patty larkin “me and that train”
from: strangers world, 1995
“It was Me And That Train
One night in Colorado
Driving out of Denver
I was following a shadow
Staring down the mountain
With my mouth wide open
Wondering why
I thought about the ocean
Up along the pass
The snow was blowing
On Me And That Train
It was Me And That Train
Like the first time that I met you
You were holding up the sky
Leaning on your leather
And I saw her with you
And I thought you were together
Like that moment in question
Took a ten second answer
You were out the door
You were headed for me
Like Me And That Train
And the trucks were sliding sideways
Like sons of bitches
They were putting on their tire chains
Rolling into ditches
And I crawled on by
Like God was throwing the switches
For Me And That Train
It was Me And That Train
Like the night before Christmas
I was working downtown
A shopkeeper mistress
And a guy in a ski mask
Had a gun in his pocket
And he pointed to the safe
And he told me to unlock it
I put my jands in the air
And I laughed because I couldn’t stop it
Just like Me And That Train
And the trucks were sliding sideways
Like sons of bitches
They were putting on their tire chains
Rolling into ditches
And I crawled on by
Like God was throwing the switches
For Me And That Train
It was Me And That Train
When I drove into the canyon
It was coming up the river
Like a long lost companion
And the walls went to heaven
Into endless darkness
But the train lit up the sandstone
Like a thousand pardons
Just then underneath me
And my beating heart was
Me And That Train
And the trucks were sliding sideways
Like sons of bitches
They were putting on their tire chains
Rolling into ditches
And I crawled on by
Like God was throwing the switches
For Me And That Train
And the trucks were sliding sideways
Like sons of bitches
They were putting on their tire chains
Rolling into ditches
And I crawled on by
Like God was throwing the switches
For Me And That Train
”
I had not heard of Patty Larkin’s injury and “recovery” until I put this together. Sounds like she has mended and is ready for next year. Larkin grew up in Wisconsin, attended the University of Oregon, and then came to Boston, where she studied at Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory. In 1989, attracted by “the awesome beauty of the Cape,” she moved to Wellfleet. In June of 2022 Patty Larkin tripped and fell in a dark room during a family vacation, suffering a spinal cord injury that could have left her a quadriplegic. The good news, on July 13, 2023, Larkin was to make her Outer Cape comeback at the Payomet Performing Arts Center in Truro with veteran singer-songwriters Cliff Eberhardt, John Gorka, and Lucy Kaplansky in a group show titled “On a Summer’s Night.” I could not find a review of the performance, but I have read that tickets are now on sale for many of the upcoming tour dates of the 2024 On A Winters Night Reunion tour with Patty Larkin, John Gorka, Cliff Eberhardt, and Lucy.
-Gary West-