<verse> I'm a man, I work on the waterfront. My job is to load and unload ships And you know I've been working too hard. I gotta find some relief. You see me talking with my friends here, We talk about our lives, What we are going to do next year. But when I get home at night My wife says: "Don't you try any of that stuff." She don't want no part of it. So I sit in my room all by myself And I think about my life. Sometimes I go out walking after supper Down by the old railroad tracks. I like to walk down there 'cause nobody bothers me. They leave me alone. There was this one time though That I remember so well. I was walking along and listening to the sounds Of the city around me When something hit me from behind. It knocked me off my feet. I fell into the sand. I didn't know what had happened. Then somebody grabbed me by the arm And pulled me up. He said: "Are you okay? Do you need help?" I looked up and saw him standing there. He said he worked on the railroad And he asked me if I wanted to come along For a ride on his train. I told him sure; why not? Maybe I could learn something new. So we climbed aboard and sat right down In the engineer's seat. The sun was shining through the window As the wheels began to turn. I felt the rumble in my chest As the train began to move. We were rolling slowly now. Everything seemed alright. The sound of the whistle blew And then the roar of the engine. I closed my eyes and listened to the rhythm Of the clicking rails beneath us. It sounded kinda funny Like the beat of a drum. And then he started singing to me About a girl he knew. He said her name was Rose Marie. She lived back east in Tennessee. He talked about her hair and how soft it was. How she used to laugh at everything he did. And then he kissed me on the lips. He said: "Let's keep moving." "Keep moving," he said. "Nobody can catch us. No one will ever know. This is our secret place." I thought about those words for quite a while. I couldn't figure them out. He must have read my mind 'cause he just smiled And started laughing out loud. He laughed so hard he almost dropped the throttle. I watched as his fingers moved across the controls. The speedometer showed eighty miles an hour. The wind was blowing through his hair. He looked so happy sitting there With that big smile on his face. He said: "This is living. This is real. This is where I belong." Just then the lights went out. Something hit the front of the train. I heard the brakes screeching, Saw sparks flying everywhere. The whole world turned upside down. All I could hear was the sound of thunder. A voice was calling out my name. "Help me! Help me!" It kept saying over and over again. I reached out my hand to touch him. His skin was cold and clammy. I put my arms around him but he wasn't breathing. I held him close against my body Until the ambulance came and took him away. I walked along the roadside Wondering what to do next. I passed a little cafe where people stopped for lunch. I decided to stop inside To ask directions to the nearest hospital. While I was waiting for my coffee to be served I noticed a picture hanging on the wall. It was a photograph of the engineer Who was driving the train that day. Underneath the picture they had written