Steve Goodman
Musician · 1948–1984 · Chicago, Illinois
Best known for
Songwriter
Steve Goodman was a Chicago folksinger and songwriter whose 1971 “City of New Orleans” — written on an Illinois Central run from Chicago to his wife’s family in Mattoon — became a 1972 hit for Arlo Guthrie, a 1984 No. 1 country single for Willie Nelson, and one of the most widely recorded American train songs of the postwar era. He lived with leukemia for sixteen years and was a fixture of the Chicago folk-club scene until his early death.
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- Born Steven Benjamin Goodman on July 25, 1948, on Chicago’s North Side, into a middle-class Jewish family.
- Graduated from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois, in 1965, where he was a classmate of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
- Was diagnosed with leukemia while in college; the disease shaped the rest of his life.
- Wrote “City of New Orleans” in 1971; Arlo Guthrie’s 1972 Reprise single reached the pop Top 20, and Willie Nelson’s 1984 cover took the song to No. 1 country.
- Co-wrote “You Never Even Call Me by My Name” with John Prine; David Allan Coe’s 1975 recording gave Coe his first Top Ten country hit.
- A lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, wrote “Go Cubs Go” (1984), still played at Wrigley Field after every Cubs win.
- Was awarded the Grammy for Best Country Song posthumously in 1985 for Willie Nelson’s recording of “City of New Orleans.”
- Died of complications from leukemia in Seattle on September 20, 1984, at age 36.
