Riding on the City of New Orleans, Illinois Central Monday morning rail Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders, Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail. All along the southbound odyssey The train pulls out at Kankakee Rolls along past houses, farms and fields. Passin' trains that have no names, Freight yards full of old black men And the graveyards of the 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 five hundred miles when the day is done.
Dealin' card games with the old men in the club car. Penny a point ain't no one keepin' score. Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle Feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor. And the sons of pullman porters And the sons of engineers Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel. Mothers with their babes asleep, Are rockin' to the gentle beat And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.
CHORUS
Nighttime on The City of New Orleans, Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee. Half way home, we'll be there by morning Through the Mississippi darkness Rolling down to the sea. And all the towns and people seem To fade into a bad dream And the steel rails still ain't heard the news. The conductor sings his song again, The passengers will please refrain This train's got the disappearing railroad blues.
Good night, 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 five hundred miles when the day is done.
I've got a recording by Arlo Guthrie, and one by Steve Goodman. Goodman wrote the original song, but the Arlo Gurthrie version is *much* better (I always enjoyed Steve Goodman, who was a Chicago local in the early 1970s when I was in school there, but he was more a comedian than a singer). Guthrie made some minor changes to the words from Steve Goodman's version. What's printed above is the Arlo Guthrie version.
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
Besides being a railfan, I'm also an Arlo Guthrie fan, and, to some extent, a Steve Goodman fan. Arlo usually goes into some detail at his concerts about how he met Goodman ("Chicago Shorty") after a gig and agreed to listen to the song in return for a beer that Goodman bought him. The rest, as they say, is history.
Posted by DeeCT (Member # 3241) on :
How appropriate with Thanksgiving coming in a couple of days that we should have a thread mentioning Arlo Guthrie.
Many radio stations still make it a tradition to play Alice's Restaurant (all eighteen minutes of it) on Thanksgiving Day.
Amazing so many years later.
For you very young folk - Google it or check it out on You Tube.
Dee
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
Dee, Arlo says he's not doing Alice's Restaurant in his concerts any more. Hope you (and everyone else on here) has a Thanksgiving dinner "that couldn't be beat" (but please be careful where you throw out your garbage).
Posted by DeeCT (Member # 3241) on :
Mike, Am always careful about where I throw my garbage. Every small New England town has it's Obie. Dee
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
Dee -- I didn't realize that was a "national" tradition about playing "Alice's Restaurant" on Thanksgiving Day -- the only radio station I know of that does that is Radio Margaritaville (Sirius ch. 31) -- they air non-stop concert replays of Jimmy Buffett shows from the last X many years all day on Thanksgiving, and between each concert replay, they play "Alice's Restaurant" -- I thought that was just a "tradition" of that particular radio station --
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Not sure how many rights are being infringed upon, but here goes:
XM Radio's "The Village" is supposed to have lots of Arlo (and family) songs on during Thanksgiving Day.
Posted by cubzo (Member # 4700) on :
So I aint sure about this, but there is a story out there that the missing minutes in the Nixon tapes match the minutes of Alice's Restaurants.
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
Yup, Arlo has lots of fun with that story when he does Alice's. What else in the world is exactly 18 minutes and 20 seconds long?
Posted by Railroad Bob (Member # 3508) on :
Willie Nelson also covered CONO back in the late 70s, I believe-- I've got it on a 45 RPM black vinyl "big hole" record! Man-- "those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end...." Who remembers that old "period song" as well?
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Somebody does; yes I too was once young (serving in 'Nam when this was released).
Posted by Railroad Bob (Member # 3508) on :
^^^ Good find, Gil-- this singer really delivers the song in a "torch" style- a little different than the original singer Mary Hopkins. Still good-- a true "song of the sixties"- it's all rolled up in a big blurry ball of memories for some of us here who went through that era. Well, guess I'll go listen to some Jim Morrison and blow off some steam...haha. Thanks again for the link. Thanks also for your 'Nam service-- and all those others who went, and never really got thanked for their service...
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
There is also a good bluegrass version of "City of New Orleans" by the Seldom Scene. And I think even Judy Collins may have sung a version, though I'm not sure.
I cannot play You Tube on my computer--is your link to Mary Hopkin's Those Were the Days, Mr. Norman? She is a Welsh singer, did some other fine stuff as well.
Posted by kenchappell (Member # 2245) on :
Sojourner,
The youtube link to Those Were the Days is the Sandie Shaw version - her trade mark was performing in bare feet.
I'm no authority on music of any sort, but in my opinion the Mary Hopkin version is far superior.
I have to admit that my MP3 player has the John Denver version of City of New Orleans on it.
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
Yes, the Mary Hopkins version of "Those Were The Days" is definitely the best........
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
And Arlo's version of CONO is the gold standard for me; the rest are just knockoffs.
Posted by John Hull (Member # 4465) on :
Try Johnny Cash on youtube. His version of CoNO is filmed on the train in Illinois Central times(I think). Some of the youtube versions have him talking about the decline of passenger trains. He also does 'Riding the Rails' sitting in a dome car! Amazing footage. John
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Might this be the video you have in mind, Mr. Hull?
It is indeed, Mr Norman, but there is another, longer, clip with an introduction. I must learn how to post the details! I will ask one of my sons. John