Intro: Gb
 
Verse 1:
Gb             Db       Gb
Riding on the City of New Orleans
Ebm                B              Gb    Db
Illinois Central, Monday morning rail
Gb                Db                Gb
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
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Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail.
 

     Ebm                                Bbm
All along the south bound odyssey, the train pulls out of Kenxxxee
Db                                  Ab
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields
Ebm                                Bbm
Passing trains that have no name, freight yards full of old black men
        Db                 Db7           Gb
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.
 
Chorus:
B             Db           Gb
Good morning America, how are you?                                                       
     Ebm                 B               Gb
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son.
Db7        Gb                   Db       Ebm         Ab7
I'm the   train they call the City of New Orleans
        E         B       Db                     Gb
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.
 
Verse 2:
        Gb                   Db              Gb
Dealing card games with the old men in the club car
Ebm                   B              Gb    Db
Penny a point, ain't no one keeping score
Gb                       Db         Gb
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Ebm              Db                   Gb
Feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor
 

        Ebm                              Bbm
And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
Db                                         Ab
Ride their fathers' magic carpets made of steel
Ebm                               Bbm
Mothers with their babes asleep, rockin' to the gentle beat
        Db             Db7                Gb
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.
 
Chorus:
B             Db           Gb
Good morning America, how are you?                                                       
     Ebm                 B               Gb
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son.
Db7        Gb                   Db       Ebm         Ab7
I'm the   train they call the City of New Orleans
        E         B       Db                     Gb
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.
 
Verse 3:
Gb                 Db       Gb
Night time on the City of New Orleans
Ebm               B              Gb   Db
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee
Gb             Db                 Gb
Halfway home, we'll be there by morning
            Ebm                   Db                   Gb
through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea.
 

    Ebm                               Bbm
But all the towns and people seem to fade into a bad dream
        Db                                Ab
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news
    Ebm                                   Bbm
The conductor sings his songs again, the passengers will please Refrain
     Db                  Db7               Gb
This train got the disappearing railroad blues.
 
Chorus:
B            Db          Gb
Good night America, how are you?                                                       
     Ebm                 B               Gb
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son.
Db7        Gb                   Db       Ebm         Ab7
I'm the   train they call the City of New Orleans
        E         B       Db                     Gb
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.