Steve Goodmam (July 25, 1948 - September 20, 1984)

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 artists including Arlo Guthrie, John Denver, Willie Nelson, and Judy Collins. 

        

In 1985, Goodman received the Grammy songwriter award for best country song. Goodman co-wrote "You Never Even Called Me by My Name", which became the best-selling song of country musician David Allan Coe. A lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, Goodman wrote "Go Cubs Go". Goodman died of leukemia in September 1984.

                                                   Red Red Robin

Steve Goodman was born on Chicago’s North Side and graduated from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois, in 1965, where he was a classmate of Hillary Clinton

                         " Banana Republics"        "20th Century Is Almost Over"

 In college he formed a cover band called The Juicy Fruits.  He left college after one year to pursue his musical career.  In 1968, Goodman began performing at the Earl of Old Town and attracted a following.  That is where we saw him in the 1970s.  By 1969, Goodman was a regular performer in Chicago, while attending Lake Forest College.

                                                               The Dutchman

 He discovered the cause of his continuous fatigue was leukemia that led him to drop out of school again to pursue his music full-time.  In September 1969 he met Nancy Pruter and 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.

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 friend, John Prine.  Arlo Guthrie’s version of Goodman’s song, about the Illinois Central’s City of New Orleans train, became a Top 20 hit in 1972 and provided Goodman with enough financial and artistic success to make music a full-time career.  The song would become an American standard, covered by such musicians as Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Chet Atkins, Lynn Anderson, and Willie Nelson. 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.  Goodman won his second Grammy, for Best Contemporary Folk Album, in 1988 for “Unfinished Business,” a posthumous album.  Many fans became aware of Goodman’s work through other artists such as Jimmy Buffett, who has recorded several of Goodman’s songs, as well as songs co-written with Buffett. Jackie DeShannon covered Goodman’s “Would You Like to Learn to Dance” on her 1972 album, “Jackie.”  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.”  Goodm was survived by his wife and three daughters. (Thanks To Gene Finnigan)

                    Steven Benjamin Goodman (July 25, 1948 - September 20, 1984)