C 2 3 4 C 2 3 4 C 2 3 4 C 2 3 4 


[Verse]

C              G           C        
Riding on the City of New Orleans 
Am                F               C    
Illinois Central, Monday morning rail 
          C               G                C       
There's fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders 
          Am          G                    C    
Three conductors and twenty five sacks of mail 
     Am                                 Em                           
All along the south bound odyssey, the train pulls out at Kankakee
G                                    D      
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields 
Am                              
Passing trains that have no names 
     Em                                  
And freight yards full of old black men 
          G                 G7          C    
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles 

       
[Chorus]

F             G          C       
Good morning America, how are you?
        Am                 F               C   
I said don't you know me, I’m your native son 
G         C                  G           Am      
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans 
         Eb        F       G              G7     C    
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done 
                              
2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 


[Verse]

C                       G              C         
Dealing cards with the old men in the club car
   Am                        F               C     
A penny a point, there ain't no one keeping score 
C               G                  C       
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
      Am                 G                     C     
I can feel the wheels a-grumbling 'neath the floor 
         Am                      
And the sons of Pullman porters 
         Em                
And the sons of engineers 
            G                            D     
Ride their fathers magic carpet made of steel 
         Am                              
And the mothers with their babes asleep 
    Em                        
Go rocking to the gentle beat 
         G             G7                C    
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel 

       
[Chorus]

F              G          C       
Good morning America, how are you? 
       Am                 F               C   
I said don't you know me, I’m your native son 
G       C                   G           Am      
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans 
        Eb        F       G              G7     C    
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done 
                              
2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 


[Verse]

C                  G           C       
Night time on the City of New Orleans 
       Am                 F             C  
We're changing cars for Memphis, Tennessee 
       C                G                 C      
We're halfway home and we'll be there by morning 
             Am                    G                 C   
Through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea 
    Am                            
And all the towns and people seem 
    Em                    
To fade into a bad dream 
         G                                D    
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news 
     Am                               
The conductor sings his songs again
    Em                             
The passengers will please refrain 
      G                    G7                C     
This train's got the disappearing railroad blues 

              
[Chorus]

F            G           C       
Good Night America, how are you 
        Am                 F               C   
I said don't you know me, I’m your native son 
G       C                   G           Am      
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans 
        Eb        F       G              G7     C    
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done 
     F        G          C       
Good Night America, how are you 
       Am                 F               C   
I said don't you know me, I’m your native son 
G       C                   G           Am      
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans 
        Eb        F       G              G7     C    
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done 
            
2 3 4 1 2 3 
        Eb        F       G              G7     C    
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done