City of New Orleans (midi)

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1. Riding on the City of New Orleans,

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Illinois Central, Monday morning rail.

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Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders,

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three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail.

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All on a southbound odyssey,

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the train pulls out of Kankakee,

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rolls past horses, farms and fields.

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Passing trains that have no name

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and freight yards full of old black men,

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and the graveyards of rusted automobiles. Singing...

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Good morning, America, how are you?

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Hey, don`t you know me, I`m your native son.

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I`m the train they call the City of New Orleans,

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and I´ll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

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2. Dealing cards to the old men in the club car,

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penny a point, and no one`s keeping score.

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Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle,

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you can feel the wheels grumbling `neath the floor.

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The sons of Pullman porters, and the sons of engineers

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ride their father`s magic carpet made of steel.

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And mothers with their babies asleep,

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are rocking to the gentle beat,

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the rhythm of rails is all they feel. + CHORUS

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3. Nighttime on the City of New Orleans,

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changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee.

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Halfway home, and we`ll be there by morning,

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through the Mississippi darkness rollin` to sea.

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But all the towns and people

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seem to fade into a bad dream,

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the steel rail hasn`t heard the news.

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The conductor sings his song again,

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it`s “Passengers will please refrain!“

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This train`s got the Disappearing Railway Blues. Singing.....

+ CHORUS, (change to Good night, America... )

(Steve Goodman)