“THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS” by Arlo Guthrie

[Intro]
D
 
[Verse 1]
D             A       D
Riding on the City of New Orleans
Bm                G              D    A
Illinois Central, Monday morning rail
D                A                D
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
Bm                   A                    D
Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail.
 
     Bm                                F#m
All along the south bound odyssey, the train pulls out of Kankakee
A                                  E
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields
Bm                                F#m
Passing trains that have no name, freight yards full of old black men
        A                 A7           D
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.
 
[Chorus]
G             A           D
Good morning America, how are you?                                                       
     Bm                 G               D
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son.
A7        D                   A       Bm         E7
I'm the   train they call the City of New Orleans
        C         G       A              A7     D
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.
 
[Verse 2]
        D                   A              D
Dealing card games with the old men in the club car
Bm                   G              D    A
Penny a point, ain't no one keeping score
D                       A         D
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Bm              A                   D
Feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor
 
        Bm                              F#m
And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
A                                         E
Ride their fathers' magic carpets made of steel
Bm                               F#m
Mothers with their babes asleep, rockin' to the gentle beat
        A             A7                D
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.
 
[Chorus]
G             A           D
Good morning America, how are you?                                                       
     Bm                 G               D
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son.
A7        D                   A       Bm         E7
I'm the   train they call the City of New Orleans
        C         G       A              A7     D
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.
 
[Verse 3]
D                 A       D
Night time on the City of New Orleans
Bm               G              D   A
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee
D             A                 D
Halfway home, we'll be there by morning
            Bm                   A                   D
through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea.
 
    Bm                               F#m
But all the towns and people seem to fade into a bad dream
        A                                E
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news
    Bm                                   F#m
The conductor sings his songs again, the passengers will please refrain
     A                  A7               D
This train got the disappearing railroad blues.
 

[Chorus]
G            A          D
Good night America, how are you?                                                       
     Bm                 G               D
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son.
A7        D                   A       Bm         E7
I'm the   train they call the City of New Orleans
        C         G       A              A7     D
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

source: Pencom