[Intro] [Verse 1] She got on at midnight, took the seat across from him Rain against the window, cabin lights turned low and dim He was reading something, she was staring at the dark And somewhere past the second stop, she just began to talk [Pre-Chorus] Not the version for the family, not the one that sounds alright The whole unshapely truth of it, the kind you only tell at night [Chorus] To a stranger on a train, to a face you'll never see again Somebody with no stake in it, no memory to keep You can hand them the real story, the one too true to tell To the people who might hold it, and the people who know you well The stranger on the train [Verse 2] He didn't try to fix her, didn't offer up advice Just nodded in the right places, let it land and let it lie She told him things she'd buried, things she'd never said out loud And the miles kept on rolling, and the telling made her proud [Pre-Chorus] 'Cause it don't have to be a good story, it just has to be the true When the listener's getting off in an hour and there's nothing they can do [Chorus] To a stranger on a train, to a face you'll never see again Somebody with no stake in it, no memory to keep You can hand them the real story, the one too true to tell To the people who might hold it, and the people who know you well The stranger on the train [Bridge] At the station they stood up, and they didn't trade a name Didn't promise they'd stay friends, didn't ask from where he came He said "thank you for the story," she said "thank you for the ear" And they walked off into two whole different lives, both a little lighter here [Instrumental solo] [Final Chorus] So here's to the stranger on the train, to the gift of the goodbye To the safety of a witness who is only passing by Sometimes the truest thing you own gets carried best of all By somebody you'll forget, in a seat across the aisle The stranger on the train [Outro]
