[Verse 1]
Riding on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday morning rail
15 cars and 15 restless riders
Three conductors, 25 sacks of mail
All along the southbound odyssey the train pulls out of Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields
Passing graves that have no name, freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of rusted automobiles

[Chorus]
Good morning America, how are you?
Don't you know me? I'm your native son!
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done

[Verse 2]
Dealing cards with the old men in the club car
Penny a point, no one is keeping a score
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
And feel the wheels grumbling underneath the floor
And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers' magic carpet made of steel
Mothers with their babes asleep, rocking to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel
[Chorus]

[Verse 3]
Night time on the City of New Orleans
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee
Halfway home, we'll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea
But all the towns & people seem to fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail still have not heard the news
The conductor sings his song again
"The passengers will please refrain:
This train has got the disappearing railroad blues

[Chorus][x2]