Key: D
Introduction:
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 Kenkakee
A E
Rolls along past houses farms and fields
Bm F#m
Passing trains that have no name, freight yards of old black men
A A7 D
And graveyards of rusted automobiles.
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 D
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.
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 but hold the bottle
Bm A D
Feel the wheels rumbling 'neath the floor
Bm F#m
And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
A E
Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel
Bm F#m
Mother with her babes asleep rocking to the gentle beat
A A7 D
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.
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 D
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.
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 dark 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.
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 D
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.