You Never Even Called Me by My Name" is accompanied mainly by resonator guitar, pedal steel guitar and electric guitar. In the song, the narrator addresses a former lover, who has rejected him to the point that he considers it "useless to remain."[2] The song's final verse is preceded by a recitation in which Coe explains that "a friend of [his] named Steve Goodman" wrote the song (Prine had declined to be credited as a co-writer) and considered it "the perfect country and western song."[3] He goes on to say that Goodman added the final verse after Coe told him that it was not the perfect country song because it "hadn't said anything at all about mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or getting drunk."[4] In response to Coe's comment, Goodman wrote a satirical final verse that intentionally uses exaggerations of country music clichés:[2]

Well, I was drunk the day my mom got out of 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 runned over by a damned ol' train[2]

B&B showing some true ignorance here.

My hometown gets a mention in "City of New Orleans". It was much less of a shithole back then.

My hometown gets a mention in "City of New Orleans". It was much less of a shithole back then.

Can you imagine how li'l danny would take apart a guy who said he had watched five NBA games and had a strong opinion that Dwight Howard was garbage? That's what it was like listening to him talk about Goodman and "City of New Orleans". He doesn't know shit about music so he should keep his mouth shut. And he doesn't know that to those of us that do know, he sounds a million times worse than the meatball who thinks Luke Harangody will be an NBA All-Star.