Fine melodies and clever lyrics
By Rob Carrigan. robcarrigan1@gmail.com
The first time I ever heard anything about Steve Goodman was at the Telluride Bluegrass & Country Festival one summer, in the early 1980s. He performed at least three of the festivals then. About the same time, he often opened musically for comedian and Bluegrass artist Steve Martin. Goodman's friend John Prine often talked about their early days in Chicago, and later performed at Telluride Bluegrass four times following in his first producer's footsteps.
Goodman's fine work in engaging the audiences, and all those nearby, was particularly noteworthy and has lived on in TheFestivalTapes from June 28, 1980, with Mama Don't Allow It - Steve Goodman with Hot Rize and other songs that were captured during the 1980 performance filmed by Boulder public television and two CDs were made available.
“Steve was the first solo performer at the festival who could hold the audience like a band would,” Sam Bush said, as the 40th anniversary of festival loomed. This year will be the 50th anniversary.
BERKELEY, CA - 1981: L-R Hoyt Axton, Odetta, Tom Paxton and Steve Goodman backstage at The Greek Theatre in 1981 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Richard McCaffrey/ Michael Ochs Archive/ Getty Images)
Bush, of the bands New Grass Revival and Strength in Numbers, remembered the early days of festival in an oral history for Outside magazine, by Jared Keller:
"I first came to Telluride with New Grass Revival in 1975. The original promoters were a band called the Fall Creek Band, back in 1974. All of the original bands were local to Colorado, and most of them lived in Telluride. They’d seen us play at the Walnut Valley picking contest in Winfield, Kansas and by the time the festival rolled around in June 1975, we were hired to come out. I’m not sure if we were the first national act, but we were the first band not from Colorado.
According to Bush: "The streets weren’t paved. There was the one old hotel, but they put us up in one newish condo called the Manitou Inn. We got there in the middle of the night after a day and a half of driving from Kentucky and stumbled our way into this place, since there’s no neon allowed in mountain communities in Colorado. When we got up the next morning and couldn’t believe the beauty. It was like being in a different country."
Béla Fleck of (also of New Grass Revival, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones) talks about a local side trip in the same oral history:
"The trip to the Dunton Hot Springs after the festival
closed on Sunday was always special. That first year I was at the
festival with New Grass, back in 1982, Steve Goodman and I sat up all
night and played with a bunch of people sitting around and listening in
some small cabin. We had some spare parts from a barbecue that Sam Bush
and Fred [Shellman] dumped into the hot springs to terrify the other
people at the campsite. Nobody was star-tripping, it was just a bunch of
people have a great-ass time. "
"Best known as the writer of 'City of New Orleans,' Steve blazed the trail at Telluride for singer-songwriters to come. His 1980 acapella 'Broken String Song' is still remembered as a moment of spontaneous brilliance."
Goodman's obituary in Rolling Stone. Nov. 8, 1984, outlined some of his story:
"Songwriter Steve Goodman died of leukemia on September, 20, 1984, after suffering with the disease for sixteen years. Best known for songs like "City of New Orleans," Goodman had a modest recording career, critical acclaim, and a small but loyal audience. Goodman toured often, performed at Carnegie Hall, and has had his songs covered by Arlo Guthrie, Johnny Cash, and Joan Baez, among others. He believed in traditional folk music. His songwriting ranged from blues to protest, and was characterized by fine melodies and clever lyrics."
John Prine tells the sideline of Goodman's guitar prowess:
"Steve was a master with the Guitar. It was almost impossible for him to
complete a concert without breaking a guitar string. Of course, Steve
also had a tendency to put on one man shows. Now for most singers this
would mean an apology was in order while the musician switched guitars, but not Steve. Steve would continue
to sing in perfect rhythm while he reached into a pocket, pulled out a
new string, replaced the string, re-tuned the guitar, and then pick up
playing again, much to the amazement and enjoyment of the crowd.
John Prine claimed that Goodman did this on purpose, just to embarrass other guitar players.
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".
"I'll never see Wrigley field one more time before I come to my eternal rest. So have your pencils and score-cards ready while I give you my last request. I want a double-header funeral in good old Wrigley Field, some sunny Saturday" From 'A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request' (Steve Goodman, 1981).
In his obit in the Chicago Sun-Times, by Harlan Draeger and Donald M. Schwartz noted:
He succumbed to kidney and liver failure after a fifteen year struggle with luekemia that included a bone marrow transplant on Aug. 31.
A nationally-known performer who had moved to Los angeles in 1980, Mr. goodman drew heavily on his Chicago background for his mellow, easygoing music.
In 1981, he recorded a light-hearted peice called "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request" It suggested that he be cremated at home plate in Wrigley Field so his ashes could come to "final resting place out on Waveland Avenue"
While he was undergoing treatment in Seattle, his 'Go Cubs Go' theme song for the Chicago National League team was played almost daily on station WGN-AM (720) , for which he wrote the piece.
"Mr Goodman achieved his greatest fame when 'City Of New Orleans,' a 1972 song about the demise of the nation's railroads, was made into a national hit by singer Arlo Guthrie. The song was also a big hit for Willie Nelson this Year.
"Tunes such as 'Lincoln Park Pirates' and 'Daley's Gone' made Mr. Goodman a Chicago Favorite."
"Steve was someone who touched everybody he came in contact with in a very special way" said his Los Angeles Agent, Dan Einstein. "He taught me quite a bit about what it's like to stand up for yourself. He was a man of uncompromising principles--just the way he conducted himself in business and performing. He was very true to his form in his art.
Mr Goodman's last recording released this week, was a collection of new songs called 'Santa Ana Winds.' Einstein said it is "typical Steve Goodman," combining humor and a bittersweet touch. As in much of his earlier work, Einstein said the songwriter's Chicago experiences "seems to pervade the entire collection.
"Goodman, born on the North side, sometimes scheduled performances around his chemotherapy treatments. During the early '70s as Mr. Goodman was establishing himself as a national recording and performing artist, he would travel to New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer center every two weeks. From his buoyant performances audiences for "Chicago Shorty" never suspected a thing."
"During the third week of July Mr. Goodman traveled to New York to participate in a Harry Chapin benefit concert. He became ill, was hospitalized, and was told that some white blood cells had been found in his spine-- a symptom he had never exhibited before."
"Although Mr. Goodman moved to Los Angeles along with his wife, Nancy, and their three daughter, he remained in close touch with his Chicago Home. He had family here. The Earl of Old Town was here. He had friends here and fans here, although there was n ever a strict distinction between the two."
For Mr. Goodman the big break came in April, 1971 when he was the opening act for Kris Kristofferson at the Quiet Knight. The headliner was so impressed with his opener that he took Mr. Goodman to play a few songs for Paul Anka. Anka offered him a plane ticket to New York. 'City Of New Orleans,' Kristofferson once said it was "the best damn' train song I ever heard."
"In addition to his wife, Mr. Goodman is survived by their three daughters, Jessie, Sarah, and Rosanna; a brother David; his mother, Minette, and his Grandmother."
Although he was Jewish, Goodman weighed in on Christmas on Track 9, on 'Unfinished Business,' his last album while he was alive.
From 'Colorado Christmas,' by Steve Goodman,
Looking out the window of this Hollywood hotel
You'd never know that this was Christmas Eve
The billboards and the neon took the place of silver bells
And the temperature is 84 degrees
But I remember Christmases when I was just a boy
In the morning I would run to see the tree
And the carolers on the hillside sang their songs of Christmas joy
Well, I always thought they sang them just for me
Now all along the Rockies you can feel it in the air
From Telluride to Boulder down below
Now the closest thing to heaven on this planet anywhere
Is a quiet Christmas morning in the Colorado snow
I can hear the traffic on the crowded strip below
As the palm trees poke their heads above the scene
But there's not a single reindeer and it hardly ever snows
And Santa drives a Rolls Royce limousine
I see the sun is setting in the California sky
And I can't find the spirit anywhere
So I think it's time for me to tell Los Angeles goodbye
I'm going back home look for Christmas there
Cause all along the Rockies you can feel it in the air
From Telluride to Boulder down below
Now the closest thing to heaven on this planet anywhere
Is a quiet Christmas morning in the Colorado snow
