30,000 Pounds of Bananas Harry Chapin
The Recorded version is in E, but I find it's much easier to play in G.
Bar the Cm, all the other chords are standard.
[G]It was just after dark when the truck started down
the [C]hill that leads into [Cm]Scranton Pennsyl[G]vania.
Carrying t[F]hirty th[Em]ousand po[Dm]unds of ban[G]anas.
Carrying t[F]hirty th[Em]ousand po[Dm]unds of ban[G]anas.
[G]He was a young driver,
just o[C]ut on his se[Cm]cond job.
And he[G] was carrying the next day's pasty fruits
for ev[C]eryone in that co[Cm]al-scarred city
where [G]children play without despair
in bac[C]kyard sl[Cm]ag-piles and folks [G]manage to eat each day
F Em.....
about thirty thousand .....
[G]He passed a sign that he should have seen,
saying "shi[C]ft to low gear[Cm], a fifty dollar fine my f[G]riend."
He was thinking perha[C]ps about the war[Cm]m-breathed woman
[G]who was waiting at the journey's end.
He started[C] down the[Cm] two mile drop,
the curvin[G]g road that wound from the top of [D]the hill.
He was pus[D]hing on through the sh[D]ortening miles that ran down t[G]o the depot.
Just a few[G] more miles to go,
then he'd go [C]home and hav[Cm]e her ease his long[G], cramped day away.
F....
and the smell of thirty
[G]He was picking speed as the city spread its twin[C]kling li[Cm]ghts belo[G]w him.
[G]But he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts of the ni[C]ghts
de[Cm]lights went through [G]him.
Dm (strum) Dm(strum)
His foot nudged the brakes to slow him down.
But the [G]pedal floored easy without a sound.
He said [D]"Christ!"
It was funny how he had named the only man who could sa[G]ve him now.
He was tr[C]apped ins[Cm]ide a dead-end hellslide,
[G]riding on his fear-hunched back
was ever[C]y one of those [Cm]yellow g[G]reen
I'm telling you th[F]irty....
[G]He barely made the sweeping curve that l[C]ed in[Cm]to the steepest grade.
[G]And he missed the thankful passing bus a[C]t nin[Cm]ety miles an hour.
And he said "G[G]od, make it a dr[D]eam!"
as he r[F]ode his l[C]ast ride do[G]wn.
And he said "G[G]od, make it a dr[D]eam!"
as he r[F]ode his l[C]ast ride do[G]wn.
Cm(strum)
And he sideswiped nineteen neat parked cars,
G(strum)
clipped off thirteen telephone poles,
Cm(strum)
hit two houses, bruised eight trees,
G(strum)
and Blue-Crossed seven people.
it was t[Dm]hen he lost his head,
not to mention an arm or two before he st[G]opped.
And he s[Dm]meared for four hundred yards
along the hill that leads into Scranton, Pe[G]nnsylvania.
All those th[F]irty.....
[G]You know the man who told me about it on the bus,
as it went up the hill out of Sc[C]ranton,[Cm] Pennsylvania,
he shr[Dm]ugged his shoulders, he shook his head,
and [G]he said (and this is exactly what he said)
N.C.
"Boy that sure must've been something.
Just imagine thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
Yes, there were th[F]irty tho[Em]usand p[Dm]ounds of mash[G]ed bananas.
From Greatest Stories Live: Ending #1
[G]Yes, we have no bananas,
We ha[C]ve no banan[D]as today
(Spoken: And if that wasn't enough)
[G]Yes, we have no bananas,
B[C]ananas in Sc[D]ranton, P A
Ending #2:
[G]A woman walks into her room wh[C]ere her c[Cm]hild lies sleeping,
[G]and when she sees his eyes are closed,
[C]she sits there, s[Cm]ilently wee[G]ping,
[Dm]and though she lives in Scranton, Pe[G]nnsylvania
[Dm]She never ever eats ... Ba[G]nanas
Not one of t[F]hirty th[Em]ousand po[Dm]unds .... of b[G]ananas
Tabbed by Archibald Edmund Binns
Pueblano '09
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