Locomotive Breath

The song portrays a man swept along by a life that seems beyond his control. He is called an “all time loser,” and the speeding train suggests that disaster is approaching. His distress grows as his children leave and his partner betrays him with his friend. By the end, he turns to a Bible, but the train still cannot be stopped, so the song offers no clear escape or comfort.

The train is the central image: it can represent unstoppable events, or life moving too fast for the man to change its course. “Old Charlie stole the handle” gives this loss of control a strange, almost absurd explanation—the train has lost its means of stopping. “The all time winner has got him by the balls” is a crude idiom meaning that someone or something has him completely trapped or powerless.

The lyrics mix comic, surreal images with serious fear and betrayal. “He hears the silence howling” makes silence feel overwhelming, while “catches angels as they fall” may suggest a world where even hope or goodness is collapsing. The reference to Gideon’s Bible could imply a last-minute search for faith, but it may also show desperation rather than firm belief. The song leaves open whether the train stands for fate, personal crisis, or simply a vivid image of a life spinning out of control.