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Goodman’s Family Sold ‘Go Cubs Go’ Just Before Song Took Off
Folk singer Steve Goodman’s “Go Cubs Go” about his beloved Chicago Cubs is a hit decades after he died – and months after his relatives sold the rights to his song collection.
Photo: Nam Y. Huh/AP
Chicago Cubs fans celebrate before a rally in Grant Park honoring the World Series baseball champions in Chicago.
That means they shared the joy of hearing fans at Wrigley Field belt out the song during this World Series-winning season, but a lot less money.
Nielsen says the song has climbed to No. 21 in digital sales.
Goodman’s relatives still get the songwriter’s share of royalties for the song he recorded weeks before he died of leukemia in 1984. But they don’t get the larger sum that goes to the owner of the publishing rights.
They’re not complaining, though. Rosanna Goodman tells the Chicago Sun-Times the song’s surging popularity is a fitting memorial to her father.