Ridin’ That Train is a short, simple little song that reflects on the struggles we all go through in life.  Life can be difficult and unfair – and often we don’t have insight as to where we’re going, how we’ll get there, or how long the journey will take to finally reach our destination – if we ever reach it.  The singer laments his struggles, and his present situation, while drawing a parallel between the journey we call ‘life’ and a long distance trip by train.  Despite the miles of track ahead, the tediousness of the journey, the open-ended time frame, and the lack of a known destination – the singer realizes there’s value hidden in the journey that’s worth ridin’ for: “Been times I want to get off, Don’t want to ride no more, But then it seems to me there’s, Something worth ridin’ for…”

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I recorded my original song “Ridin’ That Train” in four takes as demos on Set 16 in 1997, and they complete the set. The song compares our journey through life to traveling by train, “You know I’ve been up, You know I’ve been down, And from time to time you know, That I’ve been kicked around…” Enjoy! ♡ 🙂 Mark

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(As with all of my early songs during which I worked with my friend Gordon Olvera, I’ve shared the copyright with him for trying to give voice to my songs.  Also, emailed versions of these songs lose their chord alignment and formatting, so refer to the original post and/or the scanned lyric sheet as your guide.)

Ridin’ That Train

“Faces In The Crowd”, Collected Works Volume I, Copyright 1990, Gordon Olvera/Mark Jones, All Rights Reserved

Verse One:

      G

You know I’ve been up

      D

You know I’ve been down

C

And from time to time you know

       G                     D

That I’ve been kicked around

G

Life’s not always easy

D

Life’s not always fair

C

But it seems to me my life’s

      G      D

Not going anywhere

               G

’cause I’m riding that train

       C                    F

That train that I call life

                  G

And there’s no turning back

       C                        F

Just miles and miles of track

           Am       G

I don’t need no reservation

F                     C               G

Don’t know my destination home

F        G

Home, home

Verse Two:

        G

Been times I want to get off

         D

Don’t want to ride no more

      C

But then it seems to me there’s

                G               D

Something worth ridin’ for

        G

Can’t say how long this ride is

        D

Can’t say how long it lasts

  C

I know there’ll come a day when this

     G                      D

Old train stops in its tracks

            G

And I’m ridin’ this old train

     C                     F

I’m ridin’ down that line

           G

‘gonna ride it to the end

      C            F

Got plenty of time

           Am       G

I don’t need no reservation

F                     C              G

Don’t know my destination home

F        G

Home, home