RIP. A little Irony, he co-wrote the City of New Orleans for Guthrie, died of Covid and New Orleans is one of the major hot spots for Covid now.
What's even more ironic is your far out wrong!!! It was written by Steve Goodman, get your facts straight!!!
"
City of New Orleans" is a
country folk song written by
Steve Goodman (and first recorded for Goodman's
self-titled 1971 album), describing a train ride from
Chicago to
New Orleans on the
Illinois Central Railroad's
City of New Orleans in bittersweet and nostalgic terms.
Goodman got the idea while traveling on the Illinois Central line for a visit to his wife's family. The song has been recorded by numerous artists both in the US and Europe, including two major hit versions: first by
Arlo Guthrie in 1972, and later by
Willie Nelson in 1984."
While at the Quiet Knight bar in Chicago, Goodman saw
Arlo Guthrie, and asked to be allowed to play a song for him. Guthrie grudgingly agreed, on the condition that if Goodman bought him a beer, Guthrie would listen to him play for as long as it took to drink the beer.
[2] Goodman played "City of New Orleans", which Guthrie liked enough that he asked to record it. The song was a hit for Guthrie on his 1972 album
Hobo's Lullaby, reaching #4 on the
Billboard Easy Listening chart and #18 on the
Hot 100 chart; it would prove to be Guthrie's
only top-40 hit and one of only two he would have on the Hot 100 (the other was a severely shortened and rearranged version of his
magnum opus "
Alice's Restaurant", which hit #97). Meanwhile, City of New Orleans was a number one hit in New Zealand for 2 weeks."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_New_Orleans_(song)