30,000 Pounds of Bananas - Harry Chapin
The song is played with a capo that throughout the song climbs the frets. For
proof, watch him live on YouTube.
All chords used are to current Capo setting:
E: 022100 D: xx0232 B: x24442
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)
E (022100@1) E7It (020130@1)was just after dark when the truck started down
A (x02220@1) Am (x02210@1) EThe (022100@1)hill that leads into Scranton Pennsylvania.
D (xx0232@1) D/C# (x40232@1) Bm (x24432@1) ECarrying (022100@1)thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
D (xx0232@1) D/C# (x40232@1) Bm (x24432@1) ECarrying (022100@1)thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
LINK: E E* E E*
EHe (022100@1)was a young driver,
A*
just out on his second job.
EAnd (022100@1)he was carrying the next day's pasty fruits
A (x02220@1) AmFor (x02210@1)everyone in that coal-scarred city,
EWhere (022100@1)children play without despair
A* EIn (022100@1)backyard slag piles, and folks manage to eat each day
D (xx0232@1) D/C# (x40232@1) Bm (x24432@1) EAbout (022100@1)thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
D (xx0232@1) D/C# (x40232@1) BmYes, (x24432@1)just about thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
TEMPO INCREASE
LINK: E E* E E*
E (022100@1) E7He (020130@1)passed a sign that he should have seen,
A (x02220@1) Am (x02210@1) Esaying, (022100@1)"Shift to low gear or fifty dollar fine, my friend."
A (x02220@1) AmHe (x02210@1)was thinking perhaps about the warm-breathed woman
EWho (022100@1)was waiting at the journey's end.
A (x02220@1) AmHe (x02210@1)started down the two-mile drop,
E (022100@1) BThe (x2444x@1)curving road that wound from the top of the hill.
EHe (022100@1)was pushing on through the shortening miles that ran down to the depot.
Just a few more miles to go,
A (x02220@1) Am (x02210@1) EThen (022100@1)he'd go home and have her ease his long, cramped day away.
D (xx0232@1) D/C# (x40232@1) Bm (x24432@1) EAnd (022100@1)the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
D (xx0232@1) D/C# (x40232@1) Bm (x24432@1) (Slide CAPO 2nd FRET)
Yes, the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
TEMPO INCREASE
E (022100@1) E7 (020130@1) A (x02220@1) Am (x02210@1) EHe (022100@1)was picking speed as the city spread its twinkling lights below him.
E (022100@1) E7 (020130@1) ABut (x02220@1)he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts of the night's
Am (x02210@1) EDelights (022100@1)went through him.
E(strum) (022100@1) E(strum) (022100@1)His foot nursed the brakes to slow him down,
Bm(strum) (x24432@1) Bm(strum) (x24432@1)But the pedal floored easy without a sound.
EHe (022100@1)said, "Christ!"
AmIt (x02210@1)was funny how he had named the only man who could save him now.
EHe (022100@1)was trapped inside a dead-end hellslide,
Riding on his fear-hunched back
A*
With every one of those yellow-green,
D (xx0232@1) D/C# (x40232@1) Bm (x24432@1) EI'm (022100@1)telling you, thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
D (xx0232@1) D/C# (x40232@1) Bm (x24432@1) (Slide CAPO 3rd FRET)
Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
DOUBLE TIME!
E (022100@1) E7 (020130@1) A (x02220@1) Am (x02210@1) EHe (022100@1)barely made the sweeping curve that led into the steepest grade.
E (022100@1) E7 (020130@1) A (x02220@1) Am (x02210@1) EAnd (022100@1)he missed the thankful passing bus at ninety miles an hour.
A (x02220@1) EAnd (022100@1)he said, "God, make it a dream!"
G (320003@1) D (xx0232@1) AAs (x02220@1)he rode his last ride down.
A (x02220@1) EAnd (022100@1)he said, "God, make it a dream!"
G (320003@1) D (xx0232@1) AAs (x02220@1)he rode his last ride down.
AmAnd (x02210@1)he sideswiped nineteen neat parked cars,
EClipped (022100@1)off thirteen telephone poles,
AmHit (x02210@1)two houses, bruised eight trees,
EAnd (022100@1)Blue-Crossed seven people.
BmIt (x24432@1)was then he lost his head,
Am (x02210@1) ENot (022100@1)to mention an arm or two before he stopped.
N.C.
And he smeared for four hundred yards
Along the hill that leads into Scranton, Pennsylvania.
D (xx0232@1) D/C# (x40232@1) Bm (x24432@1) EAll (022100@1)those thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
ORIGINAL TEMPO
(Fade in) EYou (022100@1)see the man who told me about it on the bus,
A (x02220@1) Am (x02210@1) EAs (022100@1)it went up the hill out of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
EHe (022100@1)shrugged his shoulders, he shook his head,
A (x02220@1) N.C.
And he said (and this is exactly what he said),
"Boy, that sure must've been something.
Just imagine thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
D (xx0232@1) D/F# (200232@1) Bm (x24432@1) N.C.
Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of mashed bananas.
EOf (022100@1)bananas. (Repeat with Barred F, then F#, etc. until fade out.)
