Song Information

  • Title: Train Leaves Here This Morning

  • Artist: The Eagles

  • Album: Eagles (Debut studio album)

  • Writers: Gene Clark, Bernie Leadon

  • Lead Vocals: Bernie Leadon

  • Release Date: May 1, 1972

  • Label: Asylum Records

  • Genre: Country rock, folk rock

  • Length: 4:10

  • Producer: Glyn Johns

Train Leaves Here This Morning is the eighth track from The Eagles’ debut album. It showcases the band’s deep roots in country-folk songwriting, with a quiet intensity that set the tone for their more reflective ballads in years to come. The song was co-written by Gene Clark of The Byrds and Bernie Leadon, giving it a blend of poetic introspection and Americana authenticity.


Song Meaning and Themes

Train Leaves Here This Morning is a song about departure, uncertainty, and quiet acceptance. Delivered through Bernie Leadon’s plaintive vocals, the lyrics paint the image of a narrator who finds himself at yet another emotional crossroads—sitting in the aftermath of broken connections and subtle realizations.

The train metaphor is central to the story: not as a dramatic escape, but as a slow, reflective journey toward an unknown future. The lines “I lost ten points just for being in the right place at exactly the wrong time” convey the sense of someone caught in life’s misalignments, where intentions and outcomes rarely match. There’s no bitterness, only weary acceptance.

Musically, the arrangement is sparse and grounded—acoustic guitar, gentle harmonies, and minimal production. This gives space for the lyrics to breathe and for the emotion to settle quietly into the listener’s chest. It’s not a song about resolution—it’s about movement without certainty, healing without closure.

In many ways, Train Leaves Here This Morning is the sound of a man packing up his heart, boarding an emotional train, and hoping the next stop might be a little kinder.


Deeper Interpretation: What Does the Train Really Symbolize?

While the song seems like a simple travel metaphor, Train Leaves Here This Morning speaks to deeper emotional transitions. The “train” isn’t just a physical departure—it represents the psychological moment of letting go when something in your life no longer fits: a relationship, a dream, a version of yourself.

The narrator doesn’t name his destination. In fact, he doesn’t even seem sure where the train is going. That’s the point. The uncertainty is part of the process. This is about leaving without knowing what’s next—about understanding that staying means stagnation, and moving forward means embracing the unknown.

There’s a philosophical undercurrent here, reminiscent of the post-60s disillusionment many artists faced. Gene Clark’s lyrics often dealt with alienation and drifting, and Bernie Leadon’s delivery adds an extra layer of quiet resignation. The idea of losing “ten points for being in the right place at exactly the wrong time” isn’t just about luck—it’s a commentary on how timing, not effort, often shapes our outcomes.

This song isn’t dramatic. It’s deeply human. It captures that in-between space we all experience at least once: standing at life’s metaphorical station, unsure of where we’re headed, but knowing we can’t stay where we are.


Watch the Song Video

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Lyrics

I lost ten points just for being in the right placeAt exactly the wrong timeI looked right at the facts thereBut I may as well have been completely blind
So, if you see me walking all aloneDon’t look back, I’m just on my way back homeThere’s a train leaves here this morningI don’t know what I might be on
She signed me to a contractBaby said, “It would all be so life long”I looked around then for a reasonWhen there wasn’t something more to blame it on
But if time makes a difference while we’re goneTell me now, and I won’t be hanging onThere’s a train leaves here this morningI don’t know what I might be on
Ooh, ooh-ooh-oohOoh, ooh-ooh-ooh
1320 North Columbus was the addressThat I wrote down on my sleeveI don’t know just what she wantedMight have been that it was getting time to leave
And I watched as the smoker passed it onAnd I laughed when the joker said, “Lead on”‘Cause there’s a train leaves here this morningAnd I don’t know what I might be on
There’s train leaves here this morningI don’t know what I might be on