Well the alley dogs are barking
Chickens crowing down the lane
And I feel just like that rooster
With his mournful low refrain
With the sun down on my shoulders
Just a hanging around the yard
I'm leaving here tomorrow
Gonna catch an empty car

There's a thousand constellations
In that brilliant, beaming sky
But the Earth is just one station
On that lonesome, starry line
There's a distant whistle blowing
Down a rusty stretch of track
And i'm just an empty coal car
On that train not coming back

Well I hate to see that evening sun go down
Well it's lonesome coming down my trail
Well I know this train will take me where i'm bound
But I hate to see that evening sun go down

Well the sidewalks have their streetlamps
And the city has a glow
And the poor boy has the moonlight
Walking in his shadow
But the night time can't be trusted
To return the morning sun
And my eyes have not adjusted
To this black face I got on
Well I hate to see that evening sun go down
Well it's lonesome coming down my trail
Well I know this train will take me where i'm bound
But I hate to see that evening sun go down

Well the night time makes you lonesome
For that early morning sun
For the light upon that engine
Reaching towards the dawn
You can spend your whole life racing
Down rusty railroad lines
It's the setting sun you're chasing
In that dark and rolling sky

And I hate to see that evening sun go down
Well it's lonesome coming down my trail
Well I know this train will take me where I'm bound
But I hate to see that evening sun go down
Yes I hate to see that evening sun go down