Most of you are probably familiar with the song City of New Orleans; depending on your age, you probably hear it in your mind’s ear being performed either by Arlo Guthrie (son of folk singer/activist Woody Guthrie) or by Willie Nelson.
Arlo Guthrie recorded it in 1972; Nelson in 1984.
But there's more to it than that; here's "the rest of the story," as Paul Harvey used to say:
The song was written by Steve Goodman, who actually recorded the first version of it half a century ago (I apologize if that makes you feel old), in 1971. You can listen to his version of it here.
So how did it come about that Arlo Guthrie recorded the song? Oftentimes a performer will hear a song he really likes that fits his style and abilities and then, out of custom or respect, ask the songwriter for their permission to record it. Actually, they could just go ahead and record it without asking; they don’t strictly need to get permission, as the songwriter gets part of the royalties anyway, and the performer’s/recorder’s legal obligation ends there. Caveat emptor: IANAL (“I Am Not A Lawyer”), but I’m pretty sure this is how it works.
In this case, though, the situation was reversed: Goodman apparently wanted to give his song more exposure than he was able to give it on his own, so approached the better-known Guthrie about recording it. Arlo was not really initially enthused about hearing the song, but told Goodman if he bought him a beer he would listen to him as long as his beer lasted. You can hear Arlo tell the story (and then play the song) here:
As you already know if you watched that clip, Guthrie was duly impressed by the tune, and recorded it, garnering his biggest hit as a result. He got a payday, as the performer, and Goodman got a payday as the songwriter. Arlo’s version of the song was released in 1972. You can hear his studio (radio) version of it here:
City of New Orleans has that old-timey nostalgic sound, similar to another song I’ll cover in a future installment of “The Name of That Tune,” namely Gordon Lightfoot’s Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
It is such a great song that not only was it a hit once, but at least twice. Willie Nelson covered it in 1984. You can hear Nelson’s version here:
Other people covered it, too, but I consider the versions specifically mentioned above the most important, plus one more:
I like each version more than the previous one, and so my favorite version is the one performed by The Highwaymen (an “outlaw country” super group comprised of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson). You can hear their live version of City of New Orleans here:
An interesting tidbit about the various artists who worked on the song is that Kris Kristofferson was the producer of Steve Goodman’s version, and was in The Highwaymen and thus played the song on stage with them years after producing the original version of it.
City of New Orleans appeared on compilation albums (“Best Of” or “Greatest Hits” or “Live”) put out by all of these artists. These are:
City of New Orleans by Steve Goodman
https://www.amazon.com/City-New-Orleans-Steve-Goodman/dp/B01MQ2CIFV/garrphotgall-20
Best of Arlo Guthrie
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Arlo-Guthrie-CD/dp/B08TG3KP9R/garrphotgall-20
The Essential Willie Nelson
https://www.amazon.com/City-of-New-Orleans/dp/B016FZ7UE2/garrphotgall-20
Live: American Outlaws by The Highwaymen
https://www.amazon.com/Live-American-Outlaws-Highwaymen/dp/B01CFGCIHY/garrphotgall-20
The previous installment (#1) of the series “The Name of That Tune” was about the song “The End of the World” and can be found here:
https://ramblingnotesofageezer.substack.com/p/the-end-of-the-world