Lyrics for Downtown Train as interpreted by archmastermind

Downtown Train Lyrics
Outside another yellow moon
Has punched a hole in the nighttime, yes
I climb through the window and down to the street
I'm shining like a new dime
The downtown trains are full with all of those Brooklyn girls
They try so hard to break out of their little worlds

Well you wave your hand and they scatter like crows
They have nothing that will ever capture your heart
They're just thorns without the rose
Be careful of them in the dark
Oh, if I was the one you chose to be your only one
Oh baby can't you hear me now, can't you hear me now

Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
Every night it's just the same, you leave me lonely now

I know your window and I know it's late
I know your stairs and your doorway
I walk down your street and past your gate
I stand by the light at the four-way
You watch them as they fall, oh baby, they all have heart attacks
They stay at the carnival, but they'll never win you back

Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
Where every night, every night it's just the same, oh baby
Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
All of my dreams they fall like rain, oh baby on a downtown train

Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
Where every night, every night it's just the same, oh baby
Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
All of my dreams just fall like rain, all on a downtown train
All on a downtown train, all on a downtown train
All on a downtown train, a downtown train

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turtonhot
05-17-2002

Rated 0 
dont know much about the song or the artist, just heard it at about 3am on MTV2 after i got in from a nite partying. Its a great song...cool lyrics too, really sets the NYC scene nicely.

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roger wilco
05-17-2002

Rated 0 
it should sound familiar. Rod Stewart covered it in 1990. interesting how Tom Waits himself goes mostly overlooked, but many of his songs are popular covers by other artists.

just as well, tho. i consider Mr. Waits to be music's unsung hero and best kept secret.

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craigus
05-11-2003

Rated 0 
Wait's is by far one of the most underrated song writers out there along with Frank Black and Syd Barrett. Another okayish wait's cover is MArtha by Meat Loaf on Welcome To The Neighbourhood I knew it was too good for Meat to write.

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vandenberg
06-11-2003

Rated 0 
this is a real gut-wrenching song to me, though other hardcore Waits fans may dismiss it for its pop appeal. I like the interpretation given to the same song but Rod Stewart's cover. anyway, to me, it's about a lonely man who is in love with a girl that just does not give him the time of day. he goes a bit mad -- he does not know what to do with himself but to walk around the lonely streets, singing, and waiting, for one day, for her to appear before him. of course, she never does, and he continues to wait, for the downtown train.

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superchango
06-24-2003

Rated 0 
Another one for that heartbreaking, hopecrushing, mendestroyer ladies, and one of her victims who stands neither a ghost of a chance of winning her, nor one of getting over her.
Visually impecable. And that couple of first verses...
Will Waits ever get it wrong?

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retrorocket
02-14-2006

Rated 0 
It's one of his best songs - the lyrics are just so great.
You'd think this is would be an impossible song to screw up, but somehow Rod Stewart sure managed it.
How could the guy who sang "Stay with me" turn in such a sappy, pathetic piece of easy-listening crap?
The saddest part is knowing that 99% of the world thinks Rod's version is the original.
And even sadder is that those bastards would probably still prefer Mr. Do Ya Think I'm Sexy's version even if they heard both.
It's all enough to make you lose faith in humanity...

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retrorocket
02-14-2006

Rated 0 
It's one of his best songs - the lyrics are just so great.
You'd think this is would be an impossible song to screw up, but somehow Rod Stewart sure managed it.
How could the guy who sang "Stay with me" turn in such a sappy, pathetic piece of easy-listening crap?
The saddest part is knowing that 99% of the world thinks Rod's version is the original.
And even sadder is that those bastards would probably still prefer Mr. Do Ya Think I'm Sexy's version even if they heard both.
It's all enough to make you lose faith in humanity...

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josins
04-01-2006

Rated 0 
This song is where Waits' voice peaks in his career

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Smokler
05-24-2006

Rated 0 
Poppier, sure, but still heartbreakingly sad, like the best of Waits. About being ignored and overlooked. The metaphor of the train which simply zooms by not stopping as you watch it go, is perfect.

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NWNmoon
09-22-2006

Rated 0 
To me the Tom Waits song is about the very basic human need for love. It seems to be about a lonely man and his longing for a woman, this is in a broad sense as he views all the Brooklyn girls caught in the same trap of their ordinary lives, going downtown on a search of their own. To him though they're the thorns without the rose, there is just one who's captured his heart, like a fairy tale princess, out of reach. I'm not even sure if she even exists or whether she's part of the dream in the hearts of the Brooklyn girls themselves.......all those lonely people waiting to be taken out of it by love.

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innocentsmith
06-16-2007

Rated 0 
I've never heard Rod Stewart's cover, to my knowledge, and honestly I hope I never will.

I heard this song for the first time driving around LA one mopey afternoon, and I fell utterly in love with it. "Rain Dogs" was my first Waits album and still my favorite, and this might well be my favorite song. Heartbreaking, certainly - I love the Brooklyn girls, who "have nothing that will ever capture your heart, they're just thorns without the rose - be careful of them in the dark" - but also the wistfulness of "if I was the one you chose to be your only one" and the yellow moon punching a hole in the night-time. Just a perfect mix of grounded urban observations and wild romantic flight. One of my very favorite songs.

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highway pig
09-18-2007

Rated 0 
ever live in a city? where you end up having one-sided 'relationships' with strangers that you see daily but know you'll never truly connect with? here our hero is idealizing one who is at least ostensibly more than he could ever ask for or has seen trudge by on the daily. and it isn't a nice, though brief escape to fantasize yourself a brand new reality-world on your commute back from work?

rod stewart is a steward of satan, whether working on maggie's farm or riding a downtown train.

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Ex Abrupto
11-01-2007

Rated 0 
Rain Dogs was the first Tom Waits album I listened. I hated it back then, I used to skip many of the songs, but I loved Downtown Train because it was a catchy song. Then, after listening to the album so many times, it turned out as my favorite.

I believe it is a shame that Rod Stewart took all the fame out of the song and totally made it his own... But it also happened with Bruce Springsteen ( Jersey Girl ) and many others who made covers out of his songs. I also believe it sucks. Especially on Stewart's part because he also covered Tom Traubert's Blues - I mean, at least give credit to man, if you're making more than one cover out of him ( which is not right in my opinion ), make a whole album of covers to promote the guy! The shittiest thing is that Rod probably never knew how great the less " radio friendly " songs are. He probably don't even get the lyrics.

But Tom is way to much of a man to complain about this and I bet he'd be more ashamed of us, rain dogs, bitchin' over the fame he could have had because he probably never searched for it anyways. And that's the thing that makes him my favorite artist.

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mariaraluca
03-29-2008

Rated 0 
the story here I think is one of someone who lost the girl he loved and is hoping that he will run into her on a downtown train as one does when they are heartbroken.

The Brooklyn girls are maybe just a metaphor for all the other women that seem ordinary in comparison and whose willingness to 'stay at the carnival' will never fill the void.

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pconl
07-15-2008

Rated 0 
Isn't this song just a bit stalkerish? He has seen this girl and follows her - knows her stairs and her doorway - and is dressed up -shining like a new dime- to try to get her attention but she doesn't even see him as he waits outside her house for her to get off her regular train - his dreams fall like rain.

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morbid morag
10-08-2008

Rated 0 
Funny you should say that, pconl - I was listening to this song the other day & thought: how sad, what previous generations called courtship we call stalking. It's a wonder anybody ever hooks up at all! Have you never hung round somebody's house hoping to get a glimpse? I know I have. This is no more stalkerish than that old standard The Street Where You Live. It's wonderful.

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pconl
12-12-2008

Rated 0 
Good point. I have indeed Morag - I suppose it only becomes stalking when it continues unwanted?

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Sunflowerpowergirl
01-15-2009

Rated 0 
Wonderful song! I like Rod Stewart's version, too, and I like Mr. Stewart's first name - ROD. Anyhow, Mr. Waits is truely the best lyricist in the popular music world. Even Dylan, who the babyboomers always rave about, has only a handful of songs that reach the level of Waits' sophistication.

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Smokler
10-01-2009

Rated 0 
I would not call it stalkerish as the narrator is completely passive. Which is what makes it so utterly sad. It is about being ignored, being lonely as the world zooms by you without paying attention, like a train. It's one of the great songs about heartbreak, perhaps ever.

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