I had to google. Written by Steve Goodman, in 1971, and lent to Arlo Guthrie in 1972, over a beer.
Quote from Wiki;
Arlo Guthrie version
"The City of New Orleans"
Single by Arlo Guthrie
from the album Hobo's Lullaby
B-side "Days Are Short"
Released July 1972
Format 7"
Recorded 1972
Genre Folk
Length 4:31
Label Reprise
Songwriter(s) Steve Goodman
Producer(s) Lenny Waronker, John Pilla
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 would buy him a beer, Guthrie would listen to him play for as long as it took to drink the beer.[citation needed] 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).
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