G               D              G
  Riding on the   City of New Orleans,
Em                  C                G
   Illinois Central,  Monday morning   rail,
G                   D               G
  Fifteen cars and fifteen restless   riders,
        Em            D                    G
Three conductors, and twenty five sacks of   mail.

    Em
All along the southbound odyssey,
    Bm
The   train pulls out of Kankakee,
    D                                  A
And  rolls along the houses, farms and  fields.

Em
  Passing towns that have no name,
    Bm
And   freight yards full of old black men,
    D                               G
And   graveyards of the rusted automobiles.


[Chorus]
 C               D           G
   Good morning America, how are you?
    Em                  C                 G
Say   don't you know me,  I'm your native   son.
D         G                     D             Em
  I'm the   train they call the   City of New   Orleans,
          F       C               D                 G
I'll be gone five   hundred miles   when the day is   done.


[Verse 2]

Dealing card games with the old men in the club cars,
A penny a point, ain't no one keeping score.
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle,
And feel the wheels rumbling 'neath the floor.

And the sons of Pullman porters,
And the sons of engineers,
Ride their fathers' magic carpet made of steam.

Mothers with their babes asleep,
Rocking to the gentle beat,
And the rhythm of the rails is all they dream.


[Chorus]
 C               D           G
   Good morning America, how are you?
    Em                  C                 G
Say   don't you know me,  I'm your native   son.
D         G                     D             Em
  I'm the   train they call the   City of New   Orleans,
          F       C               D                 G
I'll be gone five   hundred miles   when the day is   done.


[Verse 3]

Nighttime on the City of New Orleans,
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennesee.
Halfway home, and we'll be there by morning,
Through the Misissippi darkness, rolling down to the sea.

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

The conductor sings his songs again,
The passengers will please refrain,
This train's got the disappearin' railroad blues.


[Chorus]
 C            D           G
   Goodnight America, how are you?
    Em                  C                 G
Say   don't you know me,  I'm your native   son.
D         G                     D             Em
  I'm the   train they call the   City of New   Orleans,
          F       C               D                 G
I'll be gone five   hundred miles   when the day is   done.