Mary Chapin Carpenter - Downtown Train lyrics

Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

Proud swagger out of the schoolyard

Waiting for the world’s applause

Rebel without a conscience

Martyr without a cause

Static on your frequency

Electrical storm in your veins

Raging at unreachable glory

Straining at invisible chains

And now you’re trembling on a rocky ledge

Staring down into a heartless sea

Can’t face life on a razor’s edge

Nothing’s what you thought it would be

All of us get lost in the darkness

Dreamers learn to steer by the stars

All of us do time in the gutter

Dreamers turn to look at the cars

Turn around and turn around and turn around

Turn around and walk the razor’s edge

Don’t turn your back

And slam the door on me

It’s not as if this barricade

Blocks the only road

It’s not as if you’re all alone

In wanting to explode

Someone set a bad example

Made surrender seem all right

The act of a noble warrior

Who lost the will to fight

And now you’re trembling on a rocky ledge

Staring down into a heartless sea

Done with life on a razor’s edge

Nothing’s what you thought it would be

No hero in your tragedy

No daring in your escape

No salutes for your surrender

Nothing noble in your fate

Christ, what have you done?