That old saying — “when it rains, it pours” — most definitely applies to my songwriting habits. Sometimes I’ll go weeks without writing one single song, and then I’ll sit down and spend an entire afternoon cranking out 5 or 6 new ones.

That happened just a few weeks ago, and it came at the perfect time. I was planning my music therapy sessions for October, and didn’t feel like including any oldies that I’d done with my students before. I was obviously feeling really inspired, because I wrote an entire session’s worth of new songs.

“I Hear a Train ‘a Comin'” was one of them. I had rhythm sticks in mind when I wrote it, though it works just fine on its own as a slow-to-quick and soft-to-loud tune. See what you think:

Click clack, click clack,
I hear a train ‘a comin’,
Click clack, click clack,
It’s comin’ our way.

Hey, hey, what do you say?
The train is comin’ today,
The closer is gets, the louder it sounds,
It’s comin’ our way.

(Repeat, getting louder each time.)

My students enjoy the sudden switch from the slow verse to the fast one; now they are at the point where they anticipate it coming and try to speed up right along with me. When I sing this with them, I start really, really soft and get really, really loud…boy, do kids like extremes (both speed- and volume-wise)!