Spanish Train
- Coert Erasmus
- May 5
- 2 min read
Spanish Train was a song written by Chris de Burgh and released on the album Spanish Train and Other Stories in 1975. It was banned in South Africa in 1976 for being considered blasphemous. I may not fully understand why this was the case, but when you listen to the song, you can feel much of it carries a kind of truth, and then it ends with a provocative lie.
I woke up this morning thinking about this song and the way it spoke to my soul when I was a child. I didn't know anything about the history and politics behind this song, but it grabbed my attention.
It tells a story of a train filled with souls, and God and the devil are playing a game of cards. The devil cheats to win the souls. As the game changes to chess, the stakes are raised to include the souls for the whole world. And because the devil cheats, he wins (?). But that's not the whole story.
Even if the song seems blasphemous at first glance, there is a little truth in it. I feel, whether we like to admit it or not, that sometimes we all feel like travellers in this world - visitors on a temporary visa. A lot of people experience life as being lonely and they feel forgotten. The song amplifies the feeling that even if I am not important in this life, there are two sides fighting for my soul.
This changes the way we see our worth, right? There's a common economic saying, "Value is determined by what someone is willing to pay...". What do you think God was willing to pay for you? Whether you know God or not, He is fighting for you!!!
Just think about it through the eyes of a romantic storyteller: God, all-powerful, is fighting not to prove His strength, but to restrain it so that you have the free will to love Him or not.
He has the power to create and destroy, but His choice is to give you the freedom to choose.
Maybe that's what stayed with me all these years... not the game, but the thought that Someone was fighting for me.
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