Liam's Train

When our son Liam was little, I asked him what kind of song he wanted me to write for him. He said he wanted to go on a trip. He wanted to ride planes, trains, and automobiles, and go on an adventure. He even helped me get the song started at times---i can still hear his adorable voice, saying, "Here, We, Go! " to the rhythm of the intro.

My Dad always played songs on his guitar growing up--and many of them had a train in them, sort of a Johnny Cash feel, with a Spanish flair. I also often heard the sound of the trains on the tracks a couple miles away from my childhood home, lulling me to sleep at night, accompanied by those old songs my Dad would sing. "Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance..." says Paul Simon. That was true for me.

This song became a story of a confident, willful, stubborn young man, out to find his way in the world--and finding out it's not as easy as it looks. But when there is a will, there is a way, and having a bit of stubborn optimism and bravery can take you places, where you'll do things you didn't know you could.