Arlo Guthrie, City Of New Orleans (1972)
Key: :[E] (w: Steve Goodman, 1970)
VERSE 1:
[E] Riding on the
[B] City of New
[E] Orleans
[Dbm] Illinois Central
[A] Monday morning
[E] rail
[E] Fifteen cars and
[B] fifteen restless
[E] riders
Three con-
[Dbm]-ductors and
[B] twenty-five sacks of
[E] mail
PRE-CHORUS 1:
All a-
[Dbm]-long the south bound odyssey
The
[Abm] train pulls out of Kenkakee
[B] Rolls along past houses, farms and
[Gb] fields
[Dbm] Passing trains that have no name
[Abm] Freight yards full of old black men
And the
[B] graveyards of
[B7] rusted automob-
[E]-iles
CHORUS:
[A] Good morning A-
[B]-merica, how
[E] are you?
Say,
[Dbm] don't you know me,
[A] I'm your native
[E] son
[B7]
I'm the
[E] train they call the
[B] City of New
[Dbm] Orleans
[Dbm/B] [Gb/Bb]
I'll be
[D5] gone five
[D5/Db] hundred
[B7] miles, when the day is
[E] done
VERSE 2:
Dealing card
[E] games with the
[B] old men in the
[E] club car
[Dbm] Penny a point ain't
[A] no one keeping
[E] score
[E] Pass the paper
[B] bag that holds the
[E] bottle
[Dbm] Feel the wheels
[B] rumbling 'neath the
[E] floor
PRE-CHORUS 2:
And the
[Dbm] sons of Pullman porters and the
[Abm] sons of engineers
Ride their
[B] father's magic carpets made of
[Gb] steel
[Dbm] Mothers with their babes asleep
[Abm] rocking to the gentle beat
And the
[B] rhythm of the rails is
[B7] all they
[E] feel
REPEAT CHORUS:
VERSE 3:
[E] Nightime on the
[B] City of New
[E] Orleans
[Dbm] Changing cars in
[A] Memphis Tennes-
[E]-see
[E] Half way home
[B] we'll be there by
[E] morning
Through the
[Dbm] Mississippi darkness
[B] rolling down to the
[E] sea
PRE-CHORUS 3:
But
[Dbm] all the towns and people
Seem to
[Abm] fade into a bad dream
And the
[B] steel rail still ain't heard the
[Gb] news
The con-
[Dbm]-ductor sings his songs again
The
[Abm] passengers will please refrain
This
[B] train got the disappearing
[B7] railroad
[E] blues
REPEAT CHORUS: