The Meaning Behind The Song: City Of New Orleans by Arlo Guthrie - Old Time Music (2024)

FAQs

The Meaning Behind The Song: City Of New Orleans by Arlo Guthrie - Old Time Music? ›

The story behind the song is, it was written by Steve Goodman in 1970. He had just gotten married and was traveling with his new bride to meet her grandmother. They rode the train on the Illinois Central Line called The City Of New Orleans. As his wife Nancy slept, Steve jotted down notes about the passing scenery.

"City of New Orleans" is a country folk song written by Steve Goodman (and first recorded for Goodman's self-titled 1971 album), describing a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans on the Illinois Central Railroad's City of New Orleans in bittersweet and nostalgic terms. "Would You Like to Learn to Dance?"

City of New Orleans is a studio album by the American musician Willie Nelson, released by Columbia Records in 1984. The title track was written and originally recorded by Steve Goodman; his version was released in 1971. The next year, Arlo Guthrie became the first to have a hit with the song.

Music commemorates good times and bad in New Orleans

and the Marsalis family. It's a place where gospel music achieves lofty heights and marching bands step, dip and sway down well-worn parade routes. It's a place where Mardi Gras Indians first inspired the call and response now associated with hip-hop, rap and bounce.

New Orleans, Louisiana, is especially known for its strong association with jazz music, universally considered to be the birthplace of the genre. The earliest form was dixieland, which has sometimes been called traditional jazz, 'New Orleans', and 'New Orleans jazz'.

Serving as a major port, New Orleans is considered an economic and commercial hub for the broader Gulf Coast region of the United States. New Orleans is world-renowned for its distinctive music, Creole cuisine, unique dialects, and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras.

New Orleans jazz is unique, having evolved from the African and Caribbean call-and-response chants and drumming practiced by African Americans in the city during the post–Civil War era, and from the dance music played by brass bands that became popular in that city.

The now-75-year-old with long silver curls has experienced health issues and announced in 2020 that he was retiring from touring. But Guthrie is coming back to the stage for a handful of shows starting Saturday at the Shubert Theatre in Boston.

Each ethnic group in New Orleans contributed to the very active musical environment in the city, and in this way to the development of early jazz. A well-known example of early ethnic influences significant to the origins of jazz is the African dance and drumming tradition, which was documented in New Orleans.

“The original jazz idiom started in New Orleans, and it spread,” says Raeburn. “As it spread, it changed, but the original sound came from New Orleans.”

What culture is New Orleans known for? ›

We claim a rich melting pot of diverse history and traditions. French, Spanish, Congolese, Haitian, Native American, Creole, Latino, Sicilian, Anglo-Americans and a half dozen more nations and peoples converged on the high ground of the Mississippi to forge a new identity – one unique in all the world.

Jazz. New Orleans is easily the jazz music mecca. Louis Armstrong, Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton and Sidney Bechet are among some of the city's most celebrated jazz musicians who helped to pioneer the genre.

Traditional New Orleans jazz is band music characterized by a front line usually consisting of cornet (or trumpet), clarinet, and trombone engaging in polyphony with varying degrees of improvisation (without distorting the melody) and driven by a rhythm section consisting of piano (although rarely before 1915), guitar ...

Jazz Funeral. A typical jazz funeral begins at a church or funeral home and leads the way to the cemetery. Mourners are joined by a brass band that plays music that starts off heavy and sad but soon turns celebratory.

Orléans in Centre-Val de Loire (also known as the Loire Valley) is a city rich with history and famous for its links to Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orléans. The regional capital of Centre, Orléans was first founded by the Gauls and was a prosperous stronghold that managed to push back the invasion of Attila and his Huns.

But New Orleans is an incredibly welcoming and friendly community, and so many of the civic events and culture here are built around that. Most of our biggest traditions involve community- Mardi Gras krewes, Mardi Gras parades, second lines, Mardi Gras Indians, crawfish boils, Saints games, and countless other things.

New Orleans' famous Bourbon Street is famous for a reason

Raucous. Nocturnal. For many New Orleans visitors, Bourbon Street embodies the life of a party town. The street is lit by neon lights, throbbing with music and decorated by beads and balconies.