When You Leave That Way You Can Never Go Back
Confederate Railroad Lyrics


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I remember waking in the morning
To the sound of the rooster's crow
Mamma cooking in the kitchen
Arthur Godfrey on the radio
Me and Dad were just like strangers
We never did see eye to eye
Came to blows one Sunday morning
So I packed my bags and I said goodbye
CHORUS
When you leave that way you can never go back
A train won't run on a torn up track
Sometimes I wish I'd never roamed,oh no
'Cause when you leave that way you can never go home
Then I met a girl in Knoxville
Oh, we set our wedding day
I left her standing at the alter
With a baby on the way
REPEAT CHORUS
Lord I'd love to see my mom and daddy
And what I'd give to hold that boy of mine
I'd get down on my knees and I'd say I'm sorry
If I could only go back one more time
But I killed a man in Houston
When he caught me with his wife
And I told the preacher man to leave me alone
When he came to read my rights
CHORUS
He said son,when you leave this way you can never come back
A soul won't roll on a torn up track
All through eternity you'll roam alone
'Cause when you leave this way you can never come home




All through eternity you'll roam alone
'Cause when you leave this way you can never come home

Overall Meaning

Confederate Railroad's song "When You Leave That Way You Can Never Go Back" tells the story of a man who leaves home after a fight with his father and can never return. The song begins with a nostalgic description of the man's childhood, with his mother cooking breakfast and Arthur Godfrey on the radio. However, his relationship with his father is strained, and they come to blows one Sunday morning, leading the man to pack his bags and leave. The chorus of the song describes how leaving in such a way can make it impossible to return, and the man laments that he can never go home again.


The second verse introduces a new plot point - the man met a woman in Knoxville and left her at the altar with a baby on the way. This suggests that the man may have a history of leaving important relationships in a reckless manner. The third verse reveals the reason why the man can never return home - he killed a man in Houston after being caught with the man's wife. When the preacher came to read his rights, the man told him to leave him alone. The song ends with the preacher warning that when you leave this way, you can never come home and that the man will roam alone throughout eternity.


Overall, the song is a cautionary tale about how leaving important relationships in a reckless manner can have permanent consequences. The man in the song loses both his family and any hope of a meaningful future due to his impulsive actions.


Line by Line Meaning

I remember waking in the morning
The singer is reminiscing about a time in the past when he had a routine of waking up early in the morning


To the sound of the rooster's crow
The singer used to wake up to the sound of a rooster crowing in the morning


Mamma cooking in the kitchen
The singer's mother used to prepare breakfast in the kitchen in the morning


Arthur Godfrey on the radio
Arthur Godfrey is a reference to an American radio and television personality who was popular in the 1940s and 1950s. The artist is recalling a time when he would listen to Arthur Godfrey on the radio


Me and Dad were just like strangers
The artist and his father had a distant and strained relationship


We never did see eye to eye
The singer and his father never agreed on anything, and often had conflicts


Came to blows one Sunday morning
The singer and his father got into a physical fight one Sunday morning


So I packed my bags and I said goodbye
The fight with his father was the final straw, and the artist decided to leave home and never come back


When you leave that way you can never go back
Leaving home in anger and without resolution makes it impossible to return with ease or without significant consequences


A train won't run on a torn up track
Metaphorically, just as a train cannot run on a damaged track, one cannot expect to return to a home life that they have destroyed or left in disarray.


Sometimes I wish I'd never roamed,oh no
The singer has regrets about leaving home and wonders if things would have been better if he had stayed


'Cause when you leave that way you can never go home
The artist is emphasizing the idea that leaving home in anger and disappointment will make the impossible return in same conditions


Then I met a girl in Knoxville
The singer met a girl in Knoxville, Tennessee


Oh, we set our wedding day
The singer and the girl he met planned their wedding day


I left her standing at the alter
On the day of the wedding, the singer didn’t show up, leaving his fiancé at the altar by herself


With a baby on the way
The artist’s fiancé was pregnant with his baby


Lord I'd love to see my mom and daddy
The artist expresses his desire to see his parents again


And what I'd give to hold that boy of mine
The singer wishes he could hold his own child


I'd get down on my knees and I'd say I'm sorry
The singer regrets his past behavior and wishes he could apologize for it


If I could only go back one more time
The artist wishes he could go back in time and fix his past mistakes


But I killed a man in Houston
The artist reveals that he killed another man while he was in Houston, Texas


When he caught me with his wife
The man the artist killed caught him with his own wife


And I told the preacher man to leave me alone
The singer refused to confess his crime to the preacher man who had approached him


When he came to read my rights
The preacher man came to read the artist his rights, but he refused to listen


A soul won't roll on a torn up track
In the same way that a train cannot move forward on a damaged track, a person cannot successfully move forward in life if they have tarnished their soul and spirit with bad decisions


All through eternity you'll roam alone
The singer implies that because of his past misdeeds, he’ll have to live without the solace and affection of other people forever.


'Cause when you leave this way you can never come home
The singer reiterates that his actions have made it impossible for him to return to his past life.




Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JOHNNY MC RAE, STEVE CLARK

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Comments from YouTube:

@ceyoung23

Thumbs up if you think this song is better than anything that has come out of Nashville in 15 years!

@smithn.wesson495

15? Try 30

@WayneMiller-zx4cv

A man who learns from his mistakes. Is a wise man

@bernie7044

Confederate Railroad and Blackhawk were two of the most underrated bands in country music history. I cannot believe how old this song is now. Where has the time gone? When country music was really country.

@rmessina7660

Time makes us appreciate great music so much more

@bernie7044

@@rmessina7660 It sure does. It also make me be a lot more thankful for what we have and what the Lord has allowed us to experience.

@bbww3969

I share your sentiment more than you know. Right down to the core. Right now, the right music is taking the pain away to want to kill myself.

@bbww3969

It's strange when life like this was normal. My best day as a boy alone, was mom helping me make a sandwich lunch to go sit on a tree crossing a creek. And she fricking died too young.

@bccafe

I heard it for the first time in 1995 in UK

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@dlmullins9054

My Dad and i had a love hate relationship. I thought he hated me many times, but when he got sick with cancer, he told all my brothers and sisters that he wanted me to come take care of him. Better be good to your parents, or you will never forget the bad things you did and how much it hurt them. I wish i could go back now and change things, but at least when he died i knew he really loved me. Thank God for that.

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