One of the great American songs of the late twentieth century is “City of New Orleans.” The song was originally written and recorded by Steve Goodman but made famous by Arlo Guthrie.
“City of New Orleans” was a top 20 hit for Guthrie in 1972, and numerous artists have performed and recorded “City of New Orleans.” While the song recounts the story of the Illinois Central Railroad’s City of New Orleans train, one might read a little more into the story by knowing more about the songwriter.
Steve Goodman and “City of New Orleans”
Goodman was born on July 25, 1948, and when he was in college, he was diagnosed with leukemia. While the disease was often in remission, Goodman always recognized he was living on borrowed time.
Goodman died at the young age of 34 on September 20, 1984. Knowing about his diagnosis, one may see more in the sadness of the song about the end of the life of a train.
The Real Train
The City of New Orleans itself was a train that the Illinois Central Railroad began operating in April 1947, a little more than a year from Goodman’s birth. The overnight train had the longest daytime regularly scheduled route in the country for a time. The train went between New Orleans, Louisiana and Goodman’s birthplace and hometown, Chicago, Illinois.
In May 1971, though, Amtrak took over the City of New Orleans train. The company converted it to a nighttime route, renaming it the Panama Limited.
Goodman reportedly came up with the idea for a song about the train while riding on a trip. But it is hard not to see some heartfelt connections between Goodman’s life and the train in his most famous song.
“Half way home, we’ll be there by morning,
Through the Mississippi darkness. . . .
This train’s got the disappearing railroad blues.”
Below is Goodman performing the song live in 1972.
Arlo Guthrie’s Version: Changed Lyrics
While Arlo Guthrie’s famous verion of the song follows Steve Goodman’s lyrics, there is one exception. Note in the video above, Goodman sings about “passing towns that have no name.” In Guthrie’s famous version, he sings about “passing trains that have no names.”
One commentator has explained that the difference between the two versions comes from Goodman’s knowledge of train travel. Goodman would know that traveling on the train, one would go through many towns without seeing any signs. But perhaps Guthrie did not understand or he thought city listeners would not understand a train traveling through nameless towns. Or maybe Guthrie just wanted to contrast regular nameless trains with the train named “City of New Orleans.”
In this video, a young Guthrie performs “City of New Orleans.”
“City of New Orleans” Today
Sometimes we all forget that we have a limited time on earth to make a difference, but Goodman’s leukemia diagnosis at a young age made him want to do as much with his life as he could. And his song about a train did make a difference.
After the song “City of New Orleans” became popular in the 1970s, Amtrak, hoping to capitalize on the song’s popularity, brought back the “City of New Orleans” train name in 1981. Thanks to Steve Goodman, you may still take a ride on the City of New Orleans today. And thanks to him, you may also sing along to one of the great American songs.
And that’s the story behind the song.
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