Train
The train as a recurring image of journey, departure, and arrival in Taylor's writing - a vehicle of fated or scheduled movement that the speaker either rides, jumps from, watches leave, or waits for in vain. The image appears across the catalogue from Red onwards (Sad Beautiful Tragic, The Archer, cardigan, the last great american dynasty, willow, champagne problems, New Romantics), shifting register according to the speaker's relation to the train: the boarded train marks departure or arrival; the train-jumped-from marks the speaker's rejection of the journey; the train-that-doesn't-come marks the failure of expected connection.
The train carries the charge of momentum the speaker has not authored - a schedule, a track, a movement set in motion by something or someone else. The figure's force often lies in whether the speaker is on the train, off the train, or watching the train leave: the train rarely waits, and the moment of its passing typically marks the song's emotional turn. Where cars in the catalogue figure agency and shared flight, trains more often figure inevitability and the speaker's exposure to forces that move at their own pace.
Appears in 9 songs
“You booked the night train for a reason So you could sit there in this hurt Bustling crowds or silent sleepers You're not sure which is worse”
The night train represents the aftermath of rejection, the journey away from the failed proposal, where the man is surrounded by society (crowds and sleepers) but utterly alone.
“We wait for trains that just aren't comin'”
The trains represent both literal stagnation (England's train-based culture, waiting for something that never arrives) and metaphorical false hope, wanting to go someplace but feeling there is nowhere to go. Also functions as mass transit, reinforcing the collective 'we' of the song.
“Cause I knew you, stepping on the last train, marked me like a bloodstain”
“Steppin' on the last train”
The last train as departure, James leaving, the relationship's momentum moving away from Betty on a schedule she cannot control.
“Northbound, I got carried away as you boarded your train south, south, south, south, south, south”
“The smoke cloud billows out his mouth like a freight train through a small town”
“You know that my train could take you home”
“Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train, it was sunny”
The train marks Rebekah's arrival into the narrative and into the world of Rhode Island society, a vehicle of fated movement bringing her to the life and scrutiny that will define her public identity.
“I jump from the train, I ride off alone”
“Silence, the train runs off its tracks”