BUJ Songbook Editor

City of New Orleans [C] - Arlo Guthrie / Steve Goodman

Intro:
C C C C

Verse 1:
[C] Riding on the [G] City of New [C] Orleans,
[Am] Illinois Central [F] Monday morning [C] rail [G]
[C] There’s fifteen cars and [G] fifteen restless [Am] riders,
[F] Three conductors and [G] twenty-five sacks of [C] mail.

They’re out [Am] on the southbound odyssey and the [Em] train pulls out at Kankakee 
[G] Rolls past the houses, farms and [D] fields.
[Am] Passin' towns that have no names, [Em] and freight yards full of old black men 
And the [G] graveyards of the [G7] rusted automo[C]biles. [C7]

|Chorus:
|Singing [F] Good morning [G] America how [C] are you?
|[Am] And don't you know me [F] I'm your native [C] son [G]
|I'm just the [C] train they call The [G] City of New [C] Orleans, [Am] 
|I'll be [Bb] gone five hundred [G] miles when the day is [C] done.

Verse 2:
I was dealin' [C] cards with the [G] old men in the [C] club car.
[Am] And it’s penny a point there ain't [F] nobody keepin' [C] score. [G] 
[C] Won’t you pass that paper [G] bag that holds the [Am] bottle
[F] You can feel the wheels [G] rumblin' beneath the [C] floor.

The [Am] sons of pullman porters and the [Em] sons of engineers
All ride their [G] daddy’s magic carpet – it’s made of [D] steel.
[Am] Mothers with their babes asleep, go [Em] rockin' to the gentle beat 
And the [G] rhythm of the [G7] rails is all they [C] dream. [C7]

Chorus:

Verse 3:
[C] It’s night-time on The [G] City of New [C] Orleans,
[Am] And we’re changing cars in [F] Memphis, Tennes-[C]-see. [G]
[C] Half way home, [G] we'll be there by [Am] morning
Through the [F] Mississippi darkness [G] rolling to the [C] sea.

[Am] All the towns and people seem to [Em] fade into a bad dream
And the [G] old steel rails still ain't heard the [D] news.
The con-[Am]-ductor sings that song again, the [Em] passengers will please refrain 
[G] This train has got the [G7] disappearing railroad [C] blues. [C7]

|Chorus:
|Singing [F] Good night [G] America how [C] are you?
|[Am] And don't you know me [F] I'm your native [C] son [G]
|I'm just the [C] train they call The [G] City of New [C] Orleans, [Am] 
|I'll be [Bb] gone five hundred [G] miles when the day is [C] done [C]

Outro: 
[G*] [C*]

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