Steve Goodman was a folk singer-songwriter from Chicago best known for writing “City of New Orleans,” which was recorded by Arlo Guthrie and Willie Nelson and which was awarded a Grammy in 1985. He also wrote many other songs (see David Allan Coe Sings “The Perfect Country & Western Song” – You Never Even Called Me By My Name), including a number of Chicagocentric ditties, such as “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request”, “Daley’s Gone,” and “Go, Cubs, Go.” None, however, was more enthusiastically received in the Chicago venues he played than “Lincoln Park Pirates,” based on the exploits of the Lincoln Towing Service, infamous for allegedly towing away legally parked cars to hold them for ransom by their enraged owners.

Even if you’ve never been inside the city limits of Chi-Town and even if you’ve never had your car illicitly towed. this is a song to savor.

Goodman died of leukemia in September 1984.

Credit Due Department: Steve Goodman photo by David Gans (Flickr user dgans, http://www.dgans.com/) – http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgans/183587539/, CC BY 2.0, via Wikipedia. Towing sign photo by TonyTheTiger at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0,  via Wikipedia.