Thursday, July 10, 2014

ATF: Arrivals and Departures

This weekly series will include as many of my all-time favorite (ATF) tunes as I can get my grubby little hands on (so to speak).  Now, each one included in each edition will have some connection with the other—albeit only as a figment of my imagination, but they will not be numbered.  For I just cannot bring myself to rate some higher than others.  So, this will not be a countdown, but if you are enjoying them as much as I do, it won’t matter.  Besides, with no countdown, this could go on forever and ever!  Oh, and despite the fact that there is absolutely no way that your musical tastes can be as exquisite as mine, I welcome any suggestions you might dare to make.  For I am, after all, quite magnanimous by nature.



The City of New Orleans
Arlo Guthrie
Ridin’ on
The City of New Orleans
Illinois Central
Monday mornin’ rail
Fifteen cars
And fifteen restless riders
Three conductors
And twenty-five sacks of mail
All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out of Kankakee
And rolls along past houses
Farms and fields
Passin’ trains that have no name
Freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobile

Good mornin’
America
How are ya
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

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 fathers’ magic carpets
Made of steel
Mothers with their babes asleep
Rockin’ to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails
Is all they feel

Good mornin’
America
How are ya
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

Night time
On the City of New Orleans
Changin’ cars
In Memphis Tennessee
Halfway home
We’ll be there by mornin’
Through the Mississippi darkness
Rollin’ down to the sea
But all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail
Still ain’t heard the news
The conductor sings his songs again
The passengers will please refrain
This train’s got the disappearin’
Railroad blues

Good night
America
How are ya
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



The House of the Rising Sun
The Animals
There is
A house
In New Orleans
They call
The Risin’
Sun
And it's been
The ruin
Of many a poor boy
And God
I know
I'm one

My mother
Was a tailor
Sewed
My new blue jeans
My father was
A gamblin' man
Down
In
New Orleans

Now
The only thing
A gambler needs
Is a suitcase
And a trunk
And the only time
He'll be satisfied
Is when
He's on
A drunk

Oh Mother
Tell your children
Not to do
What I
Have done
Spend your lives
In sin
And misery
In the House
Of the Risin’
Sun

Well
I’ve got one foot
On the platform
The other foot
On the train
I'm goin’ back
To New Orleans
To wear
That ball and chain

Well
There is
A house
In New Orleans
They call
The Risin’
Sun
And it’s been
The ruin
Of many a poor boy
And God
I know
I'm one

Lyrics From: [eLyrics.net]

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12 comments:

  1. House of the Rising Sun!!!!!! Most excellent choice.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Shadow!!! It was a song that I dearly wanted to learn how to play on the guitar, and I actually got to where I was almost kinda good at it. Sigh.

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  2. Songs are better than the videos!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Adullamite!!! But the first one had a choo-choo train in it!

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  3. Ahhhh.....great stuff....great memories! :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Lee!!! I imagine a train ride across your great land would be some trip to take.

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  4. excellent classic vinyl choices

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Ann!!! I am really glad you enjoyed this. Would these two meet with Wade's approval?

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  5. Guthrie's "City of New Orleans" is one of my favorite songs. Love the line about our father's magic carpet made of steel.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Stephen!!! Willie Nelson also did a really good job with the song, but I like Arlo's better.

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  6. Hi! "The house of the rising sun" is very popular in our country too. Thanks for sharing.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Minoru!!! A truly great song knows no borders--huh?

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