I was riding the train headed northward
A rainy November night
We came to rest short of the Salinas station
The darkness was cut by some flashing red lights
And after a while, the conductor
Came on the speakers to say
That the Starlight had struck a pedestrian
For somebody, this was their day
We had no way of knowing who perished
Or the reason they'd been on those tracks
But diesel train engines announce their intentions
The rarely sneak up on somebody's back
No moonlight gleaned on the Union Pacific
Tracks that could carry us home
Just the red flashing ambulance there to haul off
One more nameless, unfortunate one
♪
None of us passengers felt it
Who knows if the pedestrian did
Just a small glimpse of white
And the engineer's fright
Eight hundred yards of a long, torturous, skid
No moonlight gleaned on the Union Pacific
Tracks that could carry us home
Just the red flashing ambulance there to haul off
One more nameless, unfortunate one