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City of New Orleans cover art

City of New Orleans

Steve Goodman
ChordsKeyCintermediate
4.7(103)

Chords in this song8

Intro

       

Verse 1

Riding on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday morning rail 
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail 

Bridge

All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out at Kankakee
And rolls along past houses, farms and fields
Passing towns that have no name
And freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles 

Chorus

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

Verse 2

Dealing card games with the old men in the club car
Penny a point, ain't no one keeping score 
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Feel the wheels rumbling 'neath the floor 

Bridge

And the sons of pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers' magic carpets made of steam
And mothers with their babes asleep
Are rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they dream 

Chorus

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

Verse 3

Nighttime on the City of New Orleans
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee 
Half way home, we'll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea 

Bridge

But all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news
The conductor sings his songs again
The passengers will please refrain
This train got the disappearing railroad blues 

Chorus

Good night America, how are you
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son 
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done 
Good night America, how are you
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son 
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
And I'll be gone a long long time when the day is done 

Outro

    

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