The City of New Orleans (with June Carter Cash)

Ridin' on the City of New Orleans,
Illinois Central Monday mornin' rail
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
Three conductors and twenty-four sacks of mail

All along the southbound odyssey
The train rolls out at Kankakee
And moves along past houses, farms and fields
Passin' trains that have no names
And switchyards, full of old black men
And graveyards, full of the rusted automobiles

Good morning, America, how are you?
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son
I am a train they call The City of New Orleans
I'll be gone five hundred miles, when the day is done

Dealin' cards with the old men on the club car
Penny a point ain't nobody's keepin' score
Hey, now pass that paper bag that holds the bottle
And feel the wheels that rumblin' 'neath the floor

And the sons of Pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their daddies magic carpets, made of steel
Mothers with their babes asleep
Rockin' to that gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel

Good morning, America, how are you?
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son
I am a train they call The City of New Orleans
I'll be gone five hundred miles, when the day is done

Nighttime on The City of New Orleans
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee
Half way home, snd we'll be there by mornin'
Through the Mississippi darkness
Rollin' 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 disappearin' railroad blues

Good morning, America, how are you?
Say, 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'll be gone five hundred miles, when the day is done