This is the season for sacred music. One song that's sacred to us Midwest expatriates is the only country song ever known to come out of Chicago, Steve Goodman's "You Never Even Call Me By My Name." Like with Goodman's "City of New Orleans," it was somebody else, not Steve, who won fame and fortune with this song. I haven't heard David Allan Coe's version, from which the lyrics in the database supposedly were transcribed. It sure isn't the same as the great lyrics I hear on Steve's recordings - even the title's wrong. I transcribed this from Buddah's The Essential Steve Goodman and the Red Pajamas Goodman anthology called No Big Surprise.
I put the Coe verse in italics because I haven't heard it, and so I just copied what was in the database. Can somebody please listen to the Coe recording and give us a corrected transcription?
-Joe Offer-

YOU NEVER EVEN CALL ME BY MY NAME
(Steve Goodman)
(As performed by Steve Goodman)

It was all that I could do to keep from cryin'
Sometimes it seems so useless to remain
You're the one who always tried to change me
That is why I'll always stay the same

CHORUS
And I'll hang around as long as you will let me.
I never minded standin' in the rain.
You don't have to call me darlin', darlin',
But you never even call me by my name.

You don't have to call me Waylon Jennings.
No, you don't have to call me Charlie Pride.
And you don't have to call me Merle Haggard anymore,
Even though you know you're on my fightin' side.
CHORUS

I've seen my name a few times in the phone book
And on the neon sign above the bar I used to own.
There is only one thing that I'm really sure of:
I'm gonna hear it when my Savior calls me home.

'Til that day I'm gonna hang around as long as you will let me.
I never minded standin' in the rain.
You don't have to call me darlin', darlin',
But you never even call me by my name.

It's not her heart, Lord; it's her mind
She didn't mean to be unkind
And she never even called me by my name.

(Extra verse, supposedly as sung by David Allan Coe)
Well, I was drunk the day my Mom got outta prison.
And I went to pick her up in the rain.
But, before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got run over by a damned old train.

(Extra verse, as interpreted by Goodman)
Ever since the dog got drunk and died, and Momma went to prison,
There ain't nothin' 'round this farm that's been the same
And you know, when Mom broke out last Christmas,
She rolled the goddamn getaway laundry truck right into a train.
CHORUS

(Allegedly, Steve wrote this song with John Prine, but Prine refused to claim writer credit because the song was "goofy.")

JRO