Ridin' on the City of New Orleans   Illinois Central, Monday mornin' rail   15 cars & 15 restless riders   Three conductors and 24 sacks of mail      All along the southbound odyssey the train rolls out of Kankakee   and moves along past houses, farms & fields   Passin' trains that have no name, and switch yards full of old black men,   And graveyards of rusted automobiles      Chorus:    Good mornin' America, how are you?   Say don't you know me? I'm your native son!   I'm a train they call the City of New Orleans,   I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done      Dealin' cards with the old men in the club car   Penny a point, and nobody's keepin' score   Hey now pass the paper bag that holds the bottle   And feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor      And the sons of Pullman porters & the sons of engineers   Ride their daddys' magic carpet made of steel   Mothers with their babes asleep, rockin' to the gentle beat   And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel      Repeat Chorus      Night time on the City of New Orleans   Changin' cars in Memphis, Tennessee   Halfway home, we'll be there by mornin'   Thru the Mississippi darkness rollin' down to the sea      And all the towns & people seem to fade into a bad dream   And the steel rail still ain't heard the news   The conductor sings his song again   "The passengers will please refrain:   This train has got the disappearin' railroad blues"      Repeat Chorus