"Train in Vain" is a song by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was released as the third and final single from their third studio album, London Calling (1979). The song was not originally listed on the album's track listing,^[5][6] appearing as a hidden track at the end of the album. This was because the track was added to the record at the last minute, when the sleeve was already in production. Some editions include the song in the track listing. It was the first Clash song to reach the United States Top 30 charts^[5][6] and in 2010, the song was ranked number 298 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[7][8]

In the US and Canada, the song's title is expanded to "Train in Vain (Stand by Me)", as the words "stand by me" dominate the chorus. It was titled "Train in Vain" in part to avoid confusion with Ben E. King's signature song "Stand by Me".

It was a Saturday afternoon when Mick Jones invited me to hear the finished album. Walking into Wessex, I saw him in the vocal booth, laying down vocals for a new song.

By Monday night, "Train in Vain" was finished. Originally mooted as an NME giveaway flexi, it became the final track on London Calling – too late, however, to include on art-work that had already gone to the printers.

— Bill Price^[9][10][5]

"Train in Vain" was added after the deal for the band to write a song for an NME flexi disc fell through, and as Mick Jones later said "The real story on 'Train in Vain' is that originally we needed a song to give to the NME for a flexi disk that NME was going to do. And then it was decided that it didn't work out or decided the flexi disk didn't work out so we had this spare track we had done as a giveaway. So we put it on London Calling but there wasn't time because the sleeves were already done."^[11] The result of its late addition was that it was the only song without lyrics printed on the insert, and was not listed as a track, but its title and position on the original vinyl record was scratched into the vinyl in the needle run-off area on the fourth side of the album.

When the album London Calling (1979) was released, many fans assumed it was called "Stand by Me",^[8] but the meaning of the song's title is obscure as the title phrase cannot be found in the lyrics. Mick Jones, who wrote most of the song, offered this explanation: "The track was like a train rhythm, and there was, once again, that feeling of being lost."^[5]

The song has been interpreted by some as a response to "Typical Girls" by the Slits, which mentions girls standing by their men. Mick Jones split up with Slits guitarist Viv Albertine shortly before he wrote the song.^[12]

The song has been interpreted to be about Jones' volatile relationship with Albertine, who commented "I'm really proud to have inspired that but often he won't admit to it. He used to get the train to my place in Shepherd's Bush and I would not let him in. He was bleating on the doorstep. That was cruel".^[13] The couple separated around the time of the recording sessions for London Calling (1979).

Cash Box wrote that this was Clash's "most commercial effort...to date," stating that "an infectious rhythm has supplanted the three chord guitar attack" and added that Joe Strummer's playing is "more restrained but equally as effective."^[14] Record World wrote that "Mick Jones' vocals reach expressive cries and the overall sound has a crisp, rockabilly feel that should move the Clash into best-seller status."^[15]

"Train in Vain" was released in mainland Europe as a 33 rpm single in June 1980 (catalogue number CBS 8370) and included the tracks "Bankrobber" and "Rockers Galore... UK Tour". In the UK, "Train in Vain" was not released as a single at the time; only "Bankrobber" and "Rockers Galore... UK Tour" were released on a 7" single in August 1980 (catalogue number CBS 8323). The song was released in the US as a 10" white label promo in 1979 (catalogue number AS 749). The US commercial release of 12 February 1980 (catalogue number 50851) consisted of a 7" that included the track "London Calling". The 1991 UK re-release (catalogue number 657430 7) included the track "The Right Profile". The formats and track listings of "Train in Vain (Stand By Me)" are tabulated below:^[16]

"Train in Vain" also features on the Clash albums The Story of the Clash, Volume 1 (1988), Clash on Broadway (1991), The Singles (1991), From Here to Eternity: Live (1999) (live version recorded on 13 June 1981 at Bond's Casino, New York), The Essential Clash (2003), Singles Box (2006) (disc eleven — Spanish 7" issue), The Singles (2007), Sound System (2013) and The Clash Hits Back (2013).

• Mick Jones — vocals, guitar, harmonica
• Joe Strummer — piano
• Paul Simonon — bass guitar
• Topper Headon — drums, percussion
• Mick Gallagher — organ

"Train in Vain" has become an influential and well-known Clash song, covered by artists as diverse as the British indie dance band EMF, American country singer Dwight Yoakam, and San Francisco rockers Third Eye Blind.^[5]

Annie Lennox recorded a soulful, dance-beat cover of the song on her 1995 album Medusa,^[5] and performed the song in her appearance during the twentieth season of Saturday Night Live.

Drummer and producer Butch Vig of the U.S. rock group Garbage used a drum loop from "Train in Vain" in 1996 for the Garbage song "Stupid Girl".^[5] Joe Strummer and Mick Jones received a co-writing credit and royalties from the Garbage song under its original release. In 2007, when the song was remastered for a Garbage greatest hits album, the writing credit for the song named all four members of the Clash.

The song was also covered by Atlanta alt-rock outfit Blueburst, featuring Marty Willson-Piper (the church, Noctorum, All About Eve) on guitar. Guitarist vocalist Craig Douglas Miller was inspired to make a slower and more somber version of the classic after the events of Summer 2020, when Miller noticed that the lyrics could have been a disillusioned American singing to their country.