DOWNBOUND TRAIN

Album's version

I had a job, I had a girl*
I had something going mister in this world
I got laid off down at the lumber yard
Our love went bad, times got hard
Now I work down at the carwash
Where all it ever does is rain
Don't you feel like you're a rider on a downbound train

She just said "Joe I gotta go
We had it once we ain't got it any more"
She packed her bags left me behind
She bought a ticket on the Central Line
Nights as I sleep, I hear that whistle whining
I feel her kiss in the misty rain
And I feel like I'm a rider on a downbound train

Last night I heard your voice
You were crying, crying, you were so alone
You said your love had never died
You were waiting for me at home
Put on my jacket, I ran through the woods
I ran till I thought my chest would explode
There in the clearing, beyond the highway
In the moonlight, our wedding house shone
I rushed through the yard, I burst through the front door
My head pounding hard, up the stairs I climbed
The room was dark, our bed was empty
Then I heard that long whistle whine
And I dropped to my knees, hung my head and cried

Now I swing a sledge hammer on a railroad gang
Knocking down them cross ties, working in the rain
Now don't it feel like you're a rider on a downbound train

The darkest song on the Born In The USA album [read review below], and perhaps that's why it's one of the few album tracks that did not become a single.

The song was originally recorded in an acoustic version for the Nebraska album in 1981-1982. It was included on the famous Nebraska demo tape of Jan 1982:

Following The River tour, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band were supposed to start recording the next album in New York City in February 1982. Bruce decided to record multi-channel, professional sounding, finished demos of some songs he had written during the period. He felt the upcoming band sessions would progress faster than they had for his previous three albums if he records these finished demos and demonstrates them to The E Street Band.

To achieve his goal, in December 1981, he asks his guitar technician, Mike Batlan, to set up a no frills "porta-studio" in a spare room of his home in Colts Neck, NJ. Some modification work was done to the room making it more receptive to achieving a decent sound. Batlan purchased a Teac Tascom (Series 144) 4-track cassette recorder, two SM57's microphones, and to microphone stands. The sound was mixed through an old Gibson Echoplex, and an old Panasonic boom box acted as the mix-down deck.

Springsteen recorded during the first few days of January, with most of the songs cut in one all day/night session on 03 Jan 1982. There were 15 songs recorded on tape, and some of them were recorded 2 or 3 times in slightly different arrangements. The tape was never conceived to result in a commercially released album, as the songs were recorded by the E Street Band with multi-instrument arrangements, during what's known as the "Electric Nebraska Session". However two or three months later, Springsteen recorded two additional songs (MY FATHER'S HOUSE and THE BIG PAYBACK) at home on the same equipment – thus making a total of 17 different songs.

Three solo acoustic recordings of DOWNBOUND TRAIN are in circulation. Two of them are practice versions that were recorded at Springsteen's home in Colts Neck, NJ, following the end of The River tour. They are unprofessional "work in progress" home cassette recordings. Check out early demo #1 and early demo #2 for more details. The third one is the more professional recording that was made at Thrill Hill Recording (Springsteen's home studio) in Colts Neck, NJ, on or around 03 Jan 1982 (as mentioned above), and that was included on the Nebraska demo tape. Check out the Nebraska demo version.

Though most of the E Street Band arrangements of the songs were discarded and the original solo demos from the tape were released on Nebraska, DOWNBOUND TRAIN was kept in it's electric version to be released on the next album, Born In The USA.

The song was re-recorded with the E Street Band with multi-instrument arrangements during the 1982-1983 Born In The USA sessions. The take that appears on the album was cut in Mar or Apr 1982 at The Power Station, New York City, NY, during the so-called "Electric Nebraska Session". In addition to the one that was officially released, two other different mixes of that same recording are known to exist:

• Alternative mix #1: Includes Bruce starting the song with "And one, two, three, four" and his vocal howls during the middle section. This mix appears on the This Hard Land bootleg.
• Alternative mix #2: Differs slightly from the album's mix and appears on The Lost Masters Vol. 19 bootleg.

DOWNBOUND TRAIN was performed live for the first time on 02 Jul 1984 at Saint Paul Civic Center Arena in Saint Paul, MN, during the Born In The USA tour (third show of the tour). It disappeared from the setlist to return 2 months later, on 05 Sep 1984 at The Centrum in Worcester, MA. It was played about 80 times during that tour. See the live 21 Jun 1985 version.

The song was also played during the Tunnel Of Love tour (14 times), Human Touch tour (15 times), Reunion tour (9 times - check out the live 11 Aug 1999 version), The Rising tour (3 times):

• 30 Aug 2002 at Savvis Center, St. Louis, MO
• 12 Jun 2003 at AOL Arena, Hamburg, Germany
• 27 Jul 2003 at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ

And the Devils & Dust tour (3 times, played on pump-organ):

• 25 Jun 2005 at Hovet, Stockholm, Sweden (check out the live 25 Jun 2005 version)
• 27 Jun 2005 at Color Line Arena, Hamburg, Germany
• 11 Nov 2005 at Constant Convocation Center, Norfolk, VA

It was never played on off-tour performances.

The song was covered by several artists, and here's a list of the Bruce Springsteen tribute albums that include covers of it: (scans and info taken from the Nebraska website)

Various artists / One Step Up / Two Steps Back: The Songs Of Bruce Springsteen 2-CD - The Right Stuff (72438-59780-2-9) - USA - 1997 DOWNBOUND TRAIN is performed by The Smithereens (check out The Smithereens' version)

Various artists / One Step Up / Two Steps Back: The Songs Of Bruce Springsteen - Sampler promo CD - The Right Stuff (DPRO 70876-10927-2-1) - USA - 1997 DOWNBOUND TRAIN is performed by The Smithereens (check out The Smithereens' version)

The Smithereens / Downbound Train CD EP - The Right Stuff (72438-58691-2-9) - USA - 1998 DOWNBOUND TRAIN is performed by The Smithereens (check out The Smithereens' version)

Various artists / Badlands - A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska CD - Sub Pop (SPCD 525) - USA - 2000 DOWNBOUND TRAIN is performed by Raul Malo of the Mavericks (check out Raul Malo's version)

Various artists / Badlands - A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska promo CD copy in cardsleeve - Sub Pop (no label #) - USA - 2000 DOWNBOUND TRAIN is performed by Raul Malo of the Mavericks (check out Raul Malo's version)

Various artists / Badlands - A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska promo 5-track EP - Sub Pop (no label #) - USA - 2000 DOWNBOUND TRAIN is performed by Raul Malo of the Mavericks (check out Raul Malo's version)

Various artists / The Songs Of Bruce Springsteen CD - The Right Stuff (72438-56530-2-5) - USA - 2000 DOWNBOUND TRAIN is performed by The Smithereens (check out The Smithereens' version)

Light Of Day: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen 3-CD - Good Sounds (DM 797-02) - Spain - 2003 2-CD - Good Sounds (DM 797E-02) - Spain - 2003 2-CD - Schoolhouse Records (SHR0022-2) - USA - 2003 2-CD - Revolver (REVXD 244) - UK - 2005 DOWNBOUND TRAIN is performed by Kirk Kelly (check out Kirk Kelly's version)

The above lyrics refer to the album's version. Check out early demo #1, early demo #2, Nebraska demo version, the live versions (no lyrics variation): live 21 Jun 1985 version, live 11 Aug 1999 version, and live 25 Jun 2005 version. Also check The Smithereens' version, Raul Malo's version, and Kirk Kelly's version.

* This line will later appear on DEAD MAN WALKIN'.

Review by springsteenidol at Greasy Lake:

I think the progression of the jobs* is supposed to show this dark mourning mood. It starts off with the lumber yard, which is a manual labour job but not a really bad or embarrassing job. While working at the lumber yard the characters life is supposed to be going ok (having the girl and the job itself) and there is no mention of rain. From here things get progressively worse and the progression of jobs illustrates this. The character loses the girl and now works at the car wash, which is a job on a lower level then the lumber yard. Here there is the mention of rain, again meant to show the beginning despair of the character and his fall from better times. This downward movement of jobs is also meant to show that the character is also losing his freedom and freedom in this case refers to his ability to have a better job or have an occupation that he prefers, and he loses this freedom because of the downturn in the economy which forces him to accept any job in order to survive. Finally is the rail road gang. The rail road gang is the final level of despair and shows that the character has totally lost all freedom and now is a sort of prisoner himself. Again there is the mention of the rain (gloomy outlook on life) and the job itself is a job that was usually done by prisoners, which makes the job lower on scale then even the car wash and shows that the character is a prisoner himself. He is a prisoner in that the economy has turned so bad that he now lacks any freedom to choose employment and must take any job, which in this case is prison work. He is also like a prisoner in that prisoners have lost everything because they are isolated in jail and the character has also lost everything (namely the girl and his original lumber yard job).

This is all my take on the song, but it shows how the character can work on a rail road gang without having to have done anything illegal and I think it also shows the despair and decline of the character.

* "Now I work down at the carwash" then later "Now I swing a sledge hammer on a railroad gang, Knocking down them cross ties, working in the rain"