City Of New Orleans chords

by Willie Nelson
  • City Of New Orleans was written by Steve Goodman which he recorded and released in 1977.
  • Willie Nelson's recording of the song became a No.1 country music hit in 1984 from the album of the same name
  • Music: Key of D Major in 4/4 time at ~150 bpm (♩)
  • Vocal Range: D4 - D5 (1 octave)
  • Chords: D, A, Bm, G, F#m, E, A7, C, Bm/A, E/G#
Chord Chart Legend
D A Bm Bm G F#m E E7 A7 C Bm/A E/G#
D A Bm Bm G F#m E E7 A7 C Bm/A E/G#

City Of New Orleans

Song Key is highlighted - Transpose to any other key
                D  
Intro: 4/4 ‖         |    𝄎    |    𝄎    |    𝄎     ‖ 

   D              A             D
1. Ri-din' on the ci-ty of New Or-leans,
   Bm                   G                  D
   Ill-i-nois Cen-tral,   Mon-day mor-ning rail
                     A                  D
   Fif-teen cars and fif-teen rest-less ri-ders,
   Bm                     A                     D
   Three con-duc-tors and twen-ty-five sacks of mail.

                    Bm
Pre Chorus 1: All a-long the south-bound od-ys-sey,
                  F#m
              The train pulls out at Kank-a-kee
                  A                                    E
              And rolls a-long past hou-ses, farms and fields.
              Bm
              Pas-sin' trains that have no name
                  F#m
              And freight yards full of old black men,
                      A                  A7               D
              And the grave-yards of the rus-ted au-to-mo-biles.

       G               A            D
Chorus Good mor-ning A-me-ri-ca how are ya?
            Bm                  G                D
       Say, don't you know me?  I'm your na-tive son,
       A       D                   A              Bm       Bm/E    E7/G#
       I'm the train they call the Ci-ty of New | Or-leans,      |        |
                   C         G        A                       D
       And I'll be gone five hun-dred miles when the day is | done.|  𝄎  |  𝄎  |  𝄎  |

            D              A              D
2. Deal-in' cards with the old man in the club car,
   Bm                    G               D
   Pen-ny a point, ain't no one keep-in' score.
   A               D
   Pass the pa-per bag that holds the bottle
   Bm              A                    D
   Feel the wheels rumb-lin' 'neath the floor.|  𝄎  |


                       Bm
Pre Chorus 2:  And the sons of Pull-man por-ters and
                   F#m
               The sons of en-gi-neers
                          A                                 E  
               Ride their fa-ther's ma-gic ca-rpets made of steel
               Bm
               Mo-thers with their babes asleep,
               F#m
               Rock-in' to the gentle beat
                       A              A7                D
               And the rhy-thm of the rails is all they feel|  𝄎  |

               
       G               A            D
Chorus Good mor-ning A-me-ri-ca how are ya?
            Bm                 G                  D
       Say, don't you know me?   I'm your na-tive son,
       A       D                   A             Bm     Bm/E     E7/G#
       I'm the train they call the Ci-ty of New  Or  -  or   -   leans,
                   C         G        A                     D
       And I'll be gone five hun-dred miles when the day is done.|  𝄎  |


Instrumental: Repeat Chorus

   D                 A            D
3. Night-time on the Ci-ty of New Or-leans,
   Bm                G                 D
   Chang-in' cars in Mem-phis, Ten-nes-see.
   A                    D
   Half-way home, we'll be there by mor-nin',
               Bm                      A                    D
   Through the Mis-sis-sip-pi darkness rol-lin' down to the sea.|  𝄎  |

                  Bm
Pre Chorus 3: But all the towns and people seem
                 F#m
              To fade into a bad dream
                      A                                 E   
              And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.
                      Bm
              The con-duc-tor sings his songs a-gain,
                  F#m
              The pas-sen-gers will please re-frain
                   A                        A7                 D
              This train has got the dis-ap-pea-rin' rail-road blues.|  𝄎  |


       G               A            D
Chorus Good mor-ning A-me-ri-ca how are ya?
            Bm                 G                 D
       Say, don't you know me?  I'm your na-tive son,
       A       D                   A             Bm       Bm/E     E7/G# 
       I'm the train they call the Ci-ty of New  Or   -   or   -   leans,
                   C         G        A                      D
       And I'll be gone five hun-dred miles when the day is done.|  𝄎  |


Outro- Instrumental: Repeat Verse and fade


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