Love is hard, and often, letting go is the hardest part. But what we must remember is that we can only fully accept and appreciate the life that was intended for us when we’ve managed to let go of the things that weren’t.
Flaky Trains is funky, yet touching Piano-Rock ballad, with an important message carried between the lines of its bitter-sweet lyrics. It is narrated as story, a friend advising a friend, to move on from someone that’s long moved on from them.
To quote one of the lines in the song, “There’s a time for believing, and a time for leaving” – this is a short story presenting itself in the form of a song. It’s a friend encouraging a friend to move on from a girl he’s lost, and to quit waiting at stations for flaky trains and flaky people. One could say the pillar of this song is its powerful, confident vocals – somewhat Tom Waits-esque – which capture the story of a man’s process of dealing with loss and moving on to something better.
lyrics
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He was never quite a winner
at the waiting game
but for a pretty girl
there’s always a rule he’d break
He gives me the ‘she’s coming’, ‘I know’, and ‘just see’
and he sits down with his dreams, and a bottle or three
You just can’t bring a blind man, to see
That it’s been three years on this platform
with your heart in a bag
waiting on a flaky train, to come
That’s never even left, my friend
And never will
Coz she’s never coming back
She’s never ever coming back
So you can drink yourself to dead
tell me she messed with your head
But mate, she ain’t, comin back
Well there’s reason to move on too
see the blonde there, dressed in blue
She’s got those eyes, the kind you like
and look, shes got a book, to boot
You could wait on the flaky trains.
Or you could, grab your heart and go
There’s a time for believing
and a time for leaving
But no time for flaky trains,
as you watch your life go by
There’s a time for fighting
And a time for letting go
Hey that’s a good book, I’ve read it too
She says cheesy, but it’ll do
How about dinner, he says
you got any plans?
She says - fuck it, come on, lets go
I’ve been here forever
waiting on a flaky man
You could wait on the flaky trains
Or you could, grab your heart and go
There’s a time for believing
and a time for leaving
But no time for flaky trains
as you watch your life go by
Theres a time for fighting
And a time for letting go.
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