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I can hear my train comin'
It's a lonesome and distant cry
I can hear my train comin'
Now I'm runnin' for my life
What makes a man
Walk away from his mind?
I think I know
I think I might know
I can feel the wind blowin'
It's sending shivers down my spine
I can feel the wind blowin'
Shakes the trees and the power lines
What makes a man
Spend his whole life in disguise?
I think I know
Think I might know
(What makes a man?)
I think I might know
(What makes a man?)
I think I might know, know
(What makes a man?)
I can see the sun settin'
It's casting shadows on the sea
I can see the sun, it's setting
It's getting colder, starting to freeze
What makes a man
Want to break a heart with ease?
I think I know
Think I might know
(What makes a man?)
I think I might know
(What makes a man?)
I think I might know, oh
(What makes a man?)
I can hear my train comin'
Looks like time is on my side
I can hear my train comin'
I'm still runnin' for my life
What makes a man pray
When he's about to die?
I think I know
I think I might know
(What makes a man?)
Think I might know
(What makes a man?)
I think I might know, oh
(What makes a man?)
(What makes a man?)
Think I might know
(What makes a man?)
I think I might know, oh
(What makes a man?)
It's a lonesome and distant cry
I can hear my train comin'
Now I'm runnin' for my life
What makes a man
Walk away from his mind?
I think I know
I think I might know
I can feel the wind blowin'
It's sending shivers down my spine
I can feel the wind blowin'
Shakes the trees and the power lines
What makes a man
Spend his whole life in disguise?
I think I know
Think I might know
(What makes a man?)
I think I might know
(What makes a man?)
I think I might know, know
(What makes a man?)
I can see the sun settin'
It's casting shadows on the sea
I can see the sun, it's setting
It's getting colder, starting to freeze
What makes a man
Want to break a heart with ease?
I think I know
Think I might know
(What makes a man?)
I think I might know
(What makes a man?)
I think I might know, oh
(What makes a man?)
I can hear my train comin'
Looks like time is on my side
I can hear my train comin'
I'm still runnin' for my life
What makes a man pray
When he's about to die?
I think I know
I think I might know
(What makes a man?)
Think I might know
(What makes a man?)
I think I might know, oh
(What makes a man?)
(What makes a man?)
Think I might know
(What makes a man?)
I think I might know, oh
(What makes a man?)
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For me, this song represents the most primitive feelings a man holds in his gut like why are we on this earth in the first place and what makes a man feel these kinds of deep wrenching emotions ? Just these basic questions that an average person wouldn't think about daily. The most simple questions, like 'what makes a man want to break a heart?' All these troubling questions..and it seems as though dallas might know the answers.
This masterpiece of a song makes me want to shrivel up inside and succumb to the wind of a cool autumn night. It's just so..heart wrenching, but in a good way. I try not to look to far into the meaning of it, I just know that it's touching and tear-jerking, and I would say it's the best when you're in a funk.
maybe by saying "what makes a man want to break a heart with ease", he knows that explaining this to the woman will hurt her and he doesn't want that for her?
and when he says "I can hear my train coming", "time is not on my side", "I'm still running for my life" he was struggling trying to figure it out;thus, "still running for his life"? He was saing "I think I might know" and he ran out of time.
"What makes a man walk away from his mind?" - The mind of a depression sufferer that tortures them so.
"What makes a man spend his whole life in disguise?" - Putting on a front to interact with others and get through the day.
"What makes a man want to break a heart with ease?" - Finding the bad and the negative in everything can affect relationships. Saying something or acting in a way so cold and with so little love, it breaks her heart.
I also think the train is hinting at suicide - he's finally decided he's had enough and intends to step out in front of it.
"What makes a man pray when he's about to die?" - He prays to ask for forgiveness, for guidance, for help, but he does it just before he takes his own life...why would he do something which seems so hopeless at that moment?
He says throughout the song he thinks he knows what makes a man... etc. But it's never explained. He knows but he can't explain it. It's too complicated. Maybe he doesn't really know.
To me it seems like he doesn't want to die, not really.
His train is coming and he's still running for his life...he's fearful of death.
But he just can't bear to live anymore.
while i still haven't been able to figure out the wind metaphor, it seems to me that Dallas is thinking about why people are afraid to feel, even though everybody does.
the sun is a metaphor for happiness and how, when a person loses it, he/she is susceptible to growing cold-hearted.. thus being able to hurt others easily.
i could be stretching his ideas past their intended meanings but thats how i look at things
Initially I thought this was a song about "what makes a man?" as a definitive question itself, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
I am interpreting this song as some of you others have. I imagine a guy who is on his death bed or near death who is in a state of regret and questioning his passed life. The first stanza sets the background, the train is death approaching, and the man is trying to run -metaphorically- for his life; he doesn't want to die.
From the first to the last stanza he questions "what makes a man ______," this can be seen as the man questioning, regretting, what type of person he had become; through the great epiphany that is mortality no less. First stanza he is commenting on how stupid he was,"walk away from his mind". Mind possibly equals logic. Second stanza, "spend his whole life in disguise" is how he possibly never was able to be himself or never being able or taking the time to find himself, being whatever other people or society expects of him, etc. Third stanza is a bit more vague: "What makes a man want to break a heart with ease." This one is possibly about him being a cruel or cold person, being mean and breaking people's hearts. Being a playa that "hits it then quits it" lol, maybe something like that.
The rest of the second and third stanza are descriptive fillers that show how he can sense death coming. Death is usually interpreted as being cold so, he is feeling cold air of deaths approach. Death can also be interpreted as the night of ones life, so he sees death's approach as the twilight of his life -of the day-.
The last part is about how death is coming closer and his realization that he is fighting a loosing battle: "Well I can hear my train a comin', It looks like time is not on my side." Despite this obvious realization he still wants to live -"Im still runnin' for my life"-, and this wanting is what "makes a man pray, when he's about to die."
The chorus of "I think I know, I think I might know" expresses how he has realized the mistakes of his past and his enlightening as to why he lived life that way.
In the end it seems that the man wants to continue living. He want to live a better life and to fix the regrets of his past. In my humble opinion of course.