I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I'm just a penny on the train track
Waitin' for my judgement day
Come on baby girl let me see those legs
Before I get flattened away
I wait
Yeah, I wait
For something good, for something great
Stoppin' in somebody's old home town
Gotta get that midnight meal
If you can't get behind your own life
Get behind the driving wheel
And go, just go
Find a place that you don't know
Ran into a friend just the other night
Got a badge, he's a local cop
Haven't seen that boy in over seven years
Since out of high school I dropped
I see, I see
All the things that I should be
Oh baby dance with me!
Even lucky man has a bad day
And pretty girl has a scar
After that train comes and takes me away
Pick up that guitar
And play, just play
Play that rock and roll for me
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
I'm just a penny on the train track
Waitin' for my judgement day
Come on baby girl let me see those legs
Before I get flattened away
I wait, I wait
For something good, for something great
And I try, oh I try
I can't stop, I don't know why
Waitin' for my judgement day
Come on baby girl let me see those legs
Before I get flattened away
I wait
Yeah, I wait
For something good, for something great
Stoppin' in somebody's old home town
Gotta get that midnight meal
If you can't get behind your own life
Get behind the driving wheel
And go, just go
Find a place that you don't know
Ran into a friend just the other night
Got a badge, he's a local cop
Haven't seen that boy in over seven years
Since out of high school I dropped
I see, I see
All the things that I should be
Oh baby dance with me!
Even lucky man has a bad day
And pretty girl has a scar
After that train comes and takes me away
Pick up that guitar
And play, just play
Play that rock and roll for me
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
I'm just a penny on the train track
Waitin' for my judgement day
Come on baby girl let me see those legs
Before I get flattened away
I wait, I wait
For something good, for something great
And I try, oh I try
I can't stop, I don't know why
Lyrics submitted by plastic tiara, edited by bmd7
Penny on the Train Track Lyrics as written by Freddy Gigele
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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: youtube.com/watch .
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?
I agree with most of your comment, but at some points in the song he does seem to show regret for not having a traditional life.
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!”
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.