Graffiti on the Train

Album: Graffiti on the Train (2013)
Charted: 44
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is the title track of Stereophonics eighth long player, which is a part-concept album for which frontman Kelly Jones penned an accompanying movie script. "For a long time, everybody was a bit confused about what I was doing," Jones explained to The Daily Telegraph. "It's not a concept album, it's not a musical but in my head it all joins together. It's like Stand By Me crossed with Quadrophenia, the music bouncing into the story and the story bouncing into the music."
  • The album's concept came to Jones when he kept hearing youngsters on the roof of a building next to his house. "I thought they were trying to break in, and I've got kids at home, so I was freaking out a bit," he told The Daily Telegraph. "One night I shouted out the window, 'what's going on?' It turned out they were trying to get to the railway behind our house and paint the train."

    "That stuck in my head; they were going to risk all that to go and spray graffiti," he continued. "All these scenarios were unfolding. What if they were spraying a love message to a girl who catches the train every morning? So there was a story evolving, and music evolving, and things would bleed from one into the other."
  • The album's artwork was taken from an oil painting by Stephen Goddard. Jones explained to The Sun: "I bought a painting a couple of years ago by a guy called Steve Goddard. It's a bit dark, a bit weird - almost childlike. A friend of mine knew him and he started coming to a few shows. I played him some of the stuff, gave him the film script and he said he wanted to do the sleeve."

Comments: 1

  • Tc from SaDiscovered this song and album, around May 2013 at a time my marriage fell thru. Sounded like a reflection of my life. Meaning: I had been painting that train since i met her. But by the time she saw the graffiti in the way that made sense to her, I was dead.
    Slight twist of the lyrics coz in the story it is the guy who is busy planning to do it. while the mirror is, similarly, a distraction from what matters, by the time she leaves it to see the said graffiti it had better b a piece of art, or the make up.
    That's music.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Rush: Album by Album - A Conversation With Martin Popoff

Rush: Album by Album - A Conversation With Martin PopoffSong Writing

A talk with Martin Popoff about his latest book on Rush and how he assessed the thousands of albums he reviewed.

Dan Reed

Dan ReedSongwriter Interviews

Dan cracked the Top 40 with "Ritual," then went to India and spent 2 hours with the Dalai Lama.

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn YankeesSongwriter Interviews

Revisit the awesome glory of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees: cheesily-acted videos, catchy guitar licks, long hair, and lyrics that are just plain relatable.

Lori McKenna

Lori McKennaSongwriter Interviews

Lori's songs have been recorded by Faith Hill and Sara Evans. She's performed on the CMAs and on Oprah. She also has five kids.

Tom Bailey of Thompson Twins

Tom Bailey of Thompson TwinsSongwriter Interviews

Tom stopped performing Thompson Twins songs in 1987, in part because of their personal nature: "Hold Me Now" came after an argument with his bandmate/girlfriend Alannah Currie.

Mike Scott of The Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues"

Mike Scott of The Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues"They're Playing My Song

Armed with a childhood spent devouring books, Mike Scott's heart was stolen by the punk rock scene of 1977. Not surprisingly, he would go on to become the most literate of rockers.