How I Met Your Mother: What Song Plays Over Ted Meeting Tracy

Here’s what song played when Ted Mosby finally met the “Mother” in How I Met Your Mother. Music played an important role in the CBS sitcom which ran from 2005 to 2014. Not only did the series feature a stellar soundtrack, but it also used songs to foreshadow and signify major events. That was exactly the case when Ted met Tracy McConnell for the first time at the Farhampton Train Station.

Ted’s journey to the moment he met Tracy served as the basis for the critically-acclaimed series. The narrative was told as Future Ted telling to his teenage kids the story of how he first encountered their mother. The extensive tale focused on Ted and the lives of his friends, Marshall, Lily, and Barney, as well as his on-again off-again girlfriend, Robin. As time went on, How I Met Your Mother revealed bits of information regarding the identity of the Mother. It wasn’t until the final two seasons did the big pieces finally come together.

Before Ted officially met Tracy in Farhampton, the moment was teased in the How I Met Your Mother season 8 premiere. At the end of the episode, appropriately titled “Farhampton,” a flash-forward showed Ted sitting at the train station after Barney and Robin’s wedding reading Love in the Time of Cholera. The Mother walked up to the platform but her face was shielded by the yellow umbrella. The scene featured the song “The Funeral” by Band of Horses, alluding to Tracy’s fate at the end of the series. When their meeting finally plays out on-screen in the series finale, another key song was playing. The cover of Tom Waits’ “Downtown Train” was highly significant in the How I Met Your Mother‘s final episode.

The Importance of “Downtown Train” In How I Met Your Mother

The How I Met Your Mother series finale featured a flashback showing Ted finding the courage to approach the Mother on the train platform. The Mother then introduced herself and the pair instantly hit it off. Everything But The Girl’s acoustic cover of “Downtown Train” played during the touching moment. The song played a few other times during the episode, such as Future Ted’s big speech and Ted and Tracy’s wedding. The song itself directly mirrors Ted’s feelings before that moment and his search for love throughout the series.

“Downtown Train” coincidentally begins by referencing a “yellow moon” and viewers of How I Met Your Mother understood the significance of the color yellow in the series. The song itself focused on a man who encounters the same woman on the train over and over as they are seemingly trapped in their ordinary routines. The lonely man is clearly in the search of love but he feels a lack of connection in a big city. Ted felt this struggle as he searched for “the One” in How I Met Your Motherbut that all changed the moment he found the courage to meet Tracy, which happened to occur on a train platform.

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Kara Hedash
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Kara Hedash is a features editor and writer for Screen Rant. From time to time, she dives into the world’s most popular franchises but Kara primarily focuses on evergreen topics. The fact that she gets to write about The Office regularly is like a dream come true. Before joining Screen Rant, Kara served as a contributor for Movie Pilot and had work published on The Mary Sue and Reel Honey. After graduating college, writing began as a part-time hobby for Kara but it quickly turned into a career. She loves binging a new series and watching movies ranging from Hollywood blockbusters to hidden indie gems. She also has a soft spot for horror ever since she started watching it at too young of an age. Her favorite Avenger is Thor and her favorite Disney princess is Leia Organa. When Kara’s not busy writing, you can find her doing yoga or hanging out with Gritty.

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