Key:
Introduction:
E E7
It was just after dark when the truck started down
A Am E
The hill that leads into Scranton Pennsylvania.
D D/C# Bm E
Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
D D/C# Bm E
Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
LINK: E E* E E*
E
He was a young driver,
A*
E
And he was carrying the next day's pasty fruits
A Am
For everyone in that coal-scarred city,
E
Where children play without despair
A* E
D D/C# Bm E
About thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
D D/C# Bm
Yes, just about thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
TEMPO INCREASE
E E7
He passed a sign that he should have seen,
A Am E
saying, "Shift to low gear or fifty dollar fine, my friend."
A Am
He was thinking perhaps about the warm-breathed woman
E
Who was waiting at the journey's end.
A Am
He started down the two-mile drop,
E B
The curving road that wound from the top of the hill.
E
He was pushing on through the shortening miles that ran down to the depot.
Just a few more miles to go,
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Then he'd go home and have her ease his long, cramped day away.
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And the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
D D/C# Bm (Slide CAPO 2nd FRET)
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He was picking speed as the city spread its twinkling lights below him.
E E7 A
But he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts of the night's
Am E
Delights went through him.
E (strum) E (strum)
E
He said, "Christ!"
Am
It was funny how he had named the only man who could save him now.
E
He was trapped inside a dead-end hellslide,
Riding on his fear-hunched back
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I'm telling you, thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
D D/C# Bm (Slide CAPO 3rd FRET)
E E7 A Am E
He barely made the sweeping curve that led into the steepest grade.
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And he missed the thankful passing bus at ninety miles an hour.
A Bm
And he said, "God, make it a dream!"
G D A
As he rode his last ride down.
A Bm
And he said, "God, make it a dream!"
G D A
As he rode his last ride down.
Am
And he sideswiped nineteen neat parked cars,
E
Clipped off thirteen telephone poles,
Am
Hit two houses, bruised eight trees,
E
And Blue-Crossed seven people.
Bm
It was then he lost his head,
Am E
Not to mention an arm or two before he stopped.
N.C.
D D/C# Bm E
All those thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
ORIGINAL TEMPO
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As it went up the hill out of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
E
He shrugged his shoulders, he shook his head,
A N.C.
D D/F# Bm
Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of mashed bananas.
E
Of bananas. (Repeat with Barred F, then F#, etc. until fade out.)