Top Ten Steve Goodman Songs: Face on the Cutting Room Floor (#6)

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Here's my next entry in the favorite Steve Goodman list. Most of these songs are not those that people recognize ("This Hotel Room," "Door Number Three," etc.). Note I said most. One of the biggies definitely is on the list. Here's the next one. #6: Face on the Cutting Room Floor Sadly, Goodman's version of this song isn't out there in You Tube land. He co-wrote this with his friend Jeff Hanna from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (they did a number of his songs, including "Don't Get Sand In it" [which Goodman actually wrote as a joke and really had no intention of releasing] and the Christmas song "Colorado Christmas"), and it's their version that's most accessible. "Face on the Cutting Room Floor" is one of the greatest songs ever written about "the casting couch," and is a microcosm about the futility of trying to "break in" to any business. In this case it's acting. A girl goes to Hollywood to try her hand at the craft and to fulfill a dream ("she had visions of contracts and thousands of people in line to see her"). She learns the harsh reality of "the way things are" in Hollywood (and, sadly, many untold thousands of other businesses): "one night he told her that she'd never get anywhere in her clothes, he says, 'that's what it takes to play movieland musical chairs,' so now she knows." Unlike so many others, however, she refuses to "play the game," leaving with her dignity intact with one of the absolute greatest kiss-off lines you're ever going to hear: "Goodbye, Hollywood, leaving tonight on the 2:30 'Hound, sunrise on Sunset, she won't be around." You go, girl. Face on the Cutting Room Floor Written by Steve Goodman, Jeff Hanna & Jimmy Ibbotson From Santa Ana Winds, 1984 As I said, Goodman's version isn't on You Tube, so here's the version by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: