Downbound Train

{{For|the Chuck Berry song "Down Bound Train"|Down Bound Train}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Downbound Train

| cover =

| alt =

| type =

| artist = Bruce Springsteen

| album = Born in the U.S.A.

| released = June 4, 1984

| recorded = May 6, 1982{{cite book |last=Heylin |first=Clinton |title=Song By Song |date=2012 |publisher=Penguin |location=London |url=https://www.penguin.com/ |access-date=August 22, 2019}}

| studio = Power Station, New York City

| genre = Heartland rock{{cite web|last=Hyden|first=Steven|date=August 6, 2020|title=The 100 Best Bruce Springsteen Songs, Ranked|url=https://uproxx.com/indie/best-bruce-springsteen-songs-ranked/|access-date=December 5, 2021|publisher=Uproxx}}

| length = 3:35

| label = Columbia

| writer = Bruce Springsteen

| producer =

• Jon Landau
• Chuck Plotkin
• Bruce Springsteen
• Steve Van Zandt

| misc =

}}

"Downbound Train" is a song that appears on the 1984 Bruce Springsteen album Born in the U.S.A. The song is a lament to a lost spouse, and takes on a melancholy tone.{{cite book|title=Runaway Dream: Born to Run and Bruce Springsteen's American Vision|last=Masur, L.P.|page=[https://archive.org/details/runawaydreamborn00masu/page/155 155]|year=2010|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-60819-101-7|url=https://archive.org/details/runawaydreamborn00masu/page/155}} Author Christopher Sandford described the song as beginning "like a Keith Richards' riff" that ultimately moves to "one of those great country busted-heart lines, 'Now I work down at the car wash/where all it ever does is rain.'"

The song was recorded on May 6, 1982 at the Power Station at the end of the "Electric Nebraska" sessions.{{cite book |last=Heylin |first=Clinton |title=Song By Song |date=2012 |publisher=Penguin |location=London |url=https://www.penguin.com/ |access-date=August 22, 2019}}{{cite book|title=Springsteen: Point Blank|last=Sandford, C.|author-link=Christopher Sandford (biographer)|pages=[https://archive.org/details/springsteenpoint0000sand/page/194 194, 226]|year=1999|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=978-0-306-80921-7|url=https://archive.org/details/springsteenpoint0000sand/page/194}}{{cite web|url=http://brucebase.wikidot.com/stats:born-in-the-usa-studio-sessions |title=Brucebase, On The Tracks: Born In The USA |publisher=Brucebase.wikidot.com |access-date=November 29, 2013}} Like several other Born in the U.S.A. songs, including "Working on the Highway" and the title track, a solo acoustic version of "Downbound Train" was originally recorded on the demo that eventually became the Nebraska album.{{cite book|title=The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen|last=Kirkpatrick, R.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/wordsmusicofbruc00kirk/page/82 82, 97–98]|year=2007|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-98938-5|url=https://archive.org/details/wordsmusicofbruc00kirk/page/82}} "Downbound Train" is one of the few tracks that was successfully recorded at the "Electric Nebraska" sessions.

Though it was not one of the seven singles released from the album, the song nevertheless gained some album-oriented rock radio airplay and was featured fairly regularly on the Born in the U.S.A. Tour. It has been performed sporadically in tours since. Overall, the song has been played in concert about 130 times through 2008.