Ten Favorite City Vs. Country (City) Songs: City of New Orleans (#10)

@FourWalls (61308)
United States
November 30, 2016 8:29pm CST
It's time to pair the big city against the country in this new countdown series. Here I'll count down my ten favorite songs with "city" in the title, as well as my ten favorite songs with "country" in the title. Let's start in the city, given that I live in the city. #10: City of New Orleans - Steve Goodman I picked this song before the announcement earlier this week that "City of New Orleans" (the Arlo Guthrie recording from 1972) has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. So this may seem like a celebration of that fact. Actually, it's just a celebration of a great song. The City of New Orleans was the actual name of an Illinois Central passenger train route that ran from Chicago to...guess where. As the story goes, Steve Goodman, who had recently gotten married, took the train with his wife down to southern Illinois to visit his new grandmother-in-law, who lived in a Masonic nursing home downstate. While his wife dozed in the early morning Goodman walked around the train and more or less wrote down everything he saw ("15 cars, 15 restless riders, three conductors, 25 sacks of mail"). And how good was this song? According to Goodman's biography, Bob Dylan told Steve that the line "the graveyards of the rusted automobiles" was a line that he (Dylan) wished he had written. (For you trivia buffs, Dylan apparently really liked that line because he sang back-up on the title track to Goodman's second album, Somebody Else's Troubles.) Arlo Guthrie's version was the first hit recording, and from there everybody and his brother recorded the song (including the cast of Up With People singing the song at halftime at Super Bowl X). In 1984 Willie Nelson also recorded it, making it a #1 country hit and winning a "best country song" Grammy. Sadly, that came too late for Goodman, who succumbed to his leukemia just as Nelson's song hit the top ten. It's a classic for all time, one of the truly legendary songs of this or any other generation. City of New Orleans Written by Steve Goodman Recorded by Steve Goodman From Steve Goodman, 1971 (Also covered famously by Arlo Guthrie, 1972, and Willie Nelson, 1984) Goodman from a Johnny Cash television special singing his signature song (and yes, that is Vince Gill singing with him):
Steve on his classic composition, from a benefit show hosted by Johnny Cash. A very young Vince Gill helping out on harmony
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2 responses
@JohnRoberts (109865)
• Los Angeles, California
1 Dec 16
Goodman is a favorite of yours.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (61308)
• United States
1 Dec 16
He is indeed. Most people wouldn't read an 800-page biography on someone unless (a) forced to by a professor or (b) they really loved the person. I'm in the latter category. Every time I go to the Old Town in Chicago I walk down to the end of the street and take a picture of the "Steve Goodman Avenue" sign.
@teamfreak16 (43451)
• Denver, Colorado
1 Dec 16
There is this older dude who is a busker here in Manitou. He sings this one all the time. It's a great song!
1 person likes this