D
  Well she was only a waitress in a highway cafe
                                 A
  Poured coffee from dusk until dawn
              A
  But she's heartbroken twenty-four hours a day
                                      D
  For she longed for a trucker who'd gone

            D                                                           A
  Will you make it a corned beef on rye, He'd sing with a gleam in his eye
           A                                G
  Oh the headlights were burnin',  And the big wheels were turnin'
          G             A          D
  Her sweetheart would come by and by

        D
  He'd park his great semi off route 64
                                  A
  She'd rush with a sweet little sigh
          A
  For at half past eleven, He'd walk in the door
                              D
  And order a corned beef on rye

            D                                                          A
  Will you make it a corned beef on rye, He'd sing with a gleam in her eye
            A                          G
  Oh the jukebox was blarin'  An' her soft eyes were starin'
            G                A          D
  And the corned beef would come by and by

             D
  All the drivers remember that night so they say
                                    A
  She'd said her farewells to them all
                A
  Ah when the hands on the clock reached a quarter past twelve
                                   D
  Her suitcase still stood in the hall


(Spoken)   D
  And the hours they passed by, Even as the trucks passed by on the highway
                                                 A
  And two grim highway patrolmen came into the place

  And they shook the rain from their hats

  And as the poor girl brought 'em their coffee
                                       D
  These are the words that that they said
         D
  'Hey Curley, you see that old diesel flattened out like your
                                              A
  damned nose up by the predicament tonight?'
              A
  'Hell, He jack-knifed that son of a bitch slicker 'n' owl shit'
                                           D
  'I'll have a chilli dog over here baby'
                      D
  'Hell, you don't suppose he had him a little hog
                                            A
  Way on down the line someplace, Do ya?'
                              A
  'Hey now Curley, Don't you know them damn truckers
                                                                 D
  They got a little filly in every cafe from here to Los Cruces' Ha-ha-ha-ha

            D
  Now there is a small truck-stop off route 64
                              A
  If you happen to be passin' by
              A
  There's a trucker that never stops in anymore
                                           D
  There's a waitress that wished she knew why

      D                                                           A
  Oh make it a corned beef on rye, She'd sing with a tear in her eye
           A                              G
  And her dark eyes are glistenin' And someone is listenin'
            G      A           D
  In that highway cafe in the sky               X 2