DOWNBOUND TRAIN

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DOWNBOUND TRAIN

I had a job, I had a girl
I had something going mister in this world
I got laid off down at the lumber yard
Our love went bad, times got hard
Now I work down at the carwash
Where all it ever does is rain
Don't you feel like you're a rider on a downbound train

She just said "Joe I gotta go
We had it once we ain't got it any more"
She packed her bags left me behind
She bought a ticket on the Central Line
Nights as I sleep, I hear that whistle whining
I feel her kiss in the misty rain
And I feel like I'm a rider on a downbound train

Last night I heard your voice
You were crying, crying, you were so alone
You said your love had never died
You were waiting for me at home
Put on my jacket, I ran through the woods
I ran till I thought my chest would explode
There in the clearing, beyond the highway
In the moonlight, our wedding house shone
I rushed through the yard, I burst through the front door
My head pounding hard, up the stairs I climbed
The room was dark, our bed was empty
Then I heard that long whistle whine
And I dropped to my knees, hung my head and cried

Now I swing a sledge hammer on a railroad gang
Knocking down them cross ties, working in the rain
Now don't it feel like you're a rider on a downbound train

We chose "Downbound Train" because nothing else really felt like the right fit. It had nice dark mood, a cinematic quality. It's a story and it had the mood that fit with something like The Smithereens would do. Springsteen nurtured and developed his gift, didn't get lazy and turn into a parody of himself. He's continued to evolve with each record and he's still evolving today, but is always artistically pure. He didn't fall victim to his own press clippings and never got that "rock star" attitude.

-Mike Mesaros, The Smithereens

I think the progression of the jobs* is supposed to show this dark mourning mood. It starts off with the lumber yard, which is a manual labour job but not a really bad or embarrasing job. While working at the lumber yard the characters life is supposed to be going ok (having the girl and the job itself) and there is no mention of rain. From here things get progressivly worse and the progression of jobs illustrates this. The character loses the girl and now works at the car wash, which is a job on a lower level then the lumber yard. Here there is the mention of rain, again meant to show the beginning despair of the character and his fall from better times. This downward movement of jobs is also meant to show that the character is also losing his freedom and freedom in this case refers to his ability to have a better job or have an occupation that he prefers, and he loses this freedom because of the downturn in the economy which forces him to accept any job in order to survive. Finally is the rail road gang. The rail road gang is the final level of despair and shows that the character has totally lost all freedom and now is a sort of prisoner himself. Again there is the mention of the rain (gloomy outlook on life) and the job itself is a job that was usually done by prisoners, which makes the job lower on scale then even the car wash and shows that the character is a prisoner himself. He is a prisoner in that the economy has turned so bad that he now lacks any freedom to choose employment and must take any job, which in this case is prison work. He is also like a prisoner in that prisoners have lost everything because they are isolated in jail and the character has also lost everything (namely the girl and his original lumber yard job).

This is all my take on the song, but it shows how the character can work on a rail road gang without having to have done anything illegal and I think it also shows the despair and decline of the character.

* "Now I work down at the carwash" then later "Now I swing a sledge hammer on a railroad gang, Knocking down them cross ties, working in the rain"