The Regular Friday Post
Rando Lyrics: Of the wide Pacific Ocean where the sun sets in the West
Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle” is from the song "City of New Orleans”, by Steve Goodman. Written by Steve Goodman it is Track 7 on the eponymous 1971 album “Steve Goodman”. Produced by Arif Mardin, Kris Kristofferson & Norbert Putnam.
Welcome to The Regular Friday post!
RIP Kris Kristofferson
Mr. Kristofferson's Tombstone Wish
News from around the “biz”:
From American Songwriter:
Not Everyone Is Happy In Nashville
From Music Business Worldwide:
From Disc Makers:
Some Stuff
A sad week - Mr. Kristofferson touched so many lives, especially those of musicians just starting out who got their first break in the business from him.
Some Links For Today:
Today it’s Stuff About Playing!
From Guitar Player.com:
From Berklee Online:
Catching up with Mr. Griff Hamlin and Blues Guitar Unleashed:
ED. None of these result in compensation to me in any way, and I’m not endorsing any of them, but some of my readers may find them as interesting as I did…
For Today:
“Steve Goodman is an interesting guy, passed in 1984 [leukemia] and was the writer of many famous songs.” Link >Steve Goodman - Wikipedia<
I wrote that last week about the song “Souvenirs”, that Mr. Goodman played and sang background on with Mr. John Prine. Mr. Goodman’s story (I may have written something about him previously, but after 265 posts I’ve kinda lost track of who I wrote about a couple of years ago. Meh…) is an extraordinary one - his later life was marked by his battle with leukemia, but through it all he wrote an amazing catalog of songs. Rather than try to capture the whole story I’m just going to repeat the link to his Wikipedia page and include the link to his Genius songwriter/artist page below and let you read his remarkable life story, but I did include one paragraph that speaks to how in some ways he was in the eye of the music business storm at times: A story from Mr. Goodman’s Wikipedia page:
“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. 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. This resulted in Goodman signing a contract with Buddah Records. All this time, Goodman had been busy writing many of his most enduring songs, 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 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.“
Ed. There are a number of related links at the bottom of those pages to other websites that complete the story and list his complete (and very impressive) discography - but also here: Links >Steve Goodman - Wikipedia< and >Mr. Goodman's Genius Songwriter Page<.
Although mostly known for the Arlo Guthrie version, Mr. Goodman’s version appears on his eponymous first album and several others, and it’s today’s…...
…A Song To Play…
Mr. Goodman’s version is easily played by guitarists of almost any experience level in 4/4 (common) time, a rolling 100 BPM in the key of C Major. I note a couple of non diatonic chords in one measure near the very end that may be accurate or may be Chordify artifacts. Play them either way you feel like.
Note this will have a different feel than Mr. Guthrie’s more famous version. Mr. Guthrie’s cover is in common time, but transposed to the Key of F#Maj (I assume that fit his voice better) at a very quick 150BPM. See >City Of New Orleans - Arlo Guthrie< for that chord chart (may be behind a paywall).
Note the alternate bass picking line - finger (or flat)pick it if you can! It’s different enough from Mr. Guthrie’s cover version that it’s worth a listen first:
(Note: Arlo Guthrie’s version is in today’s “WhatI’mListening2” Playlist below)
Links >Steve Goodman - Wikipedia< and >Mr. Goodman's Genius Songwriter Page<
Lyrics
(From Genius) Link>Steve Goodman - City Of New Orleans<
[Verse 1]
Riding on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday morning rail
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail
All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out at Kankakee
And rolls along past houses, farms and fields
Passing trains that have no name
And freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles
[Chorus]
Good morning America, how are you
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done
[Verse 2]
Dealing card games with the old men in the club car
Penny a point, ain't no one keeping score
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Feel the wheels rumbling 'neath the floor
And the sons of Pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers' magic carpets made of steel
And mothers with their babes asleep
Are rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel
[Chorus]
Good morning America, how are you
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done
[Verse 3]
Nighttime on the City of New Orleans
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee
Half way home, we'll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea
But all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news
The conductor sings his songs again
The passengers will please refrain
This train got the disappearing railroad blues
[Chorus]
Good night America, how are you
Say, don't you know me, I'm your native son
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done
The “ME!” Section…..
What I’m Listening2: Link: >City Of The Dreams Of Others<
Shameless Self Promotion Section:
My song is out! Link: “>Long Road Back<”click on this link for streaming options, then scroll down for links (or just click on these links) to Amazon, Apple, Pandora, iTunes and even Spotify
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Disclaimer Section
This Substack is free, I receive no compensation of any kind from companies or products I mention. Some linked or quoted material may be copyrighted by others, and I credit them. I rely on the “Fair Use” doctrine for educational purposes (Link: Fair Use). *I do not use AI for any of the text that’s found here, things I link to (such as some images) might…
-Michael Acoustic
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This Week’s Conversation With Mika, The Cat:
Mika: “What happened to the bagel with my cream cheese that was just there?”
Me: “Really? You watched me eat the whole thing…”
Mika: “But…I….” … “You jerk!”
Cheers and keep playing!!
Michael Acoustic
“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”
Great links today. Too bad about the 🇨🇦 Spotify thing. But I'm a trooper, and will deal with the extra 5% in taxes.
I rarely comment on a particular song. But "The City of New Orleans" is one of my all-time favs. Simple and beautiful.