Steve Goodman: “Affordable Art” (1983/2019) CD Review

Affordable Art was Steve Goodman’s final studio album (though it does include a few live tracks), originally released in 1983. It features mostly original material, including a song about his beloved baseball team, the Cubs. It also includes a performance by John Prine on a cover of his “Souvenirs.” Last year saw the release of a new expanded edition, which includes several bonus tracks, most of which were previously unreleased, as well as new liner notes by Lee Zimmerman.

The album opens with a sweet and pretty instrumental tune titled “If Jethro Were Here,” featuring Jim Rothermel on recorder. At the end, you can hear the crowd applauding. It is followed by another live track, “Vegematic.” In his introduction to it, Steve says “This is actually the sad story of a man who falls asleep with his television on and has visions.” If you aren’t familiar with this song, you are in for a treat. It’s a funny song about a man who dreams he has ordered everything he hears advertised on late-night television. You can hear the audience reacting throughout the track, laughing at lines like “By the light of the Mastercard moon” and “So I could eat my eggs off the president’s face,” the latter of which I imagine would get a laugh today as well. With the humor of this song, it probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone that it was co-written by Shel Silverstein, with Steve Goodman and Mike Smith. “Old Smoothies” is also a live track, and when introducing this one, Steve dedicates it to his grandparents, who used to take him to any event that took place on ice. It is a sweet song about old folks on the ice.

“Talk Backwards” is a cool and totally enjoyable tune with a jazzy groove and finger snaps. It was written by Steve Goodman and Mike Smith. “And if you’re out with some girl, and she’s little bit shy/Don’t say ‘I love you,’ say ‘uoy evol I’/Uoy evol I, and I always will/Now see if that doesn’t take off the chill/Talk backwards.” That’s followed by “How Much Tequila (Did I Drink Last Night?),” a fun country tune about drinking and the not-so-beneficial results of getting drunk. This is a song that Steve Goodman wrote with John Prine. It is still difficult to accept that we’ve lost John Prine. This is a cruel year. “When My Rowboat Comes In” is one of my favorite tracks, in large part because of Steve Goodman’s excellent vocal performance. He is joined by Sharon White and Cheryl White on vocals, adding to the track’s beauty. Jerry Douglas is on dobro, and Marty Stuart is on mandolin. “When my rowboat comes in, there’ll be room enough to ride/Though the seas are rough in the highest tide/When the sun comes out on the other side/Everything will be all right when we go rowing.” Steve then delivers an excellent rendition of John Prine’s “Souvenirs,” with John Prine joining him on guitar and vocals.  Check out these lyrics: “Broken hearts and dirty windows/Make life difficult to see/That’s why last night and this morning/Always look the same to me.”

During this time of isolation and social distancing, I’ve been missing live music something fierce. Fortunately, my girlfriend and I stumbled upon a couple who perform at the end of their driveway every evening at 7 p.m., on guitar and violin. They are joined by the neighbors (at the end of their respective driveways), including folks on clarinet and stand-up bass. Well, each night they play different songs, but they close each show with the same song, “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.” And we all sing along. My girlfriend at first teased me when I’d shout “Red Sox” instead of “home team” each time, but now she joins me. If there is anything I miss as much as live music, it is baseball. This is shaping up to be the first year since 1978 when I haven’t made it to at least one Red Sox game. Well, Steve Goodman was a big baseball fan, and here delivers an absolutely delightful rendition of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game,” featuring some wonderful work by Jethro Burns on mandolin. Being a Cubs fan, on the second pass, Steve changes “If they don’t win, it’s a shame” to “If they don’t win, what else is new.” He follows that with another baseball song, this one an original titled “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request.” Sadly, Steve didn’t live long enough to see the Cubs win the World Series (the only good thing that happened in that most foul of years, 2016), a team referred to here as “the doormat of the National League.” This song is a lot of fun, and its line “On some sunny weekend day – no lights” reminds us that Wrigley still didn’t have lights in 1983 when this album came out. By the way, this is a live track.

“California Promises” is a sad and kind of beautiful song, with a sweet ache. “I will never love another/Wait for me until I return/Though she never will, he waits for her beside the water/Faithful still to California promises.” That’s followed by “Watchin’ Joey Glow,” a cheerful number about life in a fallout shelter with a man who didn’t quite escape contamination, a man who has gained some peculiar powers. “The way we decorated Joe as if he was our tree/And his star was shining brightly underneath the mistletoe/So we blew him kisses, watching Joey glow/I hope the world is not over, for my sake and for his/I’d love for everyone to know how brilliant Joey is.” The original album concludes with “Grand Canyon Song,” a solo performance by Steve Goodman on guitar and vocals, a song that includes a plea to protect what he refers to here as “mother nature’s masterpiece.” If you haven’t been to the Grand Canyon, I highly recommend checking it out when you can. It’s incredible.

Bonus Tracks

This disc contains eight bonus tracks, most of which were previously unreleased. The first bonus track, “Go Cubs Go,” is the only one to be previously available. Yes, he really was a big Cubs fan. This song was used as WGN Radio’s Cubs Theme, and was released as a single. It’s a fun number, with a whole lot of optimism expressed in lines like “The Cubs are going to win today” and “This is the year and the Cubs are real.” The lyrics also mention WGN. Not sure I agree with the line “Chicago Cubs got the greatest fans,” but I love this track.

The rest of the bonus tracks are solo acoustic performances by Steve Goodman, recorded in 1983, none of which were previously released. The first of these is “Streets Of London,” written by Ralph McTell. There is a bit of studio banter at the beginning, with Steve mentioning the song’s writer. The song describes some sad and lonely characters, using their plights in comparison with the ordinary troubles of the person he is singing to, and is quite effective. “In our winter city/The rain cries a little pity/For one more forgotten hero/In a world that doesn’t care.” Then we get studio renditions of two songs that were recorded live for the original album: “Old Smoothies” and “Vegematic.” This version of “Old Smoothies” is moving, and when he sings “not a dry eye in the crowd,” you might find that your eyes likewise aren’t completely dry. And sure, this recording of “Vegematic” might have less energy than the live version, where he feeds off the crowd’s enjoyment, but it has a cool vibe. Also interesting is that instead of “Six Flags over Burbank,” here he sings “Six Flags over Jesus.”

“Friday Night” has a celebratory air about it. And why not? Here he sings of the joys of Friday night, and how no other point in the week feels like Friday night. Of course, these days Friday is the same as Monday or any other day. But soon we’ll all be back to work, whether we want to be or not, whether it is safe or not. “On Friday when the sun goes down I’m going to put on my dancing shoes.” Well, more than halfway through the track he tells us, “If I was the president, I’d tell you what I’d do/I’d pass a law, make every night be Friday night for you.” Then “Fire Escape” begins with some really nice work on guitar. This is a song about the heat of summer and the music that is in the air. That’s followed by “Don’t Do Me Any Favors Anymore.” “If I thought for just one moment I could take you at your word” is a great opening line, and one we could dedicate to the mendacious racist occupying the White House. The album then concludes with “It Took Me So Long.” Check out these lines: “Do you think you can walk back in, in the middle of a pretty good day/And I’ll be waiting just as if you never went away/It took me so long, so long to mend/It took me so long to put the fire out/So don’t light it up again.”

CD Track List

1. If Jethro Were Here
2. Vegematic
3. Old Smoothies
4. Talk Backwards
5. How Much Tequila (Did I Drink Last Night?)
6. When My Rowboat Comes In
7. Souvenirs
8. Take Me Out To The Ball Game
9. A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request
10. California Promises
11. Watchin’ Joey Glow
12. Grand Canyon Song
13. Go Cubs Go
14. Streets Of London
15. Old Smoothies
16. Vegematic
17. Friday Night
18. Fire Escape
19. Don’t Do Me Any Favors Anymore
20. It Took Me So Long

This expanded edition of Affordable Art was released on July 19, 2019 through Omnivore Recordings. On that same date an expanded edition of Steve Goodman’s Artistic Hair was released.