City of New Orleans

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.

We're all out on the southbound odyssey,
As the train pulls out of Kankakee,
And rolls past the houses, farms and fields.
Passing towns that have no name,
And freight yards full of old black men,
And the graveyards of rusted automobiles.