City of New Orleans: Steve Goodman
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This entry was posted on August 18, 2011 at 11:49 am and is filed under Music. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog
August 18, 2011 at 3:09 pm
God, I miss Steve!
August 18, 2011 at 4:19 pm
John,
As do I!
August 18, 2011 at 3:16 pm
Nope,,,,, it ain’t Johnny, and it ain’t Stevie. Not a bad version, though.
August 18, 2011 at 4:19 pm
John,
I took down the song until I can verify it. This is where I go the download:
http://bbchron.blogspot.com/2011/04/steve-goodman-john-prine-1980-09-25.html
August 18, 2011 at 4:15 pm
DownloadLink:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/za9r8todc7c5lol
August 18, 2011 at 5:34 pm
Whatever version, I love this song. 2nd best railroad song ever after “The Wreck Of Ol’ 97”
August 18, 2011 at 9:49 pm
Me too, buzz. I love Arlo’s cover as well.
August 19, 2011 at 12:01 am
That was last month, Kat:
August 19, 2011 at 10:15 am
John,
I’ve seen him on TV in the last few years, but I forgot how white his hair is. In my head he is the Arlo of Alice’s Restaurant!
August 19, 2011 at 2:00 pm
The funniest/best part of the concert was when he’d forgotten the 2nd verse to the song he was singing. It was one he’d wrote. Later, after giving one of his usual long, long, long introductions, he forgot which song he was going to sing. Needless to say, we all identified with him. Completely.
It was a great show. Great songs & stories. And a bathroom break.
August 19, 2011 at 5:00 pm
John,
I know he’s about my age so I don’t wonder his forgetting. Sometimes I have no idea why I’m in the kitchen. I have to stand there and recreate my thought process, if I can!
I love the bathroom break!
August 19, 2011 at 9:51 pm
Steve Goodman wrote this in 1970. He wrote the lyrics on a sketch pad after his wife fell asleep on the Illinois Central train, where they were going to visit his wife’s grandmother. Goodman wrote about what he saw looking out the windows of the train and playing cards in the club car. Everything in the song actually happened on the ride. After he returned home he heard the train was scheduled to be decommissioned do to lack of passengers. He was encouraged to use this song to save the train. He retouched the lyrics and released it on his first album in 1971.
Arlo Guthrie 1985: ‘After doing a show at a bar one night, “This kid comes up to me and says, ‘Mr. Guthrie, I know you’re tired. But I have some songs I think you’ll really like and I’d like to play them for you.’ He was right… I was tired. But he seemed sincere, so I said, ‘Kid, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to buy me a beer. And as long as I’m sitting here drinking that beer, I’ll listen to what you have to play.’ Friends, that was one of the longest, most enjoyable beers I ever had. He became a good friend, and sadly he passed away recently. So I’d like to dedicate this next song to my friend Steve Goodman.”
August 19, 2011 at 11:12 pm
sblake,
That’s a great story! It was such an Arlo hit, and now I know why. It seems so friend to friend rather than business to read the background of this song.