Harry Chapin - 30000 Pounds Of Bananas

the recorded version is in E , but i find it’s much easier to play in G .
bar the Cm , all the other chords are standard .

G
it was just after dark when the truck started down
C Cm G
the hill that leads into scranton pennsylvania .
F Em Dm G
carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas .
F Em Dm G
carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas .

G
he was a young driver ,
C Cm
just out on his second job .
G
and he was carrying the next day’s pasty fruits
C Cm
for everyone in that coal – scarred city
G
where children play without despair
C Cm G
in backyard slag – piles and folks manage to eat each day
F Em . . . . .
about thirty thousand . . . . .

G
he passed a sign that he should have seen ,
C Cm G
saying “shift to low gear , a fifty dollar fine my friend . ”
C Cm
he was thinking perhaps about the warm – breathed woman
G
who was waiting at the journey’s end .
C Cm
he started down the two mile drop ,
G D
the curving road that wound from the top of the hill .
D D G
he was pushing on through the shortening miles that ran down to the depot .
G
just a few more miles to go ,
C Cm G
then he’d go home and have her ease his long , cramped day away .
F . . . .
and the smell of thirty

G C Cm G
he was picking speed as the city spread its twinkling lights below him .
G C
but he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts of the nights
Cm G
delights went through him .
Dm ( strum ) Dm ( strum )
his foot nudged the brakes to slow him down .
G
but the pedal floored easy without a sound .
D
he said “christ!”
G
it was funny how he had named the only man who could save him now .
C Cm
he was trapped inside a dead – end hellslide ,
G
riding on his fear – hunched back
C Cm G
was every one of those yellow green
F
i’m telling you thirty . . . .

G C Cm
he barely made the sweeping curve that led into the steepest grade .
G C Cm
and he missed the thankful passing bus at ninety miles an hour .
G D
and he said “god , make it a dream!”
F C G
as he rode his last ride down .
G D
and he said “god , make it a dream!”
F C G
as he rode his last ride down .
Cm ( strum )
and he sideswiped nineteen neat parked cars ,
G ( strum )
clipped off thirteen telephone poles ,
Cm ( strum )
hit two houses , bruised eight trees ,
G ( strum )
and blue – crossed seven people .
Dm
it was then he lost his head ,
G
not to mention an arm or two before he stopped .
Dm
and he smeared for four hundred yards
G
along the hill that leads into scranton , pennsylvania .
F
all those thirty . . . . .

G
you know the man who told me about it on the bus ,
C Cm
as it went up the hill out of scranton , pennsylvania ,
Dm
he shrugged his shoulders , he shook his head ,
G
and he said ( and this is exactly what he said )
n . C .
“boy that sure must’ve been something .
just imagine thirty thousand pounds of bananas .
F Em Dm G
yes , there were thirty thousand pounds of mashed bananas .

from greatest stories live : ending #1

G
yes , we have no bananas ,
C D
we have no bananas today
( spoken : and if that wasn’t enough )
G
yes , we have no bananas ,
C D
bananas in scranton , p A

ending #2 :
G C Cm
a woman walks into her room where her child lies sleeping ,
G
and when she sees his eyes are closed ,
C Cm G
she sits there , silently weeping ,
Dm G
and though she lives in scranton , pennsylvania
Dm G
she never ever eats . . . bananas
F Em Dm G
not one of thirty thousand pounds . . . . of bananas

tabbed by archibald edmund binns
pueblano ’09