Song Details
Little Boy Named Train
  • Track #7 from ¡TRÉ!
  • Released 2012
    Green Day has played this song live 2 times
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    Song Meaning
    "One of [Train's] parents was born a hermaphrodite, and [their parents] cut off the penis. His/her whole life, this person wanted to be acknowledged as a man. The parents wanted the child to not be identified as a boy or a girl, and the child didn't really have a name --one week it's Tigger, another it's Train. Many years ago I wrote it down, and I always wanted to write a song called 'Little Boy Named Train.' [This] happened to someone else, but there's a part of me I was thinking about when I wrote it. There's a line: 'I'm always lost, I'll never change, give me directions and I'll get lost again.' Kind of autobiographical." -- Billie Joe

    Billie Joe's son went to school with "Train". Throughout the song, the narrator alludes to the general feeling of uncertainty surrounding this character. As a child, the character did not have control of his life, and was forced to roll with the punches, "like a rat inside a maze." This carries strong meaning, because this high degree of uncertainty isn't usually part of a person's life. Now, the only choice "Train" has is to accept what he's been through, and wonder where he'll be tomorrow. The song is completely summed up in these lines: "Don't know where I come from / But I know where I have been."
    Lyrics
    Where did you come from?
    Where have you been?
    Looks like you fell into the trash bin

    I’m catching’ a train
    I’m crashin’ the car
    Back in for daylight
    Shooting for the stars

    Like a lifelong daisy chain
    Of my imagination
    Rat inside a maze
    I’ve got no destination

    ‘Cause I’m a little boy named Train
    Ask me again, I’ll tell you the same
    Little boy named Train
    Don’t know where I come from
    But I know where I have been

    Serious people are funny to me
    Funny people seem so serious
    I’m always lost and nothing will change
    Give me directions, and I’ll get lost again

    Like a lifelong daisy chain
    Of my imagination
    Rat inside a maze
    I’ve got no destination

    ‘Cause I’m a little boy named Train
    Ask me again, I’ll tell you the same
    Little boy named Train
    Don’t know where I come from
    But I know where I have been

    Say!

    Like a lifelong daisy chain
    Of my imagination
    Rat inside a maze
    I’ve got no destination

    ‘Cause I’m a little boy named Train
    Ask me again, I’ll tell you the same
    Little boy named Train
    I don’t know where I come from
    But I know where I have been

    I said I don’t know where I come from
    But I know where I have been
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