I’ve spent my 10,000 hours (and then some) learning my musical craft. But I’ve spent a lot more time than that, some 35 years, trying to learn how to let go of the destructive parts of my character. They did not go easily into that good night. For a long time, if I loved you and if I felt a deep attachment to you, I would hurt you if I could. It was a sin, and I still have days when I struggle with it. But I’ve gotten better. Through the love of my family, my good friends, I’ve learned how to love. And to be compassionate with those close to me, and to try and live with some small honor. “Tucson Train” is about a guy who’s trying to follow his better angels, working in the sun for a new start. He’s trying to change. — Bruce Springsteen, Western Stars (2019)

Western Stars is a career summation featuring Bruce at his very peak as a songwriter, arranger, and even as a vocalist. It’s a deeply felt, nuanced treatise on life and living.

It’s also–by far–Bruce’s warmest, most optimistic, and most life-affirming album. The entire album is imbued with the musical equivalent of autumn sunlight.

Western Stars is a collection of late-in-life character studies, and most of the characters have lived quite well. Some continue moving forward (“Hitch Hikin’,” “The Wayfarer“), while some can’t take their eyes off the past (“Moonlight Motel,” “Chasin’ Wild Horses“). Some are just content to be where they are (“Drive Fast (The Stuntman)” and the album’s title track).

But so finely and lushly realized are these songs and that only after several listens might we realize: nothing happens in any of them. There are no story arcs, and the characters go through no change or transformation. Western Stars is a collection of internal monologues–every song a first-person musing of a man on the road of now, occasionally at an intersection with then.

And at the emotional center of the album, there is “Tucson Train,” the album’s purest pop song, combining a warm riff, a catchy hook, and a metronomic train gimmick to irresistible effect–and yet there’s some really sophisticated songwriting at work as well.

“Tucson Train” is about redemption and self-determination, about forgiving oneself and making the most of second chances. More than any song on the album, “Tucson Train” is about moving forward and atoning for past mistakes by letting go of them.

The first verse of “Tucson Train” reads like a typical Springsteen song, yet another variation of “I had a job/I had a girl.”

I got so down and out in ‘Frisco
Tired of the pills and the rain
I picked up, headed for the sunshine
I left a good thing behind
Seemed all of our love was in vain
Now my baby’s coming in on the Tucson train!

Bruce implies that his narrator suffers from seasonal affective disorder, taking anti-depressants to deal with the dark, grey, dampness of northern California. Perhaps the medicine plays a role in the dissolution of his relationship, or perhaps it’s just a convenient scapegoat. Regardless, our hero takes control of his life and relocates to a healthier clime: sunny, arid Tucson, Arizona.

As he dwells on his failure (“I left a good thing behind, seemed all of our love was in vain”), we notice our first example of Bruce’s brilliant songwriting: rather than a traditional ABAB structure, the verses of “Tucson Train” have an extra internal rhyme, a fifth line that creates an ABAAB pattern. The final AB lines break the melodic structure we’re expecting–they both end on a down note, rather than the up note we’d expect for the final lyric.

Before our brains even have a chance to process why we feel so momentarily low, Bruce lifts us back up with an exultant one-line chorus that matches the B rhyme scheme (cementing the ABAABB pattern that the rest of the song follows) as the melody and the backing orchestra soars. Coming so unexpectedly on the heels of those two down lyrics, that single “Now my baby’s coming in on the Tucson train” drips with joy and anticipation–in part thanks to the grammatically and metrically unnecessary “in” that nevertheless makes all the difference in conveying the narrator’s breathless excitement over his baby’s imminent arrival.

If you’ve never noticed the craftsmanship at work in just this one verse, go back and listen again–it’s an excellent example of why I consider Western Stars to be a collection of Bruce’s finest songwriting.

In the second verse, Bruce sheds light on why our hero fled. When you don’t love yourself, it’s hard to love another, and when our narrator looked in the mirror, it seems he didn’t see the man he wanted to be. So he moved somewhere that offered a chance to start over in an environment that allowed for him to be his best self. But even among strangers and without judgment, it’s not easy to maintain focus.

I come here looking for a new life
One I wouldn’t have to explain
To that voice that keeps me awake at night
When a little peace would make everything right
If I could just turn off my brain
Now my baby’s coming in on the Tucson train

Now check out this bridge, because this is sophisticated stuff:

We fought hard over nothing
We fought till nothing remained
I’ve carried that nothing for a long time
Now I carry my operator’s license
And spend my days just running this crane
My baby’s coming in on the Tucson train

Chances are the first couple of times you listened “Tucson Train,” your brain tripped over the bridge, because it’s another example of Bruce subverting our expectations to spectacular effect. The first two lines are ordinary enough, with our hero brooding over his failed relationship. But then comes that third line: “I’ve carried that nothing for a long time.” Not only is this a brilliant turn of phrase, turning the absence of something into a great metaphorical weight, but it’s also an orphan rhyme–it doesn’t go anywhere.

We expect a rhyme pairing that never comes; instead the orphan rhyme serves as melodic ellipsis, creating the impression of the narrator trailing off in thought. Except that he doesn’t: he immediately returns instead to the verse melody in progress, creating a momentary whiplash moment that’s precisely what’s called for: the effect in toto is a narrator who can’t help but remember the past and yet absolutely refuses to live in it. He is here and now, taking great pride and satisfaction in his steady work and giddy with excitement to show his returning love how he’s changed.

Hard work’ll clear your mind and body
The hot sun will burn out the pain
If they’re looking for me, tell ’em buddy
I’m waiting down at the station
Just praying to the five-fifteen
I’ll wait all God’s creation
Just to show her a man can change
Now my baby’s coming in on the Tucson train!

On the Tucson train
On the Tucson train
Waiting on the five-fifteen
Here she comes!

In that final verse, our hero justifiably celebrates his success. He made a bold and risky choice, moving away from his home and his love in order to take control of his life, but he’s succeeded. He’s changed, and while we don’t know exactly how committed his returning love interest is just yet, we know she’s at the very least intrigued to meet the man he’s become.

Even the arrival time of the train (5:15pm) is an important detail: it means our hero was able to put in a full day at work (underscoring his work ethic), before rushing to the train station–which maintains the song’s breathless anticipation to the very end.

The final “Here she comes!” joins the ranks of “Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true or is it something worse” and “God have mercy on the man who doubts what he’s sure of” on the list of Bruce’s greatest last lines. Is there any other song in Bruce’s catalog that can pack so much joy, love, pride, anticipation, and celebration into just three words? I don’t think so.

In true Western Stars fashion, Bruce delivers us no resolution–although it’s beside the point, we’re left to our imagination to decide what happens to our reunited lovers.

We can’t help but root for them.


In the year since its release, Bruce has only performed “Tucson Train” live once, at a private concert in his barn that was filmed for his Western Stars film.

It’s a beautiful performance, but it doesn’t quite measure up to the album track. The strings are a bit too far forward, and the warm french horns a tad too buried. Still, it’s a performance worth owning in both video and audio format.

Bonus: While the filmed Western Stars performance are still working their way through the paid streaming services, Bruce has published a few free excerpts on his YouTube page. Here’s an incomplete clip of his only known (to date) live performance of “Tucson Train.”

Tucson Train
Recorded:
Unknown
Released:
Western Stars (2019)
First performed: April 2019 (Colts Neck, NJ)
Last performed: April 2019 (Colts Neck, NJ)

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14 Replies to “Roll of the Dice: Tucson Train”

  1. Terrific analysis again Ken. This song (and the entire album) is truly Bruce at his very best. I’m looking forward to reading your breakdowns of the rest of the songs on the record. Bravo!

  2. Great song and great analysis – my favorite track on the album. One different take I have is the final line “Here she comes!” I think the character may not actually know if she’s actually on the train – he is hopeful, just as we are. I think this is another example of the song’s brilliance – it leaves the listener in anticipation, so you are there in the moment with the character, wondering and hoping too that she’s on that train. “She” in this case could also be interpreted two ways – as the woman he left behind or maybe he’s just referencing the train itself is coming.

    1. Thanks, Randy, I can see that reading as well. But why wouldn’t she be on the train? It’s a long ride from SF, and you’d think that they’d been texting along the way. 🙂

  3. Thanks Ken, for making us think.
    I love this album and for me it is his best solo effort.
    Don’t you think there might also a be flash back to Kitty’s back – The final “Here she comes!”
    The climax of the expectation

  4. Wonderful post Ken! And got a chance to hear Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul cover “Tucson Train” in the Denver back on their tour in September 2019. A different take on the song – definitely that version is powered by the horn section. Steven was doing a little promoting of the “Western Stars” movie…

    1. I first took more or less for granted this guy had serious misconceptions about his hopes. But there’s a difference. As you point out. The refrain is not what it once would have been. I listened carelessly, you didn’t.

      A good answer is a manageable one. No matter what.

      Funny thing… this Springsteen character

  5. Ken, Good work. As you most likely know, Robert Frost’s epic poem, “The Road Not Taken”, has the rhyming pattern of ABAAB throughout, similar to the second verse of ABAAB(B) in Bruce’s “Tuscon Train” that you insight-fully pointed out. And let’s not forget The Who’s “5:15” track on Quadrophenia. Thanks for sharing. MS

  6. I first took more or less for granted this guy had serious misconceptions about his hopes. But there’s a difference. As you point out. The refrain is not what it used to be. I listened carelessly, you didn’t.

    A good answer is a manageable one. No matter what.

    Funny thing… this Springsteen character

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