A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request will forever link Steve Goodman with the Chicago Cubs. In the "windy city", you can hear the song around the start of baseball season every season.
The song debuted on Roy Leonard's WGN radio show the day. Here is Leonard's recollection of that day, "The most memorable of all the visits, however, occurred on March 16, 1983, when Steve (Goodman) and Jethro Burns walked into our WGN studios around 11:00 a.m. They had just finished a weekend at Park West and Steve said he had a introduced a song the night before that he would like to sing on the radio for the first time. With Jethro on mandolin and Steve's guitar for accompaniment, A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request was heard on the radio the first time. Little did we know."
"If the Cubs were to win (The World Series) it would be a coronary event for me." - Steve Goodman
A Dying Cub Fan's Last Requestby Steve Goodman (1983) |
A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request |
By the shore's of old Lake Michigan Do they still play the blues in Chicago Told his friends "You know the law of averages says: and then one thing led to another Year after year after year Build a big fire on home plate out of your Louisville Sluggers baseball bats, The dying man's friends told him to cut it out And he said, "Ahh Play, play that lonesome losers tune, Do they still play the blues in Chicago |
A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request |
During the 1984 season both Wrigley Field and WGN radio (AM 720) played Go Cubs Go — a song that was also written and performed by Steve Goodman.
Click the player to Hear A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request by Steve Goodman
Did you know that when Steve Goodman sang Take Me Out To The Ballgame he switched the Cubs lyrics too, "It's root, root, root, for the home team, If they don't win, what else is new."
Are you a SERIOUS Chicago Cubs (click this link to go to Baseball Almanac's team page) fan? Have you stuck with them through thick & thin? If so, please consider joining our Chicago Cubs message board.