Oh man, I love train songs!
Jethro Tull - Locomotive Breath Classic tune built around a train allegory.
Phish - Rift Technically not about a train, but 100% intended to sound like one IMO. As someone who once lived in a city that had a freight humpyard, I find the sound of train whistles soothing and peaceful, so I particularly like their harmony that imitates that sound.
Arlo Guthrie - City of New Orleans A classic song about a classic train.
Chuck Berry - Downbound Train Yes, he was a scumbag, but his influence on music is undeniable, and he had some pretty good tunes. This one is about a guy who is scared straight by a drunken vision of a train ride to Hell.
Otis Taylor - My Soul's In Louisiana Also meant to sound like a train, this song opens and closes with actual train sounds. The song is a sad one; the narrator is a Black man who has been lynched over a murder (of a train engineer) that he didn't commit.
Oh, and:
Gladys Knight and the Pips - Midnight Train to Georgia Song about a man who is returning from LA to Georgia after his dreams of stardom don't work out, from the perspective of his lover, who decides to go with him.
This is the correct answer. And there are so many more!
From http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-grateful-dead-and-trains-guest-post.html
Casey Jones ("Driving that train, high on cocaine")
Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) (song title)
Childhood's End ("When I was hoppin' freights")
China Cat Sunflower ("double-E waterfall" - as in "flaggin' down the double-E")
He's Gone ("Like a steam locomotive rolling down the track")
Jack Straw ("Gotta go to Tulsa, first train we can ride")
Lazy River Road ("Bright blue box cars, train by train")
Might As Well ("Long train running from coast to coast")
New Potato Caboose (song title)
New Speedway Boogie ("This train's got to run today")
Operator ("My rider left upon the Midnight Flyer")
So Many Roads ("Thought I heard that KC whistle moaning sweet and low")
Tennessee Jed ("Listen to the whistle of the evening train")
Terrapin Station ("But the train's put its brakes on and the whistle is screaming")
They Love Each Other ("It's nothing they explain, it's like a diesel train")
Tons Of Steel ("She's more a roller-coaster than the train I used to know")
Unbroken Chain ("Ride you out on a cold railroad and nail you to a cross")
And if we're doing unapologetic :grillman: rock:
AC/DC - Rock 'n Roll TrainTrain - Hey, Soul Sister
jk but for real this time
Everything but the girl - Downtown Train
This Train is Bound For Glory (Either Johnny Cash or The Wailers but lots of other versions are cool too)
Mount Kimble - Blue Train Lines
and of course the biggie versus thomas the tank engine mashup
Breakdown - Jack Johnson
Runaway Train - Soul Asylum
Morning Train (9 to 5) - Sheena Easton
Edit, forgot some classics:
Wabash Cannonball - Johnny Cash
Midnight Train To Georgia - Gladys Knight and the Pips
Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble - Train of Reunification Runs!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF0S4dSihUk
