After driving through the night, Big Joe drops the hitchhiker off at a truck stop, gives him a dime for a cup of coffee, then disappears out of sight.
Ten years earlier, at the same intersection where he was picked up, Big Joe had swerved to avoid hitting a school bus full of children because he could not stop due to his truck's momentum.
The song was covered with slightly reworked lyrics by Tom Waits in July 1975 at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles and released in October on his third album, the pseudo-live double-LP Nighthawks at the Diner, under the title "Big Joe and Phantom 309".
[citation needed] Stan Ridgway's 1986 UK top 5 hit "Camouflage", about a ghostly marine, was inspired in part by this song.
In the movie Trailer Park Boys: Don't Legalize It, "Phantom 309" is the background music to the intro scene at Ray's funeral.