30,000 Pounds of Bananas (Live) — Harry Chapin
Chords and lyrics for 30,000 Pounds of Bananas (Live) by Harry Chapin (key of E, capo 1).
Intro
[E] [E*] [E] [E*]
[E] [E*] [E] [E*]
Verse 1
[E]It was just after dark when the truck started down
the hill that leads into Scranton, Pennsylvania. [E7]
[A]Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas. [Am] [E]
[D]Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas. [D/C#] [Bm] [E]
Link
[E] [E*] [E] [E*]
Verse 2
[E]He was a young driver,
just out on his second job. [A*]
[E]And he was carrying the next day's pasty fruits
For everyone in that coal-scarred city, [A] [Am]
[E]Where children play without despair
In backyard slag piles, and folks manage to eat each day [A*]
[E]About thirty thousand pounds of bananas. [D] [D/C#] [Bm] [E]
Yes, just about thirty thousand pounds of bananas. [D] [D/C#] [Bm]
Link
[E] [E*] [E] [E*]
Verse 3
[E]He passed a sign that he should have seen, [E7]
saying, "Shift to low gear or fifty dollar fine, my friend." [A] [Am] [E]
[A]He was thinking perhaps about the warm-breathed woman [Am]
Who was waiting at the journey's end. [E]
[A]He started down the two-mile drop, [Am]
The curving road that wound from the top of the hill. [E]
[B]He was pushing on through the shortening miles that ran down to the depot.
[E]Just a few more miles to go,
Then he'd go home and have her ease his long, cramped day away. [A] [Am] [E]
And the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananas. [D] [D/C#] [Bm] [E]
Yes, the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananas. [D] [D/C#] [Bm]
Link
[E] [E*] [E] [E*]
Verse 4
[E]He was picking speed as the city spread its twinkling lights below him. [E7] [A] [Am] [E]
[E]But he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts of the night's [E7]
Delights went through him. [A] [Am] [E]
[E]His foot nursed the brakes to slow him down, (strum)
But the pedal floored easy without a sound. [Bm] (strum)
[E]He said, "Christ!"
It was funny how he had named the only man who could save him now. [Am]
[E]He was trapped inside a dead-end hellslide,
Riding on his fear-hunched back
With every one of those yellow-green, [A*]
I'm telling you, thirty thousand pounds of bananas. [D] [D/C#] [Bm] [E]
Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of bananas. [D] [D/C#] [Bm]
Link
[E] [E*] [E] [E*]
Verse 5
[E]He barely made the sweeping curve that led into the steepest grade. [E7] [A] [Am] [E]
[E]And he missed the thankful passing bus at ninety miles an hour. [E7] [A] [Am] [E]
[A]And he said, "God, make it a dream!" [Bm]
As he rode his last ride down. [G] [D] [A]
[A]And he said, "God, make it a dream!" [Bm]
As he rode his last ride down. [G] [D] [A]
[Am]And he sideswiped nineteen neat parked cars,
[E]Clipped off thirteen telephone poles,
[Am]Hit two houses, bruised eight trees,
And Blue-Crossed seven people. [E]
[Bm]It was then he lost his head,
Not to mention an arm or two before he stopped. [Am] [E]
And he smeared for four hundred yards
Along the hill that leads into Scranton, Pennsylvania.
All those thirty thousand pounds of bananas. [D] [D/C#] [Bm] [E]
Verse 6
[E]You see the man who told me about it on the bus,
As it went up the hill out of Scranton, Pennsylvania. [A] [Am] [E]
[E]He shrugged his shoulders, he shook his head,
And he said (and this is exactly what he said), [A]
"Boy, that sure must've been something.
Just imagine thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of mashed bananas. [D] [D/F#] [Bm]
Of bananas." [E]
Outro
[E]Of bananas.