The doctor shut the door slow, wouldn’t meet my eyes,
Said the night train’s coming, you can hear it in the skies.
Wind through the window like a low mournful moan,
Sound like iron wheels rolling over bone.
Mama lit a candle, said a prayer in vain,
“Boy, when that whistle blows, you won’t feel no pain.”
But the room went cold like a midnight rain—
Lord, I heard the rumble of that long black train.
Chorus
Take’em to the train station, don’t let him ride alone,
Hear that whistle cryin’ like a lost man’s soul.
Take’em to the train station, let the lanterns glow,
There’s a long black train where the weary all go.
Verse 2
Undertaker whisperin’, measuring the floor,
Boot heels echo down the chapel door.
Preacher says heaven waits beyond the flame,
But that iron road keeps calling my name.
I seen the smoke rising down the track again,
Dark as the shadow of a hundred sins.
You can fight the night, you can curse the rain,
But nobody outruns that long black train.
Chorus
Take’em to the train station, don’t let him ride alone,
Hear that whistle cryin’ like a lost man’s soul.
Take’em to the train station, let the lanterns glow,
There’s a long black train where the weary all go.
Bridge
Steel wheels turning in the dead of night,
Ghost conductor in a coat of white.
Punch your ticket when the bell tolls slow,
One-way ride where the cold winds blow.
Verse 3
Gravedigger humming by the river bend,
Says every road’s got a final end.
Heard that whistle cut the morning rain—
Sounded like goodbye on that long black train.
Final Chorus
Take’em to the train station, set his suitcase down,
Hear that whistle echo through the town.
Take’em to the train station, Lord, don’t speak my name,
Next ride leaving’s on that long black train.
Outro
Yeah the lantern’s low… the platform’s bare…
Hear that iron thunder in the midnight air…
If the devil’s driving or the Lord’s the same—
Everybody’s waiting on that long black train.
