[Intro][Live in an old Berlin railway workshop. A station bell rings once; the crowd taps a rail rhythm on timber while twin guitars answer with the three-note whistle motif.]

[Male Lead Vocal: The Ledger Keeper][Spoken Word]
Berlin, open the book.

[Audience Response]
Turn the page!

[Chorus][Male Lead Vocal with Full Ensemble]
Open the Night Train Ledger, write every name,
A nurse with sore hands, a boy with a case.
An old guard, a stranger who flinched at the rain,
All watching the southbound roll onto the stage.
We crossed the borders while the cities slept,
And iron remembered each promise we kept.

[Verse 1][Male Lead Vocal]
Work lamps burned amber on rivets and steel,
A carriage door waited beside the small stage.
Berlin changed to Prague on a green-lettered screen,
Then Vienna and Graz filled the top of the page.
Ljubljana, Trieste lit up the back wall;
The house lights went down at the first whistle call.

[Pre-Chorus][Male Lead Vocal]
The minute hand dragged towards eleven,
Cases stood crooked below the workshop clock.
The keeper laid one empty book on the lectern,
Then set down his pen as the house lights dropped.

[Chorus][Male Lead Vocal with Full Ensemble]
Open the Night Train Ledger, write every name,
A nurse with sore hands, a boy with a case.
An old guard, a stranger who flinched at the rain,
All watching the southbound roll onto the stage.
We crossed the borders while the cities slept,
And iron remembered each promise we kept.

[Verse 2][Male Lead Vocal]
Mara wore white shoes beneath a dark coat,
Nico counted coins with his hand on a case.
Josef read worn couplings and wrote down a note;
Elena held twenty years close to her face.
A father kept letters he never had sent,
With Anna's blue cap folded under his arm.
They boarded through drizzle and smoke from the vents,
Each guarding what mattered from weather and harm.

[Instrumental Break][Twin guitars trade the departure motif. The drums gather speed like wheels leaving a yard; the audience keeps the rail pulse underneath.]

[Bridge][Male Lead Vocal]
The book had columns for distance and fare,
For windows repaired and for meals served late.
One hand had written across an empty square:
"Count all the people before you count freight."

[Build-up][Call and Response]
[Male Lead Vocal]
One wheel, two rails.
[Audience Response]
One train, five tales.
[Male Lead Vocal]
One clock, one chance.
[Audience Response]
Berlin, Prague, Vienna — south!

[Final Chorus][Male Lead Vocal with Full Ensemble and Audience]
Open the Night Train Ledger, write every name,
A nurse with sore hands, a boy with a case.
An old guard, a stranger who flinched at the rain,
All watching the southbound roll onto the stage.
We crossed the borders while the cities slept,
And iron remembered each promise we kept.

[Post-Chorus][Full Ensemble]
Write Wagen 214, write the hour and date.
Write who climbed aboard and who stayed at the gate.
Open the ledger beneath the work light.
The route leaves the workshop and runs through the night.

[Outro][The band stops on one chord. The crowd keeps the rail rhythm until a distant departure whistle joins it.]

[Male Lead Vocal and Audience]
Open the ledger.
Turn the page.
Berlin falls behind us.
The southbound clears the yard.

[Audience Applause][The rail rhythm continues into the dry snare of the next song.]
