"Last Train to San Fernando" is a Trinidadian calypso song written by Sylvester DeVere, Randolph Padmore, and Mighty Dictator,[2] the latter being a pseudonym for Kenny St.
[3] Johnny Duncan, a British-based American musician,[4] recorded a skiffle version (accompanied by the Blue Grass Boys), which was a #2 hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1957.
[8][9] In the song, the narrator sings about meeting a woman named Dorothy who is to be married the next day to a member of "high society".
Dorothy invites the narrator to take her to dinner, but requires him to be discreet so as not to damage her reputation and cause her wedding to be called off, and wants to be sure to "get back in time" for the last train of the night to San Fernando.
[10] In the words of writer Colin Escott, writing for Peter Guralnick's blog, "Ostensibly, [the song] was about trying to get the last train from Port of Spain back to San Fernando, but after hearing the West Indian versions, I came to believe that a woman was offering herself for one last fling before getting married the following day.