Lyrics to
Riding On A Railroad

This version of Riding On A Railroad was released by James Taylor in 1971.

Our James Taylor Songs profile has Riding On A Railroad lyrics from 1971 and most if not all of the lyrics by James Taylor that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to James Taylor or about the 1970s in general.

We are riding on a railroad, singing some else’s song.
Forever standing by that crossroad, take a side and step along.
We are sailing away on a river to the sea. Maybe you and me can meet again.
We are riding on a railroad, singing someone else’s song, sing along.

Time to time, I tire of the life that I’ve been leading, town to town, day by day.
There’s a man up here who claims to have his hands upon the reins,
there are chains upon his hands and he’s riding upon a train.

Oh Lord, we been riding on a railroad, singing some else’s song.
Forever standing by that crossroad, take a side and step along.
We are sailing away on a river to the sea. Maybe you and me can meet again.
We been riding, we been riding upon a railroad, singing someone else’s song.

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James Taylor has released many songs over the years besides Riding On A Railroad. James Taylor released songs from 1968 to 2002 spanning across albums like James Taylor, Sweet Baby James, Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon, One Man Dog, Walking Man, Gorilla, In The Pocket, JT, Flag, Dad Loves His Work, That's Why I'm Here, Never Die Young, New Moon Shine, Hourglass, and October Road. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by James Taylor.

If you're a fan of 1970s music looking for more songs from 1971 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Riding On A Railroad by James Taylor

The lyrics to Riding On A Railroad are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by James Taylor in 1971. Elements of the lyrics to Riding On A Railroad are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by James Taylor and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for Riding On A Railroad back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to Riding On A Railroad by James Taylor in a number of ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Riding On A Railroad" means the words set to the music of Riding On A Railroad, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by James Taylor. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Riding On A Railroad and the lyrics to Riding On A Railroad are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of James Taylor who came here looking just for the lyrics to Riding On A Railroad, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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