City of New Orleans Capo 3 #SteveGoodman #ArloGuthrie #JohnFogerty
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 Kankakee
A E
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields
Bm F#m
Passing trains that have no name, freight yards full of old black men
A A7 D
And the graveyards of the 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 that holds the bottle
Bm A D
Feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor
Bm F#m
And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
A E
Ride their fathers' magic carpets made of steel
Bm F#m
Mothers with their babes asleep, rockin' 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....
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 bad 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....
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\"City of New Orleans\" is a country folk song written by Steve Goodman (and first recorded for Goodman's self-titled 1971 album), describing a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans on the Illinois Central Railroad's City of New Orleans in bittersweet and nostalgic terms.
Goodman got the idea while traveling on the Illinois Central line for a visit to his wife's family. The song has been recorded by numerous artists both in the US and Europe, including two major hit versions: first by Arlo Guthrie in 1972, and later by Willie Nelson in 1984.
Arlo Guthrie version
While at the Quiet Knight bar in Chicago, Goodman saw Arlo Guthrie, and asked to be allowed to play a song for him. Guthrie grudgingly agreed, on the condition that if Goodman bought him a beer, Guthrie would listen to him play for as long as it took to drink the beer. Goodman played \"City of New Orleans\", which Guthrie liked enough that he asked to record it. The song was a hit for Guthrie on his 1972 album Hobo's Lullaby, reaching #4 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart and #18 on the Hot 100 chart; it would prove to be Guthrie's only top-40 hit and one of only two he would have on the Hot 100
Willie Nelson version
Steve Goodman won a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Country Song at the 27th Grammy Awards in 1985 for Willie Nelson's version, which was included on Nelson's 1984 album City of New Orleans. It reached #1 on both the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in the United States[8] and the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.
