Chord 30000 Pounds Of Bananas by Harry Chapin

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