Origins: City of New Orleans

Subject: RE: Origins: City of New Orleans
From: breezy
Date: 13 Mar 15 - 05:00 PM

I go with Greg

Subject: RE: Origins: City of New Orleans
From: Dennis the Elder
Date: 13 Mar 15 - 02:55 PM

The song was copywrited in 1970 by John Goodmen with the phrase "Old Black Man" and Willie Nelsons version contains this phrase and I am convinced that Arlo Guthries hit in 1972 also contained this phrase. I also believe that no harm was meant by the phrase just an observation as what was seen.

Subject: RE: Origins: City of New Orleans
From: pdq
Date: 13 Mar 15 - 12:34 PM

I suspect it was John Denver who changed it to "old gray men".

That seems to be the way it is usually sung in the PC World.

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Not in this John Denver version (click), but he does uses "grey" and other altered lyrics in this 1971 version on the Aerie album. -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Origins: City of New Orleans
From: Greg F.
Date: 13 Mar 15 - 12:02 PM

Yes. Sing it the way it was written.

Subject: Origins: City of New Orleans
From: GUEST,BobJovi
Date: 13 Mar 15 - 11:29 AM

Can someone help me out? I am once again singing "City of New Orleans" with my students. I am not singing it the way I learned it as "freight yards full of old black men". Instead, I am substituting "grey" for black, as the many versions that I have heard use that version--I thought I had misheard black years ago.

I went back recently and saw that Steve Goodman used the word "black", and thought he must have meant stained with coal dust or something of the like. Then I started looking into the history of the Pullman Porters, and learned that it was this profession that was responsible for the creation of a black middle class--at least according to Wikipedia.

I sometimes think about how homogenous we are becoming as a nation. Societally, we have turned John Henry into a white person, and I worry that we are currently in the process of doing as much with Martin Luther King. Am I doing a discredit to the intent of Steve Goodman's song by changing one word?