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 Kenkakee
A                                 E
Rolls along past houses farms and fields
Bm                                F#m
Passing trains that have no name, freight yards of old black men
    A             A7           D
And graveyards of 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 but hold the bottle
Bm              A                   D
Feel the wheels rumbling 'neath the floor

        Bm                              F#m
And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
A                                         E
Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel
Bm                           F#m
Mother with her babes asleep rocking 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?
     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
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 dark 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?
     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.