The City Of New Orleans

The City Of New Orleans
Arlo Guthrie

CAPO I

F

F             C           F
Riding on the City of New Orleans
Dm               Bb             F
Illinois Central Monday morning rail
F                C                F
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
         Dm          C                    F
Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail
    Dm  
All along the south bound odyssey
    Am
The train pulls out of Kankakee
C                                 G
Rolls along past houses farms and fields
Dm                              
Passing trains that have no name
Am
Freight yards full of old black men
        C                  Bb          F
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles 

CHORUS

Bb             C          F
Good morning America, how are you?
     Dm                 Bb              F
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son
C       F                   C            Dm
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
        Eb        Dm      C                     F
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done

         F                  C              F
Dealing card games with the old men in the club car
Dm                  Bb             F
Penny a point ain't no one keeping score
F              C                 F
Pass the paper bag but holds the bottle
Dm              C                    F
Feel the wheels rumbling 'neath the floor
        Dm                              Am
And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
           C                              G
Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel
Dm                            Am
Mothers with her babes asleep rocking to the gentle beat
        C             Bb                F
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel

CHORUS

F                 C           F
Night time on the City of New Orleans
Dm               Bb             F
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee
F             C                 F
Half way home we'll be there by morning
            F                    C                   F
Through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea
    Dm                               Am
But all the towns and people seem to fade into a bad dream
        C                                G
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news
        Dm                               Am
The conductor sings his songs again, the passengers will please refrain
     C                    Bb               F
This train´s got the disappearing railroad blues

Bb             C          F
Good night America, how are you?
     Dm                 Bb              F
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son
C       F                   C            Dm
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
        Eb        Dm      C                     F
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done