Train 🚂 | 5ive Songs

1. John Mayer, “Last Train Home”

💿 Sob Rock • 🏷 Columbia • 📅 2021

“And if you’re gonna hurt me / Then you gotta hold me next to you.” In 2021, following a hiatus, 🏆 Grammy-winning pop/rock artist 🎙 John Mayer returned.  Mayer released a new studio album, 💿 Sob Rock. The ‘last’ song at hand, 🎵 “Last Train Home” serves as the opener on the EP, reappearing on the full-length.

Mayer penned the pleasant “Last Train Home,” co-producing with 🎛 Don Was.  Here, the listeners are blessed with those distinct, signature vocals by Mayer.  As always, he has a gorgeous tone.  Despite a limited vocal range, John has always made it work superbly. “Last Train Home” possesses a clear 80s influence. There is more synthesizer compared to his past work. No worries, as we still have guitar and Mayer remains one of the elite guitarists of our time. Oh, and besides his skills with the strings, the words work well too, particularly the chorus:

“I’m not a fallen angel, I just fell behind
I’m out of luck and I’m out of time
If you don’t wanna love me, let me go
I’m runnin’ for the last train
I’m runnin’ for the last train home.”

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Last: 5ive Songs No. 60 (2021)
🔗 🎧 An Alphabet of Random Songs

2. XXXTENTACION, “Train food”

💿 SKINS • 🏷 Bad Vibes Forever / EMPIRE • 📅 2018

🎵 “Train food” is a spirited, rare full-length record gracing 💿 SKINS, a posthumous record by rapper 🎙 XXXTENTACION, who was murdered in 2018. A bizarre record initially, the production (piano chords and sound effects) on “Train food” is unsettling.  As for XXX, he’s distinct, idiosyncratic, and odd sounding in his own right.

The best part of the song is the third verse, where XXX puts mad energy behind his rhymes.  He delivers one of the more overt, dynamic verses I’ve ever heard from him.

“All them fucking dreams ‘bout a diamond chain and a Maybach
Now you’re time finally up
Ask yourself the final question, is you going down or up?”

3. Chris Stapleton, “Midnight Train to Memphis”

💿 From a Room: Vol. 2 • 🏷 Mercury • 📅 2017

“Forty days of shotguns and barbed wire fences / Forty nights to sit and listen / To the midnight train to Memphis.” 🏆 Grammy-winning country musician 🎙 Chris Stapleton cranks up the energy and intensity level on the rocking 🎵 “Midnight Train to Memphis,” the seventh track from his second album of 2017, 💿 From a Room: Vol. 2.  Stapleton is truly ‘turned all the way up’ and it’s nothing short of awesome.

“Midnight Train to Memphis” is about a stint in prison, which isn’t pleasant, but Chris makes it an alluring listening experience for all.

“Well now, ten for the jury, ten for the judge
Twenty more to forget my grudge
When I get to thirty-nine
That’s the longest day in a prisoner’s mind.”

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 13 Ear-catching Songs About Midnight
🔗 🎧 19 Songs About Various Cities Around the World

4. Sam Smith, “Midnight Train”

💿 The Thrill of it All • 🏷 Capitol • 📅 2017 

“So, I pick up the pieces, I get on the midnight train / I got my reasons, but darlin’ I can’t explain / I’ll always love you/ But tonight’s the night I choose to walk away.” 🏆 Grammy-winning British pop-soul artist 🎙 Sam Smith made a sensational return with their 2017 sophomore LP, 💿 The Thrill of it All.  Smith is blessed with the voice of an angel.  That said, on 🎵 “Midnight Train” they’re trying to get themself together after a breakup.

Within the context of The Thrill of it All, “Midnight Train” increases the tempo, balancing out pop and soul soundly.  As always, Smith exhibits exceptional command and control, pulling back and pushing at the right moments.  The chorus is the centerpiece, but the verses are well-rounded portions of the narrative conveyed as well.  They admit to being selfish on the first verse, but justifies it by asserting, “But I give another piece of me away / Every wakin’ day that I’m with you.”  On the second, they still profess their love but makes it clear they just can’t stay.

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 13 Ear-catching Songs About Midnight

5. The O’Jays, “Love Train”

💿 Back Stabbers • 🏷 Epic • 📅 1972

“People all over the world / Join hands / Start a love train / love train.” 🎵 “Love Train” is an elite soul classic, period.  This is one of the 🎙 O’Jays best, most memorable songs.  Furthermore, it appears on a classic LP, 💿 Back Stabbers, from 1972.  Basically, “Love Train” is a record that makes you smile and want to sing along with it.

“All of you brothers over in Africa / Tell all the folks in Egypt, and Israel too.” Sigh, worldwide love 🗺 ❤ – gotta love it! The positivity is lit 🔥 (“Don’t you know it’s time to get on board?”), and we wouldn’t have it any other way! Innocent, unifying songs like “Love Train” are rare.  This one, my friends, is awesome to the nth degree.