"City of New Orleans" (1 Viewer)

[Michael Varacin]

What do these lines mean from the song "City of New Orleans"?


"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 disappearing railroad blues."


After searching, I came up with nothing other then the cool fact that Amtrak does actually have a train route they call the "City of New Orleans". Same route described in the song as well.

 

[Ben_wood]

I always assumed that the song was about the declining number of people that used the railways for transportation. The railroads are "disappearing" as the preferred mode of travel.

 

[Henry Gale]

Steve Goodman wrote this song and I picked up a DVD of his Austin City Limits performances recently. Commenting On City Of New Orleans he says most of the song is stuff that really happened on that trip. That verse you chose does seem to be a tad less accessible.