Steve Goodman: Facing the Music [With Access Code]

By Clay Eals

Steve Goodman wrote "Good mornin' America, how are ya" into the nation's consciousness, becoming one of the most respected singer/songwriters of the 1970s and early 80s. With warmth and wit, he charmed better-known peers, top critics, and countless fans. Yet this 5-foot-2 troubadour nearly lost his chance at adult life. Diagnosed with leukemia at age 20, Goodman kept it a secret for 16 years as he sang for a generation that assumed it would live forever.

This biography scrutinizes a theme that Goodman knew all too well: when death is imminent, we grasp that life is about connecting with others. Goodman's childhood, the untold full story of "City of New Orleans," his launching by the unlikely duo of Kris Kristofferson and Paul Anka, his teaming with "wild and crazy" Steve Martin for more than 200 shows, his landmark recordings and two Grammy awards all get extensive attention in this biography. The book delves into his personal and professional life, drawing on over 850 original interviews with Goodman's family, childhood and adult friends, and a diversity of celebrities.

"From the cradle to the crypt, it's a mighty short trip," Goodman wrote in a song shortly before his 1984 death. This biography verifies that the universality of his work -- hilarious, political, romantic, or all three rolled into one -- resonates deeply in today's musical firmament.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1550227327
• ISBN13: 9781550227321
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: ECW Press
• Length: 800 Pages
• Weight: 4.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 8.1" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Steve Goodman: What a Guy!

I have no idea who Clay Eals is, but he has certainly captured Steve Goodman's essence in this wonderful biography. I lived on the same block as Somebody Else's Troubles, and I have bored my poor husband to death with tales of the best concert I ever saw....when Steve performed at Chicago Fest. All of us sat around on the floor of Navy Pier, and Steve just sat in a chair, and we were all in heaven. He was amazing. Thank you for sharing how influential he was, not only to Arlo Guthrie, but also to Jimmy Buffet, Bonnie Raitt, John Prine and so many others. If I hear one more person say that "City of New Orleans" is Arlo's most brilliant song, I will just scream. Thanks for recalling Steve's ability to make a roomful of total strangers into close friends...if only for a night.

After reading this, I miss him more than ever

This is an exhaustively researched, passionately written biography of one of folk music's real treasures. The range of people interviewed, from playground pals to "really famous big time musicians" is huge, and the message is consistent--great talent, great sense of humor, great love of life, great man. I'll never forget any of the times I saw him; the last time, when his health was clearly fading and he was sharing a bill with John Prine came back to me like a film. Thank you for writing this book, thank you for keeping Steve Goodman alive. I hope you find a wide audience and that Steve is "discovered" by many more people.

A Remarkable Achievement

This biography is a remarkable achievement. Eals synthesizes a massive amount of material to construct not only a life but an era. It should be of interest to anyone moved by a period when folk music no longer meant either "like the hillbillies played" or "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore," but resisted in a different way the blandishments and selfishness of mainstream popular culture, with songs about old-fashioned girls and vegematics, Spoon River and 42nd Street, old black men and Door Number Three. When Clay showed me an early draft of his opening chapter, in which he describes one of Steve's last performances as his illness was worsening, I worried that he risked stigmatizing the book, and thus Steve's legacy, with the mawkishness of a disease of the week tale of "courage." Clay acknowledged the risk to all of us who expressed concern, and yet pressed on, committed to the notion that there was a way to tell Steve's story in a way that was deeply human, and thus deeply universal. Clay's accomplished that with the same humane artistry that Steve brought to his own craft. In so doing, he's created a kind of folk journalism for the early 21st century. It's not folk in the museum-sense of written with a quill pen harvested from a goose he raised himself. It's folk in the original meaning of the term, as being of the people, of being real in its regard for beauty and humor, delight and wit, musicianship and charm, family and friends, birth and death. Better get it while you can . . .

Good to see that a "good man" like Goodman is not forgotten soon.

"Facing the Music" by gifted biographer, Clay Eals, captures not only Steve Goodman's brief but brillian life journey, but also the zeitgeist of his era with meticulous attention to detail. The book is a joy to simply browse, weighing in at almost the same weight as Goodman himself. Even if you are not familiar with Goodman's impressive body of work as a composer,entertainer and inveterate Cubs fan, or with his songbook that ranges from the anthemic "City of New Orleans" to the bittersweet "Would You Like To Learn To Dance?"; even if you are not familiar with his tragic loss due to leukemia at age 36; this book is to be savored and enjoyed by anyone who cherishes the best of biographies. So far I have read only two masterpiece biographies this year (May, 2007), Facing the Music by Eals and Einstein; the Man and his Universe by Isaacson. While both books involved enormous quantities of research, it's Eals' work that smacks of "life's obsession." Over nine years in the making, containing hundreds of interviews, never-before-seen photos, and an Acknowledgement section that reads like a folk music phone book, "Facing the Music" gives new meaning to the terms: Opus and Tour de Force. All of this output would be meaningless, however, if the subject and the writing style were not inherently engaging. Fortunately they are both. Eals writes in an elegant and embracing voice that draws you in further with each carefully placed paragraph. And, having met Steve Goodman on numerous occasions, I can attest that Eals succeeds in effectively exploring the artist's varied dimensions. He offers well-deserved praise without turning the book into an 800 page obituary notice. The style of the book borders on journalism rather than classic biography. Eals works hard to depict Goodman through the eyes of those who knew him best. The constant stream of anecdotes, insights and episodes is addictive and makes it painful to stop reading. Eals' over-arching theme is that Goodman's recognition of his own mortality colored all of his work. The positive message is that Goodman's artistic reaction to his own imminent demise was not mordant dirges of doom. Instead, he appeared to look death squarely in the eye as he strove to "get it while you can." In the closing lyric of a tribute song that I wrote in Steve Goodman's memory shortly after his death in 1984, I respond to a query that Steve poses in his iconic "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request," which was: "Do they still sing the blues in Chicago?" The author was kind enough to include my song, along with 17 other tribute tunes, on a CD included with the book. In it I reply: "Yes they still sing the blues in Old Chicago, boys, Where a good man's not forgotten soon. His songs meant so much To the lives that were touched By the Man With The Golden Tune." Thank you, Clay, for insuring that my words will ring true, not just in Old Chicago, but everywhere where people read and enjoy this masterwork biography.

Clay Eals for president

This is the book that all Steve Goodman fans have been waiting for. No one could have expected it to be this good though! Insightful, great pictures and interesting not just to Steve fans but anyone that likes to read biographies. Comes with a tribute CD too! Great!