo selection is beyond beautiful ... Al Stewart, the WORDSMITH ... there will only ever be one like him ...

I wonder if he has read georges simenon 's 'the train', or his 'the man who watched trains go by', both of which deal with edgy themes, the first being set during the second world war , in france.

Hi Andrew Reed, Diane Read here. I've just got in after seeing Al's concert at the Albert Hall tonight. Were you there and, if so, what did you think? I thought it was really good. The only jarring bit was the guy who came on at the beginning to introduce Al - some American in a poncy scarf! Hope you managed to speak to Al. I'm afraid I had to catch my last train home, and only just made it. Still, I left the Albert Hall feeling quite nostalgic for those good old Cousins days.

Roads to Moscow--yes, definitely another great one!

One of Al Stewart's very best. The pathos of the second half of the song is truly heartrending. Probably one of his top five songs.

It's probably better even than "Roads to Moscow" as a historical epic, though picking a favorite is awfully difficult. Choosing one over the other to take to a desert island would be like Sophie's Choice.

(Yes, yes, that analogy is too clever by half... sorry. Couldn't pass it up.)

Awesome video. I usually ignore the video and just listen to the music. My son sent me this as he knows I love trains ... and ther.efore I watched (most of) the video. I gasped a couple of times due to your combination of images and the lyrics.
Thanx for all your efforts

thank's for this, have looked for it for a while. one he doesnt do live very often, and is perhaps considered 'underrated' compared to' year of cat' , etc. it's got his themes and interests too, eg. trains, stations , history. Ive seen him since the 1960s and he's still worth seeing now. the lines go on forever....

None taken Smart Alek, so well named are YOU !! lol I stand corrected of course.

Al is amazing -- no resting on his laurels; his work just keeps getting better.
3literZ3, thank you so much for all your excellent work here...
...and especially for promoting this song in a reasonably high bitrate.
Music of this caliber deserves no less.

Complements it nicely, too!
(No offense intended; I'd never do that to another Al fan. Hope you don't take it that way.)

Great job done on your video, compliments the track very well. Thanks and a BIG LIKE here.

Here in the US, Thomas the Tank Engine is a newer thing and I didn't ever hear about it until the 90s. For the US audience, it would seem strange to place a 90s era toy in a story about preWWI childhood memories. Still, I see your point and from your background it would make sense.

Brilliant. Having visited Poland several times, I find this song particularly emotional. Just a shame in the video you missed the reference to Thomas the Tank Engine ("painted red and blue, they all had names") Al and I are the same generation, and in my childhood, like his, those little books by Rev Audry were prized possessions.

I have just gyrated round to exploting Al Stewarts stuff and once we get through the commercial wrapping of "Year Of The Cat" and "On The Border....." WOW! What an absolute goldmine. I thought Clifford T. Ward was one of the greatest but Al Stewart even leaves him way behind in terms or range of subjects, lyrics and production.

Thanks, Welderman. I saw him in Harrisburg, PA USA. A nice intimate theater, and the audience loved it.

great song and excellent video too. i too have had the pleasure of seeing al and dave sing this fantastic song in manchester a few years ago.

Thanks, James! Yes, it's a powerful song and the only song that I've felt compelled to prepare a video for. I had the pleasure of seeing Al and Dave in concert last year and it was a real treat. If you get a chance to see him around your area, jump at the chance.

Let me be the first to say bravo,you have captured Al's song so well.Wish more people would discover this gem of his.Thanks for posting>