30000 Pounds Of Bananas Chords & Lyrics - Harry Chapin

[E]*: 022300 [D/C#] ; x4x232 [G] ; 355433
[E7] ; 022030 [A] ; 002220 [Bm] ; 224432
[Am] ; 002210 [A]*: 577655

CAPO 1st FRET

INTRO: [E] [E]* [E] [E]* (x2)

It was [E]just after dark when the [E7]truck started down
The [A]hill that leads into [Am]Scranton Pennsyl[E]vania.
Carrying [D]thirty [D/C#]thousand [Bm]pounds of [E]bananas.
Carrying [D]thirty [D/C#]thousand [Bm]pounds of [E]bananas.

LINK: [E] [E]* [E] [E]*

He was a [E]young driver,
[A]*
just out on his second job.
[E]And he was carrying the next day's pasty fruits
For [A]everyone in that [Am]coal-scarred city,
Where [E]children play without despair
[A]* [E]
In backyard slag piles, and folks manage to eat each day
About [D]thirty [D/C#]thousand [Bm]pounds of [E]bananas.
Yes, just about [D]thirty [D/C#]thousand [Bm]pounds of bananas.

TEMPO INCREASE

LINK: [E] [E]* [E] [E]*

He [E]passed a sign that he [E7]should have seen,
saying, &[A]quot;Shift to low [Am]gear or fifty do[E]llar fine, my friend."
He was [A]thinking perhaps about the [Am]warm-breathed woman
Who was [E]waiting at the journey's end.
He [A]started down the [Am]two-mile drop,
The [E]curving road that wound from the top of the [B]hill.
He was [E]pushing on through the shortening miles that ran down to the depot.

Just a few more miles to go,
Then [A]he'd go home and [Am]have her ease his [E]long, cramped day away.
And the smell of [D]thirty [D/C#]thousand [Bm]pounds of [E]bananas.
[D] [D/C#] [Bm] (Slide CAPO 2nd FRET)
Yes, the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananas.

TEMPO INCREASE

He was [E]picking speed as the [E7]city spread its [A]twinkling [Am]lights be[E]low him.
But he [E]paid no heed as the [E7]shivering thoughts of the [A]night's
[Am]Delights went [E]through him.
[E] (strum) [E] (strum)
His foot nursed the brakes to slow him down,
[Bm] (strum) [Bm] (strum)
But the pedal floored easy without a sound.
He said, &[E]quot;Christ!"
It was funny how he had named the only [Am]man who could save him now.
He was trapped [E]inside a dead-end hellslide,

Riding on his fear-hunched back
[A]*
With every one of those yellow-green,
I'm telling you, [D]thirty [D/C#]thousand [Bm]pounds of [E]bananas.
[D] [D/C#] [Bm] (Slide CAPO 3rd FRET)
Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of bananas.

DOUBLE TIME!

He [E]barely made the [E7]sweeping curve that [A]led [Am]into the [E]steepest grade.
And he [E]missed the thankful [E7]passing bus at [A]ninety [Am]miles an [E]hour.
And he said, &[A]quot;God, make [E]it a dream!"
As he [G]rode his [D]last ride [A]down.
And he said, &[A]quot;God, make [E]it a dream!"
As he [G]rode his [D]last ride [A]down.
And he side[Am]swiped nineteen neat parked cars,
[E]Clipped off thirteen telephone poles,
[Am]Hit two houses, bruised eight trees,
And [E]Blue-Crossed seven people.
It was [Bm]then he lost his head,
Not to [Am]mention an arm or two before he [E]stopped.
N.C.
And he smeared for four hundred yards

Along the hill that leads into Scranton, Pennsylvania.
All those [D]thirty [D/C#]thousand [Bm]pounds of [E]bananas.


ORIGINAL TEMPO
(Fade in) [E]
You see the man who told me about it on the bus,
As it [A]went up the hill out of [Am]Scranton, [E]Pennsylvania.
He [E]shrugged his shoulders, he shook his head,
And he [A]said (N.C.
and this is exactly what he said),

"Boy, that sure must've been something.

Just imagine thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
Yes, there were [D]thirty [D/F#]thousand [Bm]pounds of N.C.
mashed bananas.
[E]
Of bananas. (Repeat with Barred [F] , then [F#] , etc. until fade out.)