Lyrics:

1971 album Aqualung
Writer(s): Ian Anderson

In the shuffling madness
Of the locomotive breath
Runs the all-time loser
Headlong to his death

Oh, he feels the piston scraping
Steam breaking on his brow
Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train — it won't stop going
No way to slow down

He sees his children jumping off
At stations one by one
His woman and his best friend
In bed and having fun

Oh, he's crawling down the corridor
On his hands and knees
Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train — it won't stop going
No way to slow down

He hears the silence howling
Catches angels as they fall
And the all-time winner
Has got him by the balls

Oh, he picks up Gideon's Bible
Open at page one
I thank God he stole the handle
And the train — it won't stop going
No way to slow down

No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down