[Verse] The old man worked the railroad up in Santa Fe And I met him once in a run-down bar, trying to drink his cares away He was worn and bent, and grey and old, and a little out of breath When he turned to me, and this is what he said. [CHORUS] (He said) Life is like a train rolling down the tracks Always going forward, 'cause you never can turn back And the bad times are the cars, held together by the good And the best and worst things in this life are the engine and caboose. [Verse] I listened to his stories of the railroad's brighter days And how those locomotives had taken him away Away from the one's he loved, his loving wife, and son And in his eyes I could see regret for things he'd done [CHORUS] (He said) Life is like a train rolling down the tracks Always going forward, 'cause you never can turn back And the bad times are the cars, held together by the good And the best and worst things in this life are the engine and caboose. [Bridge] You know I think about him now and then, everytime I ride the rails And at every stop along the way, I hear him tell his tales And I'm just a living legacy of a man I hardly knew For the old man was my father, and I think he knew it too. [CHORUS] (He said) Life is like a train rolling down the tracks Always going forward, 'cause you never can turn back And the bad times are the cars, held together by the good And the best and worst things in this life are the engine and caboose. [outro] And at his final stop I hope he found redemption But I will carry forward, the Engineer's Lament
