Music with Motif: Sound of the Underground

Since starting university, I have already made some treacherous train journeys from Warwick to my home, so naturally, music about trains has dominated my listening during the 4-hour trek. 

Trains are a common symbol of departure, new beginnings, and the journey of life, which is most infamously depicted in Bob Dylan’s ‘It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry’ from Highway 61 Revisited. There are explicit metaphors for frustration at a relationship not blossoming, with the future feeling of regret already apparent in the winter weather. Yet, I find more of its place in the context of blues tradition more revealing as Dylan utilises the blues motif of trains to depict his career (“On top of the hill”), now that he’ll embark on going electric and ultimately bridge the artistic gap between the established folk tradition and the emerging rock paradigm shift. In some ways, I feel as if I’m in between homes, from university to my actual home, as Dylan does within the midst of a cultural paradigm shift, as he remarks in a snarky manner to his lover by the closing lyrics of the track.  

His solo steamrolls the sleepier standard set up by the two tracks before on Blue Train

When in a rush to catch the train, particularly as I must move through London to get further south, ‘Locomotion’ by John Coltrane comes to mind, with its fast tempo spurred forward by Paul Chambers’ bass and Philly Joe Jones’ drums. In popular opinion, Coltrane’s first truly great work, especially while his solo steamrolls the sleepier standard set up by the two tracks before on Blue Train.  

The nastier train stations remind me of the grimy descriptions of New York’s underground sampled on Nas’ introduction on his masterpiece Illmatic, to the opening verse of Grandmaster Flash’s ‘The Message’, which were inspired by a subway strike, and most vividly, ‘B-Boy Bouillabaisse: Stop That Train’ by the Beastie Boys. The debauches detail of the train’s inmates juxtaposed with the idealised holiday destination to Coney Island is one of many parallels between the American dream and its harsh reality explored through their music. I think I can sympathise with this to some degree, as I enjoy peering through my window at the wonderful British countryside, only after avoiding a lively drunk man at the entrance of the station, who wielded two rabid dogs as if he was a boss on Resident Evil. They are not “cool for cats” as Squeeze would tell you. 

Trains have been the point of transgressive musical choices

Trains have been the point of transgressive musical choices, too. Death Grips sampled a Vancouver Skytrain departing to build tension, before breaking the build up with a sampled, powerful cry from Serena Williams as she strikes the ball, in their appropriately named track, ‘System Blower’. Likewise, the anarcho-punk band Flux of Pink Indians mocked the perversive nature media has over disasters through their ironic lyrics, “I wanna marry a tube disaster, I want another tube disaster!”. They further detail how victims are forced to smile for the TV, despite the tragedy they just witnessed.  

Most of all, I associate the hypnotic drums throughout Burial’s Untrue as the pinnacle of ‘train’ music. Take your pick out of any of the tracks, but ‘Ghost Hardware’s’ drum beat, along with the moody, noir vinyl crackles, synths and haunting vocal samples create an intimate, strangely warm soundscape that feels emblematic of being between homes. I find there to a reflective side to Burial’s music, whereby the distant and repeating samples create this ambience akin to replaying memories over in one’s head, which is what I find I do most of the time on a train, as my mind wanders alongside the train’s wheels.