Everyone pay attention to me
'cause I'm only going to tell this story once
My father worked for the railroad
31 years he worked for Santa Fe
Then one day daddy was standing on the tracks between two trains
And those two trains were coming right together
And daddy was standing right between them
And he was severed at the hips
But up from the waist daddy was still alive
Pinched between the couplers
So they fetched a preacher man
And they fetched mom and they fetched me
To come and see my stump of a father
As he dangled in his last moments
And then he told us both that he loved us
And he told me to always be a good girl
And stay away from men who drink
Then they parted the two trains
And daddy top half fell to the rails
And his head lay right next to his legs
Later that year I met a man in the service
And we were married that fall
But he would go out whoring every night
Till finally one day he just left me
And I was without a job or a home
Can you spare any change?
'cause I'm only going to tell this story once
My father worked for the railroad
31 years he worked for Santa Fe
Then one day daddy was standing on the tracks between two trains
And those two trains were coming right together
And daddy was standing right between them
And he was severed at the hips
But up from the waist daddy was still alive
Pinched between the couplers
So they fetched a preacher man
And they fetched mom and they fetched me
To come and see my stump of a father
As he dangled in his last moments
And then he told us both that he loved us
And he told me to always be a good girl
And stay away from men who drink
Then they parted the two trains
And daddy top half fell to the rails
And his head lay right next to his legs
Later that year I met a man in the service
And we were married that fall
But he would go out whoring every night
Till finally one day he just left me
And I was without a job or a home
Can you spare any change?