Watch this beautiful performance of The Highwaymen, led by Willie Nelson of the song “City of New Orleans.” This song is Willie Nelson’s thirty-first studio album released by Columbia Records. The title track was written and originally recorded by Steve Goodman. Willie Nelson’s version topped the U.S. country singles chart. Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings joined Willie on stage to render us this masterpiece!

Willie Nelson is a country music icon. A unique and versatile artist, his innovative songwriting has resulted in No. 1 hits for dozens of artists – including more than twenty for himself – and a recorded output that is “so vast,” music journalist Bob Allen writes, “as to confound all but the most dedicated discographers.”

Willie Nelson’s awards are numerous, including 11 CMAs, 12 GRAMMYs, and 6 ACMs. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, received the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, and won the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize in 2015. In 2003, CMT placed him at No. 4 among the “Greatest Men of Country.” And, in 2008, his distinctive vocal style – once considered a deficit – earned him the No. 88 spot on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Watch Top Songs of Willie Nelson

City of New Orleans Lyrics

Song by The Highwaymen

Ridin’ on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday mornin’ rail
15 cars and 15 restless riders
Three conductors and 25 sacks of mail

All along the southbound odyssey, the train pulls out from Kankakee
And rolls along past houses, farms and fields
And Passin’ trains that have no names and freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles

Good mornin’ 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
And I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done

Dealin’ cards with the old men in the club car
Penny a point, there ain’t no one keepin’ score
And pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Feel the wheels grumblin’ neath the floor

And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers’ magic carpet made of steel
And 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 you?
Say don’t you know me? I’m your native son!
I’m the train they call the City of New Orleans
And I’ll be gone 500 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 the towns and the people seem to fade into a bad dreams
And the steel rail still ain’t heard the news
Conductor sing your songs again
And passengers will please refrain
This train has got the disappearin’ railroad blues

Good mornin’ 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
And I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done
And I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done
And I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Goodman Steve

City of New Orleans lyrics © Sony/atv Tunes Llc

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