Arlo Guthrie – City Of New Orleans (Guitar Live)

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Live at The Orpheum Theatre, Boston, 1976 [Intro] G D G D [Verse 1]
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.
[Pre-Chorus]
     Em
All along the south bound odyssey,

    Bm
the train pulls out of Kenkakee,

D                                  A
rolls along past houses, farms and fields.

Em
Passing trains that have no name,

Bm
freight yards full of old black men

        D                 D7           G
and the 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.

D7      G                   D           Em      A7
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.
G G G [Verse 2]
        G                   D              G
Dealing card games with the old men in the club car

Em                   C              G
Penny a point, ain't no one keeping score

G              D                  G
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle,

Em              D                   G
Feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor
[Pre-Chorus]
        Em
And the sons of Pullman porters

        Bm
and the sons of engineers,

           D                              A
ride their fathers' magic carpets made of steel.

Em
Mothers with their babes asleep,

Bm
rockin' to the gentle beat

        D             D7                G
and the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.
[Chorus]
C             D           G
Good morning America, how are you?

     Em                 C               G
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son.

D7      G                   D           Em      A7
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.
G G G [Verse 3]
G                 D                  G
Night time on the City of New Orleans,

Em               C              G
changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee.

G             D                 G
Halfway home, we'll be there by morning,

            Em                   D                   G
through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea.
[Pre-Chorus]
    Em
But all the towns and people seem

   Bm
to fade into their bad dream

        D                                A
and the steel rail still ain't heard the news.

       Em
The conductor sings his songs again,

    Bm
the passengers will please refrain,

     D                  D7               G
this train got the disappearing railroad blues.
[Chorus]
C           D           G
Good night America, how are you?

     Em                 C               G
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son.

D7      G                   D           Em      A7
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.
G G G