The City of New Orleans Chords by Arlo Guthrie

[Start]

[Verse]
F#               C#          F#     
■  Riding on the City of New Orleans
D#m              B              F#  
Illinois Central Monday morning rail
                 C#               F#    
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
      D#m        C#                  F#  
Three conductors twentyfive sacks of mail
D#m                             
All along the southbound odyssey
    A#m                        
The train pulls out of Kankakee
C#                                G#    
Rolls along past houses farms and fields


[Chorus]
D#m                             
Passing trains that have no name
    A#m                                
An' freight yards full of old black men
        C#                       F#         
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles
B            C#              F#
Good morning America how are ya
D#m                    B                 F# 
Said don't you know me ■ I'm your native son
C#         F#                  C#          D#m    
■  I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
        E         B       C#                    F#  
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done


[Verse]
                        C#                 F#      
Dealing card games with the old men in the club car
D#m                 B              F#   
Penny a point ain't no one keeping score
               C#                 F#    
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
D#m             C#                  F#   
Feel the wheels rumbling 'neath the floor
        D#m                    
And the sons of Pullman porters
        A#m              
And the sons of engineers
           C#                             G#   
Ride their fathers' magic carpets made of steel


[Chorus]
D#m                            
Mothers with their babes asleep
A#m                           
Are rockin' to the gentle beat
        C#                              F#  
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel
B            C#          F#    
Good morning America how are ya
D#m                    B                 F# 
Said don't you know me ■ I'm your native son
C#         F#                  C#          D#m    
■  I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
                          C#                    F#  
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done


[Verse]
                 C#          F#     
Nighttime on the City of New Orleans
D#m              B       F#       
Changing cars in Memphis Tennessee
             C#                F#     
Halfway home we'll be there by morning
            D#m                  C#                  F# 
Through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea


[Chorus]
D#m                                  A#m                  
But all the towns and people seem to fade into a bad dream
        C#                               G#  
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news
    D#m                            
The conductor sings his songs again
    A#m                           
The passengers will please refrain
C#                                       F#   
This train got the disappearing railroad blues
B          C#          F#     
Good night America how are you
D#m                    B                 F# 
Said don't you know me ■ I'm your native son
C#         F#                  C#          D#m     G#7
■  I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans ■  
        E                 C#                    F#  
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done


[Outro]
C# F# D#m B F#
■  ■  ■   ■ ■ 


[End]