https://youtu.be/7xBxZGQ1dJk?list=PL590EDD7C960AB8EE
Steve Goodman: A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request
Steve Goodman performing “A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request” from one of the Wrigley Field rooftops.
Steve Goodman was a Chicago-born comedic actor best known for his wide range of character emotions and powerful facial expressions. The actor played “Sarge,’ in the critically acclaimed and award-winning feature film The UnMiracle,
Steve got his start in acting as a young child inspired physically by his father Kenneth, who was an Elvis Presley impersonator, along with the support of his loving mother Celeste who always encouraged him to follow his dreams of becoming an actor. …
He began his career in his early 20’s with his breakout role as Josh Lynch in the horror genre guerrilla style cult classic The Dreadville Series: The Lottery. Steve completed his acting training from the famous Connie Canaday Howard and improv genius Amelia Barrett, while attending the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL; as well as privately coached by the well-known Chicago-based theatrical legend Kurt Naebig. After receiving most of his training through studying the comedic geniuses such as Chris Farley, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, and Adam Sandler; and studying the performances of the world famous Chicago-based improv studio, The Second City, Steve followed the Dreadville Series with the ridiculously funny episodic adventures of Jay and Steve’s The Lemonade Heist and Home Intruders. And you can see Steve in his upcoming Festival nominated, Christian-based feature film The UnMiracle, alongside veteran actors Stephen Baldwin and Kevin Sorbo.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: David Rae
I have always loved Steve Goodman…
https://thepeaceresource.com/?s=Steve+Goodman
Steven Benjamin Goodman was an American folk and country singer-songwriter from Chicago. He wrote the song “City of New Orleans,” which was recorded by Arlo Guthrie and many others including John Denver, The Highwaymen, and Judy Collins; in 1985, it received a Grammy award for best country song, as performed by Willie Nelson Wikipedia
Born: July 25, 1948, Chicago, IL
Died: September 20, 1984,
UW Medical Center – Montlake Emergency Room, Seattle, WA
Spouse: Nancy Pruter (m. 1970–1984) Children: Rosanna Goodman Parents: Bud Goodman, Minnette Goodman
Saw him live in Missouri, California and Arizona …
He wrote this song…
https://youtu.be/eXGFKpWUOW0?list=RDEMDDeMUdFP_3OIqLq9K05c5w
City of New Orleans — Steve Goodman
SONG City of New Orleans
ARTIST Steve Goodman
WRITER Steve Goodman
Does it live here…
https://youtu.be/e4ztWNJYFrU?list=RDsN1dprjAWcc
Steve Goodman – City Of New Orleans – 4/18/1976
Steve Goodman – City Of New Orleans
Recorded Live: 4/18/1976 – Capitol Theatre – Passaic, NJ
https://youtu.be/Hujk898VJYQ?list=RDHujk898VJYQ
Steve Goodman (Live 1977)
September 20, 1984
Death. On September 20, 1984, Goodman died of leukemia at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. He had anointed himself with the tongue-in-cheek nickname “Cool Hand Leuk” (other nicknames included “Chicago Shorty” and “The Little Prince”) during his illness. He was 36 years old.
Arlo… “At the same time the folk boom was happening, the civil rights movement was happening, the anti-war movement was happening, the ban the bomb movement was happening, the environmental movement was happening. There was suddenly a generation ready to change the course of history.”
~ Arlo Guthrie
https://thepeaceresource.com/2022/08/28/arlo/
“Folk music is music that everyday people can play, and it inspired a lot of people to make their own music. That trailed into making your own pop music, and that’s why garage bands started springing up everywhere.”
~Arlo Guthrie
https://youtu.be/yZx7xCK6yfo?list=RDyZx7xCK6yfo
John, Arlo, Kris And Others Discuss Steve Goodman
“I think of my parents as a single unit, and it’s interesting because they shared so much, and they were totally opposite. My mother, a Martha Graham dancer, had a classical background; my father had a back-porch background.”
~ Arlo Guthrie
Personal life
Born on Chicago’s North Side to a middle-class Jewish family, Goodman began writing and performing songs as a teenager, after his family had moved to the near north suburbs. He graduated from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois, in 1965, where he was a classmate of Hillary Clinton. Before that, however, he began his public singing career by leading the junior choir at Temple Beth Israel in Albany Park. In the fall of 1965, he entered the University of Illinois and pledged the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, where he, Ron Banyon, and Steve Hartmann formed a popular rock cover band, “The Juicy Fruits”. He left college after one year to pursue his musical career. In the early spring of 1967, Goodman went to New York, staying for a month in a Greenwich Village brownstone across the street from the Cafe Wha?, where Goodman performed regularly during his brief stay there.
Returning to Chicago, he intended to restart his education. In 1968 Goodman began performing at the Earl of Old Town and The Dangling Conversation coffeehouse in Chicago and attracted a following.[2] By 1969, Goodman was a regular performer in Chicago, while attending Lake Forest College. During this time Goodman supported himself by singing advertising jingles. He dropped out of school again to pursue his musical dream full-time after discovering, in 1969,[3] the cause of his continuous fatigue was actually leukemia, the disease that was present during the entirety of his recording career, until his death in 1984.
In September 1969 he met Nancy Pruter (sister of R&B writer Robert Pruter), who was attending college while supporting herself as a waitress. They were married in February 1970. Though he experienced periods of remission, Goodman never felt that he was living on anything other than borrowed time, and some critics, listeners and friends have said that his music reflects this sentiment. His wife Nancy, writing in the liner notes to the posthumous collection No Big Surprise, characterized him this way:
Basically, Steve was exactly who he appeared to be: an ambitious, well-adjusted man from a loving, middle-class Jewish home in the Chicago suburbs, whose life and talent were directed by the physical pain and time constraints of a fatal disease which he kept at bay, at times, seemingly by willpower alone . . . Steve wanted to live as normal a life as possible, only he had to live it as fast as he could . . . He extracted meaning from the mundane.
Musical career
Goodman’s songs first appeared on Gathering at The Earl of Old Town, an album produced by Chicago record company Dunwich in 1971. As a close friend of Earl Pionke, the owner of the folk music bar, Goodman performed at The Earl dozens of times, including customary New Year’s Eve concerts. He also remained closely involved with Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, where he had met and mentored his good friend, John Prine.
Later in 1971, Goodman was playing at a Chicago bar called the Quiet Knight as the opening act for Kris Kristofferson. Impressed with Goodman, Kristofferson introduced him to Paul Anka, who brought Goodman to New York to record some demos.[4] These resulted in Goodman signing a contract with Buddah Records.
All this time[clarification needed], Goodman had been busy writing many of his most enduring songs[citation needed], and this avid songwriting would lead to an important break for him. While at the Quiet Knight, Goodman saw Arlo Guthrie and asked him to sit and let him play a song for him. Guthrie grudgingly agreed on the condition that Goodman buy him a beer first; Guthrie would then listen to Goodman for as long as it took Guthrie to drink the beer.[4] Goodman played “City of New Orleans“, which Guthrie liked enough that he asked to record it.
Guthrie’s version of Goodman’s song became a Top-20 hit in 1972 and provided Goodman with enough financial and artistic success to make his music a full-time career. The song, about the Illinois Central’s City of New Orleans train, would become an American standard, covered by such musicians as Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Chet Atkins, Lynn Anderson, and Willie Nelson, whose recorded version earned Goodman a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1985. A French translation of the song, “Salut Les Amoureux”, was recorded by Joe Dassin in 1973. A Dutch singer, Gerard Cox, heard the French version while on holiday and translated it into Dutch, titled “‘t Is Weer Voorbij Die Mooie Zomer” (“And again that beautiful summer has come to an end”). It reached number one on the Dutch Top 40 in December 1973 and has become a classic which is still played on Dutch radio. A Hebrew version of the song “Shalom Lach Eretz Nehederet” was sung by famous Israeli singer Yehoram Gaon in 1977 and became an immediate hit. Lyrically, the French, Dutch and Hebrew versions bear no resemblance to Goodman’s original lyrics. According to Goodman, the song was inspired by a train trip he and his wife took from Chicago to Mattoon, Illinois.[5] According to the liner notes on the Steve Goodman anthology No Big Surprise, “City of New Orleans” was written while on the campaign trail with Senator Edmund Muskie.
In 1974, singer David Allan Coe achieved considerable success on the country charts with Goodman’s and John Prine’s “You Never Even Called Me by My Name“, a song which good-naturedly spoofed stereotypical country music lyrics. Prine refused to take a songwriter’s credit for the song, although Goodman bought Prine a jukebox as a gift from his publishing royalties. Goodman’s name is mentioned in Coe’s recording of the song, in a spoken epilogue in which Goodman and Coe discuss the merits of “the perfect country and western song.”
Goodman’s success as a recording artist was more limited. Although he was known in folk circles as an excellent and influential songwriter,[4] his albums received more critical than commercial success. One of Goodman’s biggest hits was a song he didn’t write: “The Dutchman“, written by Michael Peter Smith. He reached a wider audience as the opening act for Steve Martin while Martin was at the height of his stand-up popularity.[6]
During the mid and late seventies, Goodman became a regular guest on Easter Day on Vin Scelsa‘s radio show in New York City. Scelsa’s personal recordings of these sessions eventually led to an album of selections from these appearances, The Easter Tapes.
In 1977, Goodman performed on Tom Paxton‘s live album New Songs From the Briarpatch (Vanguard Records), which contained some of Paxton’s topical songs of the 1970s, including “Talking Watergate” and “White Bones of Allende”, as well as a song dedicated to Mississippi John Hurt entitled “Did You Hear John Hurt?”
During the fall of 1979, Goodman was hired to write and perform a series of topical songs for National Public Radio. Although Goodman and Jethro Burns recorded eleven songs for the series, only five of them, “The Ballad of Flight 191” about a plane crash, “Daley’s Gone”, “Unemployed”, “The Twentieth Century is Almost Over”, and “The Election Year Rag”, were used on the air before the series was cancelled.[7]
Goodman wrote and performed many humorous songs about Chicago, including three about the Chicago Cubs: “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request“, “When the Cubs Go Marching In” and “Go, Cubs, Go” (which has frequently been played on Cubs broadcasts and at Wrigley Field after Cubs wins). He wrote “Go, Cubs, Go” out of spite after then GM Dallas Green called “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request” too depressing. The Cubs songs grew out of his fanatical devotion to the team, which included many clubhouse and on-field visits with Cubs players. He wrote other songs about Chicago, including “The Lincoln Park Pirates”, about the notorious Lincoln Towing Service, and “Daley’s Gone”, about Mayor Richard J. Daley. Another comic highlight is “Vegematic”, about a man who falls asleep while watching late-night TV and dreams he ordered many products that he saw on infomercials. He could also write serious songs, most notably “My Old Man”, a tribute to Goodman’s father, Bud Goodman, a used-car salesman and World War II veteran.
Goodman won his second Grammy, for Best Contemporary Folk Album, in 1988 for Unfinished Business, a posthumous album on his Red Pajamas Records label.
Many fans become aware of Goodman’s work through other artists such as Jimmy Buffett. Buffett has recorded several of Goodman’s songs, including “Banana Republics”, “Door Number Three” and “Woman Goin’ Crazy on Caroline Street”.[citation needed] Jackie DeShannon covered Goodman’s “Would You Like to Learn to Dance” on her 1972 album, Jackie.
Death
On September 20, 1984, Goodman died of leukemia at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Washington.[8] He had anointed himself with the tongue-in-cheek nickname “Cool Hand Leuk” (other nicknames included “Chicago Shorty” and “The Little Prince”) during his illness. He was 36 years old.
Four days after Goodman’s death, the Chicago Cubs clinched the National League East division title for the first time ever, earning them their first post-season appearance since 1945,[9] three years before Goodman’s birth. Eight days later, on October 2, the Cubs played their first post-season game since Game 7 of the 1945 World Series. Goodman had been asked to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before it; Jimmy Buffett filled in, and dedicated the song to Goodman.[10] Since the late 2000s, at the conclusion of every home game win, the Cubs play (and fans sing) “Go, Cubs, Go“, a song Goodman wrote for his beloved team.
In April 1988, some of Goodman’s ashes were scattered at Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs.[11]
Goodman’s posthumously released album, Santa Ana Winds, included a tribute to the recently deceased Carl Martin, “You Better Get It While You Can (The Ballad of Carl Martin),” celebrating the joy both found in their music, and a refrain of, “From the cradle to the crypt, Is a mighty short trip. So you better get it while you can”.[12]
Goodman was survived by his wife and three daughters.[13]
Legacy
In 2006, Goodman’s daughter, Rosanna, issued My Old Man, an album of a variety of artists covering her father’s songs.
Interest in Goodman’s career had a resurgence in 2007 with the publication of a biography by Clay Eals, Steve Goodman: Facing the Music. The same year, the Chicago Cubs began playing Goodman’s 1984 song “Go, Cubs, Go” after each home game win. When the Cubs made it to the playoffs, interest in the song and Goodman resulted in several newspaper articles about him. Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn declared October 5, 2007, Steve Goodman Day in the state. In 2010, Illinois Representative Mike Quigley introduced a bill renaming the Lakeview post office on Irving Park Road in honor of Goodman. The bill was signed by President Barack Obama on August 3, 2010.[14]
Discography
Albums
| Date | Title | Label | Number | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Gathering at the Earl of Old Town | Dunwich | 670 | Various artists including Goodman, Jim Post, Ed Holstein, Fred Holstein, Ginni Clemmens |
| 1971 | Steve Goodman | Buddah | BDS-5096 | |
| 1972 | Somebody Else’s Troubles | Buddah | BDS-5121 | |
| 1975 | Jessie’s Jig & Other Favorites | Asylum | 7E-1037 | |
| 1976 | Words We Can Dance To | Asylum | 7E-1061 | |
| 1977 | Say It in Private | Asylum | 7E-1118 | |
| 1979 | High and Outside | Asylum | 6E-174 | |
| 1980 | Hot Spot | Asylum | 6E-297 | |
| 1983 | Artistic Hair | Red Pajamas | RPJ-001 | Live |
| 1984 | Affordable Art | Red Pajamas | RPJ-002 | |
| Santa Ana Winds | Red Pajamas | RPJ-003 | First posthumous release | |
| 1987 | Unfinished Business | Red Pajamas | RPJ-005 | Second posthumous release, Grammy award |
| 1996 | The Easter Tapes | Red Pajamas | RPJ-009 | 18 live cuts from WNEW-FM 1970’s broadcasts, liner notes by host Vin Scelsa |
| 2000 | Live Wire | Red Pajamas | RPJ-015 | Live at Bayou Theater, early 1980s |
| 2006 | Live at the Earl of Old Town | Red Pajamas | RPJ-017 | Live, August 1978 |
| 2013 | Don’t Blame Me | Red Pajamas | RPJ-019 | Live, April 1, 1973, Chicago |
| 2020 | Live ’69 | Omnivore | OV-369 | Live, November 10, 1969, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL |
Compilation albums
| Date | Title | Label | Number | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | The Essential Steve Goodman | Buddah | BDS-5665-2 | 2 LP compilation, 20 cuts from Steve Goodman and Somebody Else’s Troubles |
| 1988 | The Best of the Asylum Years, Volume One | Red Pajamas | RPJ-006 | Compilation |
| The Best of the Asylum Years, Volume Two | Red Pajamas | RPJ-007 | Compilation | |
| 1989 | City of New Orleans | Pair Records (Buddha)[15] | PCD-2-1233 | Single CD compilation, 19 cuts from Steve Goodman and Somebody Else’s Troubles |
| The Original Steve Goodman | Special Music (Buddha)[15] | SCD-4923 | Compilation, 8 cuts from Steve Goodman and Somebody Else’s Troubles | |
| 1994 | No Big Surprise – The Steve Goodman Anthology | Red Pajamas | RPJ-008 | 2 CD compilation (1 studio, 1 live) |
| 2008 | The Baseball Singles | Red Pajamas | RPJ-018 | Compilation EP with 4 baseball-themed cuts |
Videos
| Date | Title | Label | Number | Formats | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Steve Goodman: Live From Austin City Limits | Red Pajamas | RPJ-500 | VHS, DVD | 1977 & 1982 live shows with John Prine and Jethro Burns, plus interviews |
References
- Eals, Clay (2007). Steve Goodman: Facing the Music. Toronto: ECW. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-55022-732-1.
- Harlan Draeger (September 22, 1984). “Steve Goodman Obituary”. Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on July 22, 2005. Retrieved December 12, 2005.
- Browne, David (July 19, 2019). “Looking Back on John Prine Buddy Steve Goodman”. Rolling Stone.
- “John, Arlo, Kris And Others Discuss Steve Goodman”. kevin46036. Archived from the original on October 4, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
- “Steve Goodman Concert”. Wolfgang’s Vault. March 30, 1977. Archived from the original on March 26, 2010. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
- “Steve Goodman, and the Surprising Story of “Go, Cubs, Go” | Robert J. Elisberg”. Huffingtonpost.com. September 2, 2008. Archived from the original on April 17, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
- Eals, 558–59
- Van Matre, Lynn (September 21, 1984). “Songwriter Steve Goodman; a Chicago gift to folk music”. Chicago Tribune. p. 37. Retrieved June 11, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- “Cubs Clinch NL East Crown: First Title Since 1945”. The Herald-Palladium. St. Joseph, Michigan. AP. September 25, 1984. p. 14. Retrieved June 11, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- “Loose Lips (column)”. Philadelphia Daily News. October 3, 1984. p. 44. Retrieved June 11, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- Eals, 725-6.
- “Steve Goodman – You Better Get It While You Can (The Ballad of Carl Martin)”.
- “Berkshires Week”. Berkshires Week. January 23, 2002. Archived from the original on August 23, 2006. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
- Skiba, Katherine (August 3, 2010). “Obama signs law renaming post office after singer Steve Goodman”. Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on October 21, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
- The spelling of Buddah Records changed to “Buddha” around this time
Further reading
- Eals, Clay. Steve Goodman: Facing the Music. ECW Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-55022-732-1.
External links
- Official site
- Steve Goodman at AllMusic
- Steve Goodman discography at Discogs
- Steve Goodman at IMDb
- Steve Goodman: Facing the Music Biography by Clay Eals, May 2007
Steve Goodman’s family sold rights to ‘Go Cubs Go’ before World Series …chicagotribune.com
Steve Goodman Vinyl Record Rock Blues Music LP Rock Music Record LP for …recordsmerchant.com
The Jewish folk singer who gave Chicago Cubs fans 2 anthems | The Times …timesofisrael.com
Steve Goodman — It Sure Looked Good On Paper: The Steve Goodman Demos …omnivorerecordings.com
Steve Goodman’s family sold rights to ‘Go Cubs Go’ before World Series …chicagotribune.com
Memphis Railroad and Trolley Museum: Steve Goodman’s “City of New Orleans”memphismuseum.blogspot.com
Michael Doherty’s Music Log: Steve Goodman: “Live ’69” (2020) CD Reviewmichaelsmusiclog.blogspot.com
STEVE GOODMAN — GOOD MORNIN’ AMERICA | by The Attic | Mar, 2021 | Mediumbrucewatson4.medium.com
BB Chronicles: Steve Goodman – 1979-04-26 – My Father’s Place, Roslyn, NYbbchron.blogspot.com
In this strange unfolding April, I’ll miss John Prine more than ever …chicago.suntimes.com
STEVE GOODMAN — GOOD MORNIN’ AMERICA | by The Attic | Mar, 2021 | Mediumbrucewatson4.medium.com
Steve Goodman: Jessie Jig & Other Favorites / Words We Can Dance To, CD …cherryred.co.uk
BB Chronicles: Steve Goodman (with John Prine) – 1973-04-07 – Bryn Mawr, PAbbchron.blogspot.com
BB Chronicles: Steve Goodman – 1977-11-14 – Great American Music Hall …bbchron.blogspot.com
Steve Goodman, The Auctioneer (Live / Single) in High-Resolution Audio …prostudiomasters.com
Steve Goodman with Bob Dylan, Maria Muldaur & David Bromberg - City Of …blackvinylbazar.cz
BB Chronicles: Steve Goodman (with John Prine) – 1973-04-07 – Bryn Mawr, PAbbchron.blogspot.com
BB Chronicles: Steve Goodman & John Prine – 1980-09-25 – Minneapolis, MNbbchron.blogspot.com
ProgNotFrog: Steve Goodman – Jessie’s Jig And Other Favourites [1976 …prognotfrog.blogspot.com
BB Chronicles: Steve Goodman & John Prine – 1980-09-25 – Minneapolis, MNbbchron.blogspot.com
gfdg: Steve Goodman – Jessie’s Jig And Other Favourites [1976] @256 …temptestabc.blogspot.com
Download song Banana Republic Steve Goodman A Jimmy Buffett Favoritepocmcatalogue.ab-inbev.com
Download song Banana Republic Steve Goodman A Jimmy Buffett Favoritepocmcatalogue.ab-inbev.com
Download song Banana Republic Steve Goodman A Jimmy Buffett Favoritepocmcatalogue.ab-inbev.com
Download song Banana Republic Steve Goodman A Jimmy Buffett Favoritepocmcatalogue.ab-inbev.com
Clay Eals book on Steve Goodman getting renewed attention as Chicago …westsideseattle.com
Bob Dylan’s Sessions with Johnny Cash Highlight Archival Release, Plus …byjeffburger.com
Looking Back on
John Prine Buddy Steve Goodman
Steve Goodman, Artistic Hair ***
Steve Goodman, Affordable Art ****
John Prine is rightly getting plenty of love right now, which makes it a good time to reconsider the life and work of his friend and occasional collaborator, Steve Goodman. Thirty-five years after his death, Goodman is now mostly remembered as the writer of “City of New Orleans,” which Arlo Guthrie turned into a piece of haunted, mythic Americana; Goodman also produced one of Prine’s strongest and most agile albums, 1978’s Bruised Orange. Prine and Goodman met on the Chicago folk scene in the early Seventies, and Goodman was the impish, jubilant yin to Prine’s prematurely craggy, sardonic yang.
Few singer-songwriters of that era exuded such joy in performing as did Goodman, who literally bounced on his heels in concert and reveled in singing everything from novelty songs to pre-rock standards along with his and other writers’ originals. On record and on stage, he could swing from beautifully sentimental moments like Mike Smith’s “The Dutchman” (about an aging couple in Amsterdam), white blues (“Lookin’ for Trouble”), quirky homages to rewinding your life (“Videotape”) and touring (“Six Hours Ahead of the Sun”) or a condensed version of “Moby-Dick” (“Moby-Book,” from one of his best albums, 1975’s Jessie’s Jig and Other Favorites).
Goodman oozed versatility, even covering Fifties R&B hits like “Tossin’ and Turnin,’” but unlike so any of his peers, his songs evinced noticeably little angst. And if anyone should have, it should have been him: In 1969, Goodman was diagnosed with leukemia and eventually died of complications from a bone marrow transplant in 1984, at the age of 36. In retrospect, he reveled in the power of song (and observations about everyday life) as a way to ward off death as much as possible.
Very shortly before his passing, Goodman managed to squeeze out two albums, both newly reissued with the requisite bonus material. Like his label mate Prine, Goodman was bounced off Asylum Records at the dawn of the Eighties, although not for lack of trying to make the pop charts. Goodman’s journey from the folksy-funny troubadour of 1971’s Steve Goodman debut to 1980’s eagerly yacht-rocking Hot Spot, his Asylum finale, captures the way so many troubadours of the time scrambled to slick themselves up by the end of that decade. Right before Prine went the indie route with his own Oh Boy label, Goodman led the DIY charge, starting Red Pajamas Records and initiating the label with a 1983 live record, Artistic Hair.
That album’s cover—a photo of a shaved-skull Goodman, the result of his chemo treatment–made his health issues jarringly public. But as always, his energy didn’t flag. A collection of live tracks, Artistic Hair often sounds like a high-quality bootleg, but as his first concert record, it nicely captured a typical Goodman live show: One man, one guitar, maybe a friend or two, and songs that showed off his ragtime-jaunty guitar chops (“Let’s Have a Party”), his love of a ballad (the traditional “The Water Is Wide”) and his friendship with Prine (a version of “You Never Even Called Me By My Name,” their country-novelty collaboration).
1983’s Affordable Art, the last studio record Goodman completed before his death, also spans his many musical worlds. “Old Smoothies,” a sweet song about aging ice skaters, shows the way he approached unhip subjects with zero condescension or sarcasm, and another Prine collaboration, “How Much Tequila (Did I Drink Last Night?),” makes you wonder if Goodman, had he lived, could have had a successful career as a Nashville songwriter. Among the added reissue tracks is a version of British folksinger Ralph McTell’s “Streets of London,” a song made for Goodman to sing.
Not surprisingly, Affordable Art has moments of startling gravitas : He and Prine team up for a duet of Prine’s “Souvenirs,” a song steeped in regret and sorrow, and Goodman’s own “When My Rowboat Comes In” is markedly somber. Even the requisite jokey cut, the anti-nuke “Watchin’ Joey Glow,” is pretty damn dark. (A family huddled in a fallout shelter cook meals and makes toast by way of their irradiated son: “You should see him heat the coffee up when he stirs it with his toe.”) To the end, Goodman couldn’t help but fight tragedy with a smile.
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What would life be like with death hanging over our heads? Most of us push the prospect aside until the end of our days. Not Steve Goodman. Diagnosed with a fatal disease at age 20, he managed to survive and thrive to write an anthem of his generation and become what many considered the most galvanizing entertainer of his time. What lessons did he learn and share with others while privately, then publicly, fending off leukemia for more than 15 years? The answers lie in “Steve Goodman: Facing the Music.”
The biography, released in 2020 in an updated fifth printing, is the comprehensive, untold story of a young man whose hilarious, touching and provocative music — “City of New Orleans,” “You Never Even Call Me by My Name,” “Banana Republics,” “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request,” “Go, Cubs, Go” and many more stellar songs — uplifted millions from the late 1960s to the early 1980s and continues to do so today. The book features fresh interviews with more than 1,100 sources, including Arlo Guthrie, John Prine, Steve Martin, Jimmy Buffett, Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Randy Newman, Paul Anka, David Allan Coe, Judy Collins, Tom Paxton, Pete Seeger, John Sebastian, Leo Kottke, Gordon Lightfoot and Goodman’s high-school classmate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Other interviewees include John Hartford, Phoebe Snow, Jackie DeShannon, Marty Stuart, Maria Muldaur, Studs Terkel, Mimi Fariña, Tom Rush, Bobby Bare, Carly Simon, Lily Tomlin, Michael Smith, Fred & Ed Holstein, Janis Ian, Bryan Bowers, Martin Mull, Chad Mitchell, Rosanne Cash, David Amram, Samantha Eggar, Tom Dundee, John McEuen, Jimmy Ibbotson, Jeff Hanna, Howard Armstrong, Jim Post, Carl Reiner, Doc Watson, Loudon Wainwright III, Jo Mapes, Len Chandler, Buzzy Linhart and David Geffen. Included with the book, only if ordered from this website, is a CD of 18 songs written after Steve’s death that pay tribute to him or mention him significantly, and one track of interview clips with Steve himself. (The same tracks are available as a free download at the publisher’s website: ECW Press.) The book’s sixth printing includes myriad minor text fixes, 23 new or augmented footnotes and 8 new or replaced photos (overall total: 649 photos), all in the same 800 pages. “Steve Goodman: Facing the Music” was published by ECW Press in mid-May 2007, with updated printings in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2021. The sixth (latest) printing, released in late 2021, can be purchased at list price, and the fifth printing, released in late 2020, can be purchased at a discount from list price at this website on the Online Store page. |
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Steve got his start in acting as a young child inspired physically by his father Kenneth, who was an Elvis Presley impersonator, along with the support of his loving mother Celeste who always encouraged him to follow his dreams of becoming an actor. Always feeling the need to make others laugh and perform, he would constantly do whatever it took to always be the center of attention. He began his career in his early 20’s with his breakout role as Josh Lynch in the horror genre guerrilla style cult classic The Dreadville Series: The Lottery. Steve completed his acting training from the famous Connie Canaday Howard and improv genius Amelia Barrett, while attending the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL; as well as privately coached by the well-known Chicago-based theatrical legend Kurt Naebig. After receiving most of his training through studying the comedic geniuses such as Chris Farley, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, and Adam Sandler; and studying the performances of the world famous Chicago-based improv studio, The Second City, Steve followed the Dreadville Series with the ridiculously funny episodic adventures of Jay and Steve’s The Lemonade Heist and Home Intruders. And keep your eye out to see Steve in his upcoming Festival nominated, Christian-based feature film The UnMiracle, alongside veteran actors Stephen Baldwin and Kevin Sorbo.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: David Rae
I have always loved Steve Goodman…
https://thepeaceresource.com/?s=Steve+Goodman
Steven Benjamin Goodman was an American folk and country singer-songwriter
from Chicago. He wrote the song “City of New Orleans,” which was recorded by
Arlo Guthrie and many others including John Denver, The Highwaymen, and Judy Collins; in 1985, it received a Grammy award for best country song, as performed by Willie Nelson Wikipedia
Born: July 25, 1948, Chicago, IL
Died: September 20, 1984,
UW Medical Center – Montlake Emergency Room, Seattle, WA
Spouse: Nancy Pruter (m. 1970–1984) Children: Rosanna Goodman Parents: Bud Goodman, Minnette Goodman
Saw him live in Missouri, California and Arizona …
He wrote this song…
https://youtu.be/eXGFKpWUOW0?list=RDEMDDeMUdFP_3OIqLq9K05c5w
City of New Orleans — Steve Goodman
SONG City of New Orleans
ARTIST Steve Goodman
WRITER Steve Goodman
Does it live here…
https://youtu.be/e4ztWNJYFrU?list=RDsN1dprjAWcc
Steve Goodman – City Of New Orleans – 4/18/1976
Steve Goodman – City Of New Orleans
Recorded Live: 4/18/1976 – Capitol Theatre – Passaic, NJ
https://youtu.be/Hujk898VJYQ?list=RDHujk898VJYQ
Steve Goodman (Live 1977)
September 20, 1984
Death. On September 20, 1984, Goodman died of leukemia at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. He had anointed himself with the tongue-in-cheek nickname “Cool Hand Leuk” (other nicknames included “Chicago Shorty” and “The Little Prince”) during his illness. He was 36 years old.
Arlo… “At the same time the folk boom was happening, the civil rights movement was happening, the anti-war movement was happening, the ban the bomb movement was happening, the environmental movement was happening. There was suddenly a generation ready to change the course of history.”
~ Arlo Guthrie
https://thepeaceresource.com/2022/08/28/arlo/
“Folk music is music that everyday people can play, and it inspired a lot of people to make their own music. That trailed into making your own pop music, and that’s why garage bands started springing up everywhere.”
~Arlo Guthrie
https://youtu.be/yZx7xCK6yfo?list=RDyZx7xCK6yfo
John, Arlo, Kris And Others Discuss Steve Goodman
“I think of my parents as a single unit, and it’s interesting because they shared so much, and they were totally opposite. My mother, a Martha Graham dancer, had a classical background; my father had a back-porch background.”
~ Arlo Guthrie
Personal life
Born on Chicago’s North Side to a middle-class Jewish family, Goodman began writing and performing songs as a teenager, after his family had moved to the near north suburbs. He graduated from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois, in 1965, where he was a classmate of Hillary Clinton. Before that, however, he began his public singing career by leading the junior choir at Temple Beth Israel in Albany Park. In the fall of 1965, he entered the University of Illinois and pledged the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, where he, Ron Banyon, and Steve Hartmann formed a popular rock cover band, “The Juicy Fruits”. He left college after one year to pursue his musical career. In the early spring of 1967, Goodman went to New York, staying for a month in a Greenwich Village brownstone across the street from the Cafe Wha?, where Goodman performed regularly during his brief stay there.
Returning to Chicago, he intended to restart his education. In 1968 Goodman began performing at the Earl of Old Town and The Dangling Conversation coffeehouse in Chicago and attracted a following.[2] By 1969, Goodman was a regular performer in Chicago, while attending Lake Forest College. During this time Goodman supported himself by singing advertising jingles. He dropped out of school again to pursue his musical dream full-time after discovering, in 1969,[3] the cause of his continuous fatigue was actually leukemia, the disease that was present during the entirety of his recording career, until his death in 1984.
In September 1969 he met Nancy Pruter (sister of R&B writer Robert Pruter), who was attending college while supporting herself as a waitress. They were married in February 1970. Though he experienced periods of remission, Goodman never felt that he was living on anything other than borrowed time, and some critics, listeners and friends have said that his music reflects this sentiment. His wife Nancy, writing in the liner notes to the posthumous collection No Big Surprise, characterized him this way:
Basically, Steve was exactly who he appeared to be: an ambitious, well-adjusted man from a loving, middle-class Jewish home in the Chicago suburbs, whose life and talent were directed by the physical pain and time constraints of a fatal disease which he kept at bay, at times, seemingly by willpower alone . . . Steve wanted to live as normal a life as possible, only he had to live it as fast as he could . . . He extracted meaning from the mundane.
Musical career
Goodman’s songs first appeared on Gathering at The Earl of Old Town, an album produced by Chicago record company Dunwich in 1971. As a close friend of Earl Pionke, the owner of the folk music bar, Goodman performed at The Earl dozens of times, including customary New Year’s Eve concerts. He also remained closely involved with Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, where he had met and mentored his good friend, John Prine.
Later in 1971, Goodman was playing at a Chicago bar called the Quiet Knight as the opening act for Kris Kristofferson. Impressed with Goodman, Kristofferson introduced him to Paul Anka, who brought Goodman to New York to record some demos.[4] These resulted in Goodman signing a contract with Buddah Records.
All this time[clarification needed], Goodman had been busy writing many of his most enduring songs[citation needed], and this avid songwriting would lead to an important break for him. While at the Quiet Knight, Goodman saw Arlo Guthrie and asked him to sit and let him play a song for him. Guthrie grudgingly agreed on the condition that Goodman buy him a beer first; Guthrie would then listen to Goodman for as long as it took Guthrie to drink the beer.[4] Goodman played “City of New Orleans“, which Guthrie liked enough that he asked to record it.
Guthrie’s version of Goodman’s song became a Top-20 hit in 1972 and provided Goodman with enough financial and artistic success to make his music a full-time career. The song, about the Illinois Central’s City of New Orleans train, would become an American standard, covered by such musicians as Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Chet Atkins, Lynn Anderson, and Willie Nelson, whose recorded version earned Goodman a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1985. A French translation of the song, “Salut Les Amoureux”, was recorded by Joe Dassin in 1973. A Dutch singer, Gerard Cox, heard the French version while on holiday and translated it into Dutch, titled “‘t Is Weer Voorbij Die Mooie Zomer” (“And again that beautiful summer has come to an end”). It reached number one on the Dutch Top 40 in December 1973 and has become a classic which is still played on Dutch radio. A Hebrew version of the song “Shalom Lach Eretz Nehederet” was sung by famous Israeli singer Yehoram Gaon in 1977 and became an immediate hit. Lyrically, the French, Dutch and Hebrew versions bear no resemblance to Goodman’s original lyrics. According to Goodman, the song was inspired by a train trip he and his wife took from Chicago to Mattoon, Illinois.[5] According to the liner notes on the Steve Goodman anthology No Big Surprise, “City of New Orleans” was written while on the campaign trail with Senator Edmund Muskie.
In 1974, singer David Allan Coe achieved considerable success on the country charts with Goodman’s and John Prine’s “You Never Even Called Me by My Name“, a song which good-naturedly spoofed stereotypical country music lyrics. Prine refused to take a songwriter’s credit for the song, although Goodman bought Prine a jukebox as a gift from his publishing royalties. Goodman’s name is mentioned in Coe’s recording of the song, in a spoken epilogue in which Goodman and Coe discuss the merits of “the perfect country and western song.”
Goodman’s success as a recording artist was more limited. Although he was known in folk circles as an excellent and influential songwriter,[4] his albums received more critical than commercial success. One of Goodman’s biggest hits was a song he didn’t write: “The Dutchman“, written by Michael Peter Smith. He reached a wider audience as the opening act for Steve Martin while Martin was at the height of his stand-up popularity.[6]
During the mid and late seventies, Goodman became a regular guest on Easter Day on Vin Scelsa‘s radio show in New York City. Scelsa’s personal recordings of these sessions eventually led to an album of selections from these appearances, The Easter Tapes.
In 1977, Goodman performed on Tom Paxton‘s live album New Songs From the Briarpatch (Vanguard Records), which contained some of Paxton’s topical songs of the 1970s, including “Talking Watergate” and “White Bones of Allende”, as well as a song dedicated to Mississippi John Hurt entitled “Did You Hear John Hurt?”
During the fall of 1979, Goodman was hired to write and perform a series of topical songs for National Public Radio. Although Goodman and Jethro Burns recorded eleven songs for the series, only five of them, “The Ballad of Flight 191” about a plane crash, “Daley’s Gone”, “Unemployed”, “The Twentieth Century is Almost Over”, and “The Election Year Rag”, were used on the air before the series was cancelled.[7]
Goodman wrote and performed many humorous songs about Chicago, including three about the Chicago Cubs: “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request“, “When the Cubs Go Marching In” and “Go, Cubs, Go” (which has frequently been played on Cubs broadcasts and at Wrigley Field after Cubs wins). He wrote “Go, Cubs, Go” out of spite after then GM Dallas Green called “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request” too depressing. The Cubs songs grew out of his fanatical devotion to the team, which included many clubhouse and on-field visits with Cubs players. He wrote other songs about Chicago, including “The Lincoln Park Pirates”, about the notorious Lincoln Towing Service, and “Daley’s Gone”, about Mayor Richard J. Daley. Another comic highlight is “Vegematic”, about a man who falls asleep while watching late-night TV and dreams he ordered many products that he saw on infomercials. He could also write serious songs, most notably “My Old Man”, a tribute to Goodman’s father, Bud Goodman, a used-car salesman and World War II veteran.
Goodman won his second Grammy, for Best Contemporary Folk Album, in 1988 for Unfinished Business, a posthumous album on his Red Pajamas Records label.
Many fans become aware of Goodman’s work through other artists such as Jimmy Buffett. Buffett has recorded several of Goodman’s songs, including “Banana Republics”, “Door Number Three” and “Woman Goin’ Crazy on Caroline Street”.[citation needed] Jackie DeShannon covered Goodman’s “Would You Like to Learn to Dance” on her 1972 album, Jackie.
Death
On September 20, 1984, Goodman died of leukemia at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Washington.[8] He had anointed himself with the tongue-in-cheek nickname “Cool Hand Leuk” (other nicknames included “Chicago Shorty” and “The Little Prince”) during his illness. He was 36 years old.
Four days after Goodman’s death, the Chicago Cubs clinched the National League East division title for the first time ever, earning them their first post-season appearance since 1945,[9] three years before Goodman’s birth. Eight days later, on October 2, the Cubs played their first post-season game since Game 7 of the 1945 World Series. Goodman had been asked to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before it; Jimmy Buffett filled in, and dedicated the song to Goodman.[10] Since the late 2000s, at the conclusion of every home game win, the Cubs play (and fans sing) “Go, Cubs, Go“, a song Goodman wrote for his beloved team.
In April 1988, some of Goodman’s ashes were scattered at Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs.[11]
Goodman’s posthumously released album, Santa Ana Winds, included a tribute to the recently deceased Carl Martin, “You Better Get It While You Can (The Ballad of Carl Martin),” celebrating the joy both found in their music, and a refrain of, “From the cradle to the crypt, Is a mighty short trip. So you better get it while you can”.[12]
Goodman was survived by his wife and three daughters.[13]
Legacy
In 2006, Goodman’s daughter, Rosanna, issued My Old Man, an album of a variety of artists covering her father’s songs.
Interest in Goodman’s career had a resurgence in 2007 with the publication of a biography by Clay Eals, Steve Goodman: Facing the Music. The same year, the Chicago Cubs began playing Goodman’s 1984 song “Go, Cubs, Go” after each home game win. When the Cubs made it to the playoffs, interest in the song and Goodman resulted in several newspaper articles about him. Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn declared October 5, 2007, Steve Goodman Day in the state. In 2010, Illinois Representative Mike Quigley introduced a bill renaming the Lakeview post office on Irving Park Road in honor of Goodman. The bill was signed by President Barack Obama on August 3, 2010.[14]
Discography
Albums
| Date | Title | Label | Number | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Gathering at the Earl of Old Town | Dunwich | 670 | Various artists including Goodman, Jim Post, Ed Holstein, Fred Holstein, Ginni Clemmens |
| 1971 | Steve Goodman | Buddah | BDS-5096 | |
| 1972 | Somebody Else’s Troubles | Buddah | BDS-5121 | |
| 1975 | Jessie’s Jig & Other Favorites | Asylum | 7E-1037 | |
| 1976 | Words We Can Dance To | Asylum | 7E-1061 | |
| 1977 | Say It in Private | Asylum | 7E-1118 | |
| 1979 | High and Outside | Asylum | 6E-174 | |
| 1980 | Hot Spot | Asylum | 6E-297 | |
| 1983 | Artistic Hair | Red Pajamas | RPJ-001 | Live |
| 1984 | Affordable Art | Red Pajamas | RPJ-002 | |
| Santa Ana Winds | Red Pajamas | RPJ-003 | First posthumous release | |
| 1987 | Unfinished Business | Red Pajamas | RPJ-005 | Second posthumous release, Grammy award |
| 1996 | The Easter Tapes | Red Pajamas | RPJ-009 | 18 live cuts from WNEW-FM 1970’s broadcasts, liner notes by host Vin Scelsa |
| 2000 | Live Wire | Red Pajamas | RPJ-015 | Live at Bayou Theater, early 1980s |
| 2006 | Live at the Earl of Old Town | Red Pajamas | RPJ-017 | Live, August 1978 |
| 2013 | Don’t Blame Me | Red Pajamas | RPJ-019 | Live, April 1, 1973, Chicago |
| 2020 | Live ’69 | Omnivore | OV-369 | Live, November 10, 1969, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL |
Compilation albums
| Date | Title | Label | Number | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | The Essential Steve Goodman | Buddah | BDS-5665-2 | 2 LP compilation, 20 cuts from Steve Goodman and Somebody Else’s Troubles |
| 1988 | The Best of the Asylum Years, Volume One | Red Pajamas | RPJ-006 | Compilation |
| The Best of the Asylum Years, Volume Two | Red Pajamas | RPJ-007 | Compilation | |
| 1989 | City of New Orleans | Pair Records (Buddha)[15] | PCD-2-1233 | Single CD compilation, 19 cuts from Steve Goodman and Somebody Else’s Troubles |
| The Original Steve Goodman | Special Music (Buddha)[15] | SCD-4923 | Compilation, 8 cuts from Steve Goodman and Somebody Else’s Troubles | |
| 1994 | No Big Surprise – The Steve Goodman Anthology | Red Pajamas | RPJ-008 | 2 CD compilation (1 studio, 1 live) |
| 2008 | The Baseball Singles | Red Pajamas | RPJ-018 | Compilation EP with 4 baseball-themed cuts |
Videos
| Date | Title | Label | Number | Formats | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Steve Goodman: Live From Austin City Limits | Red Pajamas | RPJ-500 | VHS, DVD | 1977 & 1982 live shows with John Prine and Jethro Burns, plus interviews |
References
- Eals, Clay (2007). Steve Goodman: Facing the Music. Toronto: ECW. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-55022-732-1.
- Harlan Draeger (September 22, 1984). “Steve Goodman Obituary”. Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on July 22, 2005. Retrieved December 12, 2005.
- Browne, David (July 19, 2019). “Looking Back on John Prine Buddy Steve Goodman”. Rolling Stone.
- “John, Arlo, Kris And Others Discuss Steve Goodman”. kevin46036. Archived from the original on October 4, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
- “Steve Goodman Concert”. Wolfgang’s Vault. March 30, 1977. Archived from the original on March 26, 2010. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
- “Steve Goodman, and the Surprising Story of “Go, Cubs, Go” | Robert J. Elisberg”. Huffingtonpost.com. September 2, 2008. Archived from the original on April 17, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
- Eals, 558–59
- Van Matre, Lynn (September 21, 1984). “Songwriter Steve Goodman; a Chicago gift to folk music”. Chicago Tribune. p. 37. Retrieved June 11, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- “Cubs Clinch NL East Crown: First Title Since 1945”. The Herald-Palladium. St. Joseph, Michigan. AP. September 25, 1984. p. 14. Retrieved June 11, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- “Loose Lips (column)”. Philadelphia Daily News. October 3, 1984. p. 44. Retrieved June 11, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- Eals, 725-6.
- “Steve Goodman – You Better Get It While You Can (The Ballad of Carl Martin)”.
- “Berkshires Week”. Berkshires Week. January 23, 2002. Archived from the original on August 23, 2006. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
- Skiba, Katherine (August 3, 2010). “Obama signs law renaming post office after singer Steve Goodman”. Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on October 21, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
- The spelling of Buddah Records changed to “Buddha” around this time
Further reading
- Eals, Clay. Steve Goodman: Facing the Music. ECW Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-55022-732-1.
External links
- Official site
- Steve Goodman at AllMusic
- Steve Goodman discography at Discogs
- Steve Goodman at IMDb
- Steve Goodman: Facing the Music Biography by Clay Eals, May 2007
Steve Goodman’s family sold rights to ‘Go Cubs Go’ before World Series …chicagotribune.com
Steve Goodman Vinyl Record Rock Blues Music LP Rock Music Record LP for …recordsmerchant.com
The Jewish folk singer who gave Chicago Cubs fans 2 anthems | The Times …timesofisrael.com
Steve Goodman — It Sure Looked Good On Paper: The Steve Goodman Demos …omnivorerecordings.com
Steve Goodman’s family sold rights to ‘Go Cubs Go’ before World Series …chicagotribune.com
Memphis Railroad and Trolley Museum: Steve Goodman’s “City of New Orleans”memphismuseum.blogspot.com
Michael Doherty’s Music Log: Steve Goodman: “Live ’69” (2020) CD Reviewmichaelsmusiclog.blogspot.com
STEVE GOODMAN — GOOD MORNIN’ AMERICA | by The Attic | Mar, 2021 | Mediumbrucewatson4.medium.com
BB Chronicles: Steve Goodman – 1979-04-26 – My Father’s Place, Roslyn, NYbbchron.blogspot.com
In this strange unfolding April, I’ll miss John Prine more than ever …chicago.suntimes.com
STEVE GOODMAN — GOOD MORNIN’ AMERICA | by The Attic | Mar, 2021 | Mediumbrucewatson4.medium.com