It was just after dark when the truck started down
Tthe hill that leads into Scranton Pennsylvania
Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas
Carrying thirty thousand pounds (hit it Big John)

He was a young driver, just out on his second jo
And he was carrying the next day's tasty fruits
For everyone in that coal-scarred city
Where children play without despair
In backyard slag-piles and folks manage to eat each day
About thirty thousand pounds of bananas
Yes, just about thirty thousand pounds (scream it again, John)

He passed a sign that he should have seen,
Saying "shift to low gear, a fifty dollar fine my friend"
He was thinking perhaps about the warm-breathed woman
Who was waiting at the journey's end
He started down the two mile drop,
The curving road that wound from the top of the hill
He was pushing on through the shortening miles that ran down to the depot
Just a few more miles to go, then he'd go home and have her ease his long, cramped day away
And the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananas
Yes the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananas

He was picking speed as the city spread its twinkling lights below him
But he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts of the nights
Delights went through him
His foot nudged the brakes to slow him down
But the pedal floored easy without a sound
He said "Christ!" It was funny how he had named the only man who could save him now
He was trapped inside a dead-end hellslide, riding on his fear-hunched back
Was every one of those yellow green
I'm telling you thirty thousand pounds of bananas
Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of bananas

He barely made the sweeping curve that l