CITY OF NEW ORLEANS

Arlo Guthrie

Ridin' on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday mornin' rail

Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
Three conductors, twenty five sacks of mail

All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out of Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields

Passin' towns that have no name,
Freight yards full of old gray men
And the graveyards of rusted automobiles

Good mornin' America, how are you?
Don't you know me?
I'm your native son!

I'm the train
They call the City of New Orleans

I'll be gone five hundred miles
When the day is done

Dealin' cards with old men in the club car
Penny a point, ain't nobody keepin' score

Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
And feel the wheels
Grumblin' neath the floor

And the sons of Pullman porters
And the sons of engineers

Ride their fathers' magic carpet
Made of steel

Mothers with their babes asleep,
Rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel

Good mornin' America, how are you?
Don't you know me?
I'm your native son!

I'm the train
They call the City of New Orleans

I'll be gone five hundred miles
When the day is done

Night time on the City of New Orleans
Changin' cars in Memphis, Tennessee

Halfway home and we'll be there by mornin'
Thru the Mississippi darkness
Rollin' down to the sea

And all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news

The conductor sings his song again
The passengers will please refrain:

This train has got
The disappearin' railroad blues

Good mornin' America, how are you?
Don't you know me?
I'm your native son!

I'm the train
They call the City of New Orleans

I'll be gone five hundred miles
When the day is done

I'll be gone five hundred miles
When the day is done

I'll be gone five hundred miles
When the day is done

Soft karaoke
Words
melody
organ