Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Be a wild strawberry.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

You are here: Home / Music / It takes a Train to cry

It takes a Train to cry

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Part of the reason I’m so concerned with domestic terrorism is that, while few will say this openly, there can be no doubt that Train is just as dangerous as to our way of life as Nickleback and Mumford & Sons are. I heard an absolutely amazing Train song while getting my hair cut earlier today, Save Me San Francisco, the most ridiculous place name-dropping I’ve heard in years, at least since “Heart of Rock N’ Roll”, and I would argue that it’s worse since it’s NoCal/Pacific Northwest specific. (Also too, some “I been this, I been that” and a lot of clichéd instrumentation.)

Got me thinking…what are your favorite songs that prominently mention places? I’d like both songs you actually like (I’ll go with “Saginaw, Michigan” and any of a host of songs that talk about Louisiana) and ones that are ridiculous (“Keep On Rocking Me Baby”, etc.).

Reader Interactions

416Comments

  1. 1.

    piratedan

    Since I’m in the Grand Canyon State…..

    Get Back/The Beatles – Tucson, AZ (where JoJo is from) and for a while McCartney kept a residence here (strangely enough)

    Take It Easy/The Eagles – Winslow, AZ (where girls with flatboard Fords are from, naturally)

  3. 3.

    Doug Milhous J

    @piratedan:

    Take It Easy always seemed gratuitous in that song. Love JoJo tho. EDIT: I mean the Winslow Arizona seemed gratuitous.

  4. 4.

    Trollhattan

    “The desert” is pretty generic place-name dropping but for lyric-smithing at its worst, this.

    I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name,
    It felt good to be out of the rain.
    In the desert you can remember your name,
    ‘Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain.
    La, la, la la la la, la la la, la, la
    La, la, la la la la, la la la, la, la

    Will take me longer to come up with one I like.

  5. 5.

    Rowdy P. Nutt

    I am from Arkansas, so I might pick bluesman CeDell Davis’ notorious “If You Like Fat Women (Come Down to Pine Bluff, Arkansas),” itself a reworking of Bukka White’s Pine Bluff, Arkansas. But seriously, I would add “Omaha” by Waylon Jennings, Robert Earl Keen’s “Corpus Christi Bay,” “Walking to New Orleans” by Fats Domino, and “Dirty Water” (Boston) by the Standells. And many more…

  6. 6.

    Original Lee

    Allentown by Billy Joel

    One I don’t really like but have (sadly) heard a lot:
    I’d Really Rather Be in Rochester

  7. 7.

    gogol's wife

    @Rowdy P. Nutt:

    This is so funny. My husband and I were driving back from Cambridge yesterday, and I suddenly said, “What’s that song where they sing ‘that River Charles'”? He had no idea what I was talking about, but I couldn’t get it out of my head, and I googled it when we got back and was reminded of “Dirty Water.” I had not thought about that in probably 45 years.

  10. 10.

    Richard W. Crews

    fix your site! It’;s unreadable, or at least unpleasantly unreadable. The speil; is laid out ONE word wide. I’m not enjoying stopping by!

  11. 11.

    Jay B.

    The worst? That Journey song about South Detroit, where there is no South Detroit.

  13. 13.

    gogol's wife

    I always liked the way Steely Dan sang “up in Annandale” in “My Old School.”

  14. 14.

    Caliph Garrett

    We’re an American Band–Grand Funk Railroad (How many other rock songs namecheck Little Rock and Omaha?)

    Buzzbomb–Dead Kennedys (Highway 50 and Ely, NV where Pat Nixon was born)

  15. 15.

    Paul Gottlieb

    “Saginaw, Michigan” is obviously the best: The combination of all those clever near rhymes for Michigan and the satisfying story content make it a clear winner. Someone needs to shoot that horse with no name.

  18. 18.

    Shana

    “The Ice of Boston” by Dismemberment Plan

    “Don’t Go Back to Rockville” REM

  19. 19.

    gogol's wife

    Of course if you get started on standards, Johnny Mercer and such, there will be no end.

    ETA: e.g. Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe

  20. 20.

    pacem appellant

    I love “Where do you go to my Lovely” by Peter Sarstedt. Rue de Saint Michelle melts me every time.

    As for hate, I’ll go with “California Love”. Though I’ll sing along to it, just to say Sactown.

  22. 22.

    Amir Khalid

    Off the top of my head:
    Penny Lane, The Beatles
    Sweet Baby James, James Taylor
    Allentown, Billy Joel
    Youngstown, Nebraska, Bruce Springsteen
    Bleecker Street, Simon & Garfunkel
    …

  23. 23.

    Napoleon

    I should have also mentioned I’m Shipping Up to Boston by the Dropkick Murphys.

  24. 24.

    Origuy

    Then there’s Starship’s “We Built This City”, which managed to be ambiguous about which city they’re talking about. It appears on several “worst song” lists.

    You may now commence hating me for putting this earworm in your brains, as I am hating Doug J for causing it to be in mine.

  25. 25.

    Steve

    Dire Straits had this classic called “Telegraph Road” (it’s like 14 minutes long, so you probably didn’t hear it on the radio unless the DJ had to take a piss). Telegraph Road is also a semi-major highway in the Detroit area and while I was growing up, I used to amuse myself by thinking the Dire Straits song was about that same highway even though they’re a British band and it was obviously about something else. Years later I found out that it actually was written about that very street. Mark Knopfler came up with it while they were riding the tour bus up from Toledo or somesuch.

  26. 26.

    patrick II

    “Sweet Home Alabama” is a good enough song I like it despite hating the actual Alabama. It is the musical equivalent of a sympathy fuck.

  29. 29.

    Rowdy P. Nutt

    “Raining in Port Arthur’ by the Gourds…and I would second Lucinda Williams’ “Lake Charles” as nominated by trollhattan at #9.

  30. 30.

    KG

    Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans is one of my favorites. I Love LA is kind of annoying, having grown up in southern California.

    And for the all encompassing answer: I’ve Been Everywhere, Man (even if it was annoyingly used in a commercial)

    ETA: also too, Uneasy Rider by Charlie Daniels, both the original and the sequel in 88.

  31. 31.

    Vlad

    “Life During Wartime” by the Talking Heads.

    Heard about Houston? Heard about Detroit?
    Heard about Pittsburgh, PA?

  33. 33.

    No One of Consequence

    “Willin'” – Feat

    … Well I been from Tuscon to Tucumcari,
    Tehachapi to Tonopah…

    Been to all four in a VW microbus. 8)

    Peace,

    – NOoC

  36. 36.

    Violet

    And one of my very favorites: “Point Me In The Direction Of Albuquerque” by The Partridge Family. Campy classic.

  37. 37.

    Southern Beale

    Shawn Mullins place-name drops all the time. “L.A.’s kinda like Nashville … with a tan.” Gets the LOLZ all the time. In fact, that Soul’s Core album has all sorts of place names as song titles. “Twin Rocks, Oregon” and “Gulf Of Mexico.” I think one of my favorites is “September In Seattle.”

    I also love Ray LaMontagne’s “New York City’s Killing Me.” Great song.

  39. 39.

    Cacti

    “Carolina In My Mind” by James Taylor

    And in case anyone was wondering, he was talking about North not South.

  45. 45.

    Chet

    “Toolmaster of Brainerd”, Trip Shakespeare. It’s really the ultimate song about Minnesota.

  48. 48.

    toberdog

    The ultimate on the road song: Truckin’, by the Dead.

    Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on main street.
    Chicago, new york, detroit and it’s all on the same street

    ***

    Dallas, got a soft machine; houston, too close to new orleans;
    New yorks got the ways and means; but just wont let you be, oh no.

  50. 50.

    Trollhattan

    “Mendocino” by Sir Douglas[J] Quintet is about as hooky as a song can be.

    James Brown’s “Night Train” rattles off quite a few locales.

  53. 53.

    Anoniminous

    For anyone who is or has lived in San Francisco executing someone singing, playing, or merely thinking about “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” is justifiable homicide.

  54. 54.

    eemom

    @No One of Consequence:

    damn, you posted that while I was looking up how to spell Tucumcari, Tehachapi and Tonapah

    @Steve:

    Telegraph Road is one of the all around bestest rock songs EVAH, imo…..from the intense poignancy of the lyrics to the killer guitar run at the end. Brilliant stuff.

  55. 55.

    Haydnseek

    Streets of Bakersfield. I just logged on. Didn’t read any of the comments. That is all. ETA-if a city or town is merely mentioned in a song does not mean that the song is about that city or town. Just sayin’

  59. 59.

    scav

    Randy Newman has a nice line in place based songs. Many are strongly imbued with places, but Dayton Ohio, 1903 and Louisiana 1927 are obvious ones. Dixie Flyer too.

  60. 60.

    Amir Khalid

    Some more:
    Royal Orleans, Led Zeppelin
    America, Simon & Garfunkel
    Folsom Prison Blues, Johnny Cash
    Memphis, Tennessee, Chuck Berry
    Lodi, Creedence Clearwater Revival
    What’s the title of that Chuck Berry song about a journey from Norfolk, Virginia to Los Angeles?

  61. 61.

    Steeplejack

    @Richard W. Crews:

    Jesus Christ, people have told you repeatedly in previous threads that you (probably) need to select View | Zoom | Zoom Text Only in your browser. It does you no good to helicopter in, make your complaint (repeatedly) and then not check back to see if anyone offered a solution.

    And apparently it never occurs to you that everyone else is not experiencing the same phenomenon you are.

  62. 62.

    Shakezula

    Rolling Stones – Far Away Eyes. I don’t know if it counts as prominent but sarcasm aimed at evangelists is always good.

    REM – Rockville. Allowed ripping on the local Rockville, which is indeed a place where years are wasted.

  63. 63.

    Trollhattan

    @eemom: Story goes Lowell George played it for Frank Zappa, who promptly told him to go start his own band and stop wasting his time iwth the Mothers. True? Maybe.

  64. 64.

    piratedan

    @Amir Khalid: that’s Promised Land, been covered by damn near everybody too :-)

    plus Indiana Wants Me by R. Dean Taylor and 24 Hours from Tulsa, by Gene Pitney (or the Dusty Springfield version is great too)

  68. 68.

    eemom

    Got a wife in Chino, babe and one in Cherokee
    First one says she’s got my child but it don’t look like me

  70. 70.

    Napoleon

    @Steve:

    BTW, in a similar vein from Knopfler on one of his solo albums is “Speedway at Nazareth” that manages to name check 13 different places on the North American open wheel auto-racing circuit circa 2002 (both he and I are big fans of it).

  71. 71.

    Steeplejack

    Atlanta Rhythm Section, “Doraville”!

    “It’s funky but it’s pretty.” (I used to live in Doraville.)

    ETA: Actually a good slide show on that video. Got me a little nostalgic.

  72. 72.

    Cacti

    Sweet Little Sixteen – Chuck Berry

    They’re really rockin’ in Boston
    In Pittsburgh, PA
    Deep in the heart of Texas
    And round the ‘Frisco Bay
    All over St. Louis
    Way down in New Orleans

    All the cats wanna dance with, Sweet Little Sixteen.

  73. 73.

    Bishop Bag

    Omaha!!! Moby Grape!!! Although the city is never mentioned in the song lyrics…

  75. 75.

    No One of Consequence

    @Trollhattan: Nope. Close though. Lowell was shown the door by Zappa, who refused to entertain druggies or those with such proclivities…

    – NOoC

    p.s. Sorry Eemom… ;)
    p.p.s. Personal beef: I love Rafferty’s Baker Street, but I hate, and I mean with the intensity of a thousand suns, HATE the sax riff in that song that they only use like…. 800 times! And the shitty high-to-low note shift by the guitar or bass that sounds remotely like a car downshifting. Those two fucking *NOISES* ruin that otherwise awesome tune.
    p.p.p.s. YMMV… of course…

  76. 76.

    Haydnseek

    @cleek: Thank you for this. Best enjoyed on vinyl, but any media will do. Not on topic, but “A Different Bob” is still greatness.

  79. 79.

    cvstoner

    Can’t believe no one has mentioned “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra.

    Damn, I’m getting old!

  82. 82.

    eemom

    @Shakezula:
    @Trollhattan:

    another lyrical masterpiece!

    ….there she was, sittin’ in the corner….a little bleary…..worse for the wear and tear…..

    I always think of that when I’m a little…..well, bleary.

  85. 85.

    Matt Smith

    Love “Lost in Austin” – by I can’t remember whom, but it’s cleverly written and filled with references to specific spots every local knows. I can’t find any sign of it online, but I have it on CD somewhere. I’ll have to look around for it.

    I do see a couple songs online named “Lost in Austin” that have no local references. Those aren’t it.

  86. 86.

    Jamey

    James Brown’s version of Night Train. (Not sure who wrote the original tune).

  87. 87.

    Montysano

    Well, since I live in Alabama, I’m required by law to like “Sweet Home Alabama”. But I prefer Neil Young’s “Alabama”. Jon Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery” is pretty sweet too, also.

  88. 88.

    hoppipolla

    “Albuquerque,” Neil Young

    “Louisiana, 1927,” Randy Newman: “The river has busted through all the way down to Plaquemines,/ Six feet of water on the streets of Evangeline”

    and would the opposite of a place-name song be “Everyone Knows This is Nowhere”?

  89. 89.

    cvstoner

    Also:

    Georgia on my mind by Ray Charles
    I Love L. A. by Randy Newman
    City of the Angels by Journey

  90. 90.

    Waysel

    “Wanted Man”. Johnny Cash sang it. Dylan wrote it.And Amir, “Promised Land” is the Chuck Berry song yer thinkin of. The Band did a nice version.

  95. 95.

    burnspbesq

    “Bowling Green,” Jesse Winchester
    “Nicaragua,” Bruce Cockburn
    “Los Angeles,” X
    “Las Vegas Turnaround,” Hall & Oates
    “Good Morning Aztlan,” Los Lobos
    “San Diego Serenade,” Tom Waits

  96. 96.

    ? Martin

    TMBG ‘New York City’

    We met in the springtime at a rock-and-roll show
    It was on the Bowery when it was time to go
    We kissed on the subway in the middle of the night
    I held your hand, you held mine, it was the best night of my life.

    ‘Cause everyone’s your friend in New York City
    And everything looks beautiful when you’re young and pretty
    The streets are paved with diamonds and there’s just so much to see
    But the best thing about New York City is you and me

    Would be appropriate to bookend that with another location song, ‘Holiday In Cambodia’:

    So, you’ve been to school
    For a year or two
    And you know you’ve seen it all
    In daddy’s car
    Thinking you’ll go far
    Back east your type don’t crawl

    Playing ethnicky jazz
    To parade your snazz
    On your five-grand stereo
    Braggin’ that you know
    How the niggers feel cold
    And the slum’s got so much soul

  97. 97.

    Arm The Homeless

    I will admit to being a huge fan of Counting Crow’s August and Everything After.

    Omaha is by far my favorite song on that album. I can’t not tap my foot when that song comes on. In fact, I have purchased the album multiple times just for that song.

  98. 98.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    And, since my musical tastes are all over the place- and because I know you like the band, Doug, how about Sonic Youth’s Death Valley 69? Has there ever been a better love song about Charlie and Sadie Mae?

  100. 100.

    reflectionephemeral

    I quite liked “Sulphur to Sugarcane” from Elvis Costello’s last album. Not too many songs mention Ypsilanti or Worcester, Massachusetts.

    It appears that no one’s mentioned “Dancing in the Street” or “Back in the U.S.S.R.” in this thread, so, now they’re mentioned.

    I quite liked “Heart of Rock N Roll” when it came out and I was about 8, and never did, or wanted to, shake that liking.

    @Jay B.: There’s also no such thing as “the East Side of Chicago”, pace Paper Lace’s “The Night Chicago Died”, a song I associate with overoptimistic Boston radio DJs leading up to the 1986 Super Bowl.

    ADDED: I’ve also been a big fan of Lyle Lovett’s “L.A. County” for most of my life. And there are fine songs called “Baltimore” by Lyle, Randy Newman (covered by Nina Simone), and Gram Parsons.

  101. 101.

    Cacti

    OOOOOOOklahoma! Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain. – Rogers & Hammerstein

  103. 103.

    The Dangerman

    “Let The Day Begin” by The Call, with a reference to the Viet Nam Memorial in DC (“here’s to the wall that bears their names”).

    BTW, that song was literally brand new when it was the very last song played on The Edge, perhaps the last of the good radio stations in LA (also, RIP, KMET). Now the airwaves are just shit in LA when passing through town (though Jim Ladd still does some cool stuff with Head Sets). Are there any great streaming stations for thinking persons rock?

  105. 105.

    No One of Consequence

    @Steve: I know what you mean. There were a lot of other choices they could have made other than to reuse that sax-crap for Every.Single.Frigging.Bar… Almost *completely* identical from refrain to refrain. Yeeeeeeesh. Glad to know there are at least two of us…

    – NOoC

  106. 106.

    SatanicPanic

    @Haydnseek: Streets of Bakersfield or Streets of Baltimore?

    I hate that Weezer “Beverly Hills” song. I like Weezer, but that song sucks. Absolutely nothing clever about that one.

  107. 107.

    Roger Moore

    @Amir Khalid:

    Folsom Prison Blues, Johnny Cash

    He drops a ton of place names in “Wanted Man”. Some others:

    “Little old Lady From Pasadena” – Jan and Dean
    “Free Fallin'” – Tom Petty

  110. 110.

    sb

    Dave Alvin, “Harlan County Line” is the one I really, really like.

    Ridiculous? “Xanadu” by Olivia Newton John. I know it’s fictional but, jeebus.

  111. 111.

    PaulW

    My brother has counted out the number of songs that use US Hwy 441 in their lyrics.

    Every time I hear “American Girl” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers I think of Gainesville.

  112. 112.

    Leo Artunian

    Least favorite: This barely qualifies, but the first line of Jim Croce’s “Big Bad Leroy Brown:” “The east side of Chicago is the roughest part of town.” That’s because the east side of Chicago (were there one) would be in f*kin’ Lake Michigan!

    Favorite: The Pretenders’ “My City Was Gone:” “And Muzak filled the air / from Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls.”

    BTW, Train is very big in my bailiwick of NW PA, since lead singer Pat Monahan is a native of Erie.

  114. 114.

    No One of Consequence

    @Arm The Homeless: I love that album too. I thought their lead singer was going to be a much bigger deal than he turned out to be. Unique voice, and very very emotive. With some serious work, and good luck, good studio/touring musicians, he could aspire to Van Morrison. Aspire to that is.

  115. 115.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @Steve: “Telegraph Road” is probably the greatest song in rock history. However, it is one of the two worst Detroit Geography fails in rock history, too. The original Fort d’Etroit is nowhere near Telegraph Road and no one founded it by walking anywhere.

  116. 116.

    burnspbesq

    “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.” Written by Darrell Scott. Lots of good covers. I think I prefer Patty Loveless’ version, although Brad Paisley’s is probably better known because of its use on “Justified.”

  117. 117.

    piratedan

    well as a tip of the baseball cap to our esteemed blog host….

    Take Me Home, Country Roads (Almost Heaven West Virginia) – John Denver, also noted for Colorado Rocky Mountain High.

  118. 118.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @Jay B.: This, of course, is the other great Detroit Geography fail in rock history. There is a south Detroit, kind of. It’s called “Windsor” and if that’s where you’re from, your native language is Canadian.

  120. 120.

    Howlin Wolfe

    “I Like Jersey Best” as sung by John Pizzarelli. Not from there, though.
    “Kahn (sp?) the Elephant Boy” (I think that is the title, not sure, by John Prine, which mentions the jungles of East St. Paul (although there is only an East Side of St. Paul, not a suburb of St. Paul called that, unlike West St. Paul and South St. Paul.
    “Route 66” mentions a whole bunch of towns very coherently, contrary to the Huey Lewis tune (which I quite like, anyway).

  122. 122.

    Haydnseek

    @SatanicPanic: I am aware of Weezer, but have never heard them. I was referring to the original Buck Owens song, and the later Dwight Yoakam version that brought the song to a younger audience. It also works great when arranged as a straight ahead rocker. The song is a fucking gem.

  126. 126.

    Melissa

    Two by Doug Sahm:
    Take me back to Tulsa, I’m too young to marry

    Is anybody going to San Antoine or Phoenix Arixzona, any place is allright as long as Ican forget I’ve known ya.

    and the great Nina Simone, Mississippi God Damn.

  127. 127.

    MikeJ

    @SatanicPanic:

    I hate that Weezer “Beverly Hills” song. I like Weezer, but that song sucks. Absolutely nothing clever about that one.

    I think that was sort of the point of the song. It was a big, stupid, annoying song written from the POV of a big, stupid, annoying person who bought the concept of Beverly Hills as the ultimate signifier of the good life.

  128. 128.

    Amir Khalid

    @Leo Artunian:

    Least favorite: This barely qualifies, but the first line of Jim Croce’s “Big Bad Leroy Brown:” “The east side of Chicago is the roughest part of town.” That’s because the east side of Chicago (were there one) would be in f*kin’ Lake Michigan!

    I guess he made up a nonexistent part of Chicago so there’d be no one from there to take offence.

  131. 131.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    I was standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, and such a fine sight to see-
    It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flat-bed Ford slowin’ down to take a look at me…

    (was in Winslow more than once, and never did any girl in a flat-bed Ford even drive past… )

  132. 132.

    Flying Squirrel Girl

    “Nebraska’s so flat that I don’t care. I’ll never use this map have I made it clear? I don’t know jack but I stay sincere…” – moe.

  133. 133.

    Shakezula

    @Trollhattan: Yes, awesome. And that fake hick accent. I now like to think of it as a musical diary of the Glimmer Twins’ first exposure to the WTF that is American Corporate Evangelism.

    Of course, if they released that song today there would be massive displays of synchronized butthurt.

  135. 135.

    burnspbesq

    @The Dangerman:

    Are there any great streaming stations for thinking persons rock?

    Hell yes. KCRW! and KEXP from U-Dub.

    Also too, by the time I moved to LA in 1979, KMET and KLOS both sucked. K-West was better. KROQ was better than both. And KNAC was the best of all. There was widespread disagreement from the locals, but having grown up listening to WNEW-FM and WLIR, I had benchmarks for comparison.

  136. 136.

    Arm The Homeless

    @No One of Consequence: Their second album, Recovering the Satellites was what killed them for me. It was a much slower, plodding attempt at angsty music. It just never grabbed me. But I still think their live stuff is really good. At least they had one amazing album which is more than I can say for a lot of bands in their genre.

  138. 138.

    geg6

    Coming Into Los Angeles by Arlo Guthrie

    Coming in from London
    From over the pole
    Flying in a big airliner
    Chickens flying everywhere around the plane
    Could we ever feel much finer?

    CHORUS:
    Coming into Los Angeles
    Bringing in a couple of keys
    Don`t touch my bags if you please
    Mister Customs Man

    There`s a guy with a ticket to Mexico
    No, he couldn`t look much stranger
    Walking in the hall with his things and all
    Smiling, said he was the Lone Ranger

    CHORUS

    Hip woman walking on a moving floor
    Tripping on the escalator
    There`s a man in the line
    And she`s blowing his mind
    Thinking that he`s already made her

    CHORUS

    Coming in from London
    From over the pole
    Flying in a big airliner
    Chickens flying everywhere around the plane
    Could we ever feel much finer?

    CHORUS

  140. 140.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Leo Artunian:

    Least favorite: This barely qualifies, but the first line of Jim Croce’s “Big Bad Leroy Brown:” “The east side of Chicago is the roughest part of town.” That’s because the east side of Chicago (were there one) would be in f*kin’ Lake Michigan!

    To which fucking horrible translation of the song have you been listening? The lyric is:

    Well the south side of Chicago
    Is the baddest part of town

  146. 146.

    Scout211

    Creedence Clearwater Revival: Lodi

    Lodi is very near where I live and the song isn’t very complimentary to Lodi, but I like it (and that was one of the requirements of this little exercise).

  150. 150.

    SatanicPanic

    @MikeJ: I’ll buy that interpretation, but I still don’t want to listen to it.

    Another question- city worst served by the songs about it? I’d go with San Francisco

  155. 155.

    No One of Consequence

    @Arm The Homeless: Yeah, I did not like Recovering the Satellites as much. It had a couple of good tracks, but they gave the guitarist too much volume for the whole album (not just a song or too where he was way heavy for level, but the whole thing stem to stern) and he just doesn’t have the chops for that.

    I always liked that song of their about Einstein, but didn’t think it was on the first album or second….

    – NOoC

  157. 157.

    The Dangerman

    @burnspbesq:

    …by the time I moved to LA in 1979, KMET and KLOS both sucked.

    As I recall, KMET tried to get out of the death spiral with a format change, after which, yes, they lost their edge. Curiously, I just looked up The Edge (the Station) and it was heavily KMET refugees. KLOS was always fairly vanilla, but the Seventh Day was always fun.

    KROQ was better than both.

    We’ll have to part ways there…

    And KNAC was the best of all.

    …oh, but you recovered. KNAC pretty much played Guns and Roses before anyone (in LA, at least) as I recall. Fine station.

  161. 161.

    Rowdy P. Nutt

    From Chuck Berry’s minor classic, “It Wasn’t Me” comes the greatest lyric in human history: “I met a German girl in England who was going to school in France, she said we met in Mississippi at an Alpha Kappa Dance, it wasn’t me…”

  162. 162.

    catclub

    @cvstoner: plus, I left my heart in san fran cisco.

    Moonlight in vermont

    I love paris.

    Does the reference to the Copa Cabana count?

  163. 163.

    Origuy

    I used to like “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” until I moved here. Now I’m fucking sick of people referring to it when they talk about the city. The song itself would be ok, it’s just brought up unnecessarily.

  164. 164.

    Mnemosyne

    @Origuy:

    I heard that song in the mall the other day. It made me think that certain people would have been better off staying on drugs.

  170. 170.

    piratedan

    @Steeplejack: or his cover of Streets of Loredo….. and Marty does make a reference to Dodge City, Kanssas City and Amarillo in his song Running Gun.

    @Amir Khalid: you got me stumped on that one, but I have to admit that that I don’t have the entire John Denver catalog :-)

  174. 174.

    MikeJ

    The Needle has Landed – Neko Case

    Carbon planes draw a cage round the air force base
    Where the needle touched down
    My foot on the brake it’s ok to fly low
    Over poor Spanaway

  175. 175.

    Haydnseek

    @burnspbesq: KWST was very good. KROQ great, then descended into brit/synthpop/haircut dance music. But KNAC! Great station. Promoted many of the great rock/metal shows in the LA area. Almost singlehandedly turned Blue Oyster Cult into a perennial LA draw with the shows at the old Long Beach Auditorium and later the Long Beach Arena. Say what you want about the tenets of BOC, at least they’re an ethos.

  176. 176.

    MCA1

    @Chet: Good and obscure to anyone not from ‘sota call. However, some of us from the Cities might think The Hold Steady have a spot there with Stuck between Stations and especially Southtown Girls, the latter of which is so intimate in its detailing of Bloomington and directions to the mall that it takes me right there every time.

    Oddly, my favorite Minnesota band’s two best place titled songs are Wichita and Nevada, California. And another of my favorites as a whippersnapper was the Gear Daddies’ Dream Vacation, which was actually about Wisconsin Dells (I guess I liked it because of the condescension toward said area). They also had a lark of a live song they used to joke around with called the Minnesota Polka, which was silly but the lyrics kind of summed up Minnesotans, too.

    Lastly, while we’re on the subject, obligatory shoutout to Highway 61 Revisited.

    I don’t like songs that just list a bunch of places where someone’s been. Songs named after places but not really about those places, while they qualify for this exercise Doug’s set up, won’t rise to the top for me, although they may be good songs (think Counting Crows’ Omaha – great song, but doesn’t actually have anything to do with Omaha, as far as I can tell). Detailed descriptions of places and street names and things in lyrics rise high for me – I’ll throw in “Well I’m standing on the corner of Lafayette, across the street from the public, heading for the Lone Star Cafe…”

  178. 178.

    raven

    Halfway around the world tonight
    In a strange and foreign land
    A soldier packs his memories
    As he leaves Afghanistan
    And back home they don’t know too much
    There’s just no way to tell
    I guess you had to be there
    For to know that war was hell

    Chorus:
    And there won’t be any victory parades
    For those that’s coming back
    They’ll fly them in at midnight
    And unload the body sacks
    And the living will be walking down
    A long and lonely road
    Because nobody seems to care these days
    When a soldier makes it home

    They’ll say it wasn’t easy
    Just another job well done
    As the government in Kabul falls
    To the sounds of rebel guns
    And the faces of the comrades
    Being blown out of the sky
    Leaves you bitter with the feeling
    That they didn’t have to die

    Chorus

    Halfway around the world tonight
    In a strange and foreign land
    A soldier unpacks memories
    That he saved from Vietnam
    Back home they didn’t know too much
    There was just no way to tell
    I guess you had to be there
    For to know that war was hell

    And there wasn’t any big parades
    For those that made it back
    They flew them in at midnight
    And unloaded all the sacks
    And the living were left walking down
    A long and lonely road
    Because nobody seemed to care back then
    When a soldier made it home

    The night is coming quickly
    And the stars are on their way
    As I stare into the evening
    Looking for the words to say
    That I saw the lonely soldier
    Just a boy that’s far from home
    And I saw that I was just like him
    While upon this earth I roam

    And there may not be any big parades
    If I ever make it back
    As I come home under cover
    Through a world that can’t keep track
    Of the heroes who have fallen
    Let alone the ones who won’t
    Which is why nobody seems to care

  180. 180.

    Gin & Tonic

    Nobody’s mentioned The Girl From Ipanema?

    When she walks, she’s like a samba that swings so cool and sways so gentle

  182. 182.

    rikyrah

    What say those Bradley Manning defenders now??

    LiberalPhenom‏@LiberalPhenom
    Manning released the names & contact info of 74,000 U.S. servicemen & women in Iraq, which our Navy Seals recovered when they got OBL. Wow!

  185. 185.

    sb

    @burnspbesq: Loveless really nailed it. I can’t think of the guy who ended season 1 or 2; the guy who wasn’t Paisley but he was also great. And I like Alvin’s version, too.

    Like you said, lots of great covers.

  186. 186.

    RSA

    @Arm The Homeless:

    I will admit to being a huge fan of Counting Crow’s August and Everything After.

    I’ll cop to the same, and having lived in Baltimore for some years, I’ll mention “Raining In Baltimore.” (Also “Rockville,” by REM, as others have mentioned, not too far away.)

  187. 187.

    AliceBlue

    “Blue Sky” – Allman Brothers (“Goin’ to Carolina, won’t be long till I’ll be there”). Also “Statesboro Blues”.
    “Jackson” – Johnny Cash and June Carter

  192. 192.

    peach flavored shampoo

    No brainer….Lower 48 by the Gourds. They mention every one of the 48 states in the lyrics.

  194. 194.

    MikeJ

    Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle

    Animal Collective have an album named “Merriweather Post Pavilion”, which is a venue right outside DC.

  195. 195.

    Trollhattan

    @Steeplejack:

    Worked a summer job with a guy from Nassau, who was always good for an eye-roll whenever I broke out “Mini skirts, maxi skirts, Afro hairdoos”

    It was a factory, so there was lots of boredom to overcome.

  196. 196.

    belieber

    Liquor and whores
    Liquor and whores
    Cigarettes and dope and mustard and bologna
    Liquor and whores

    I went down
    Drinkin’ at the Legion
    I met a girl she was nice
    She was pretty and pleasing

    She said “Hey boy
    We should do some marrying”
    I said sure but before we do
    There’s something that you should know

    I like
    Liquor and whores
    Liquor and whores
    Cigarettes and dope and mustard and bologna
    Liquor and whores…

    Then one night down at the legion
    She walked in, I was drunk on gin
    Dancin with a lady friend
    She said hey boy, You’d better fly the fuck home
    I said no cause five little words I coulda
    Swore I said to you

    I like
    Liquor and whores
    Liquor and whores
    Cigarettes and dope and mustard and bologna
    Liquor and whores…

  199. 199.

    The Golux

    @No One of Consequence: Also from the mind of Lowell George:

    It’s just a country town but patients come
    From Mobile to Moline, from miles around
    Nacogdoces to New Orleans, in beat up old cars or in limousines

    (Rock And Roll Doctor)

  201. 201.

    eemom

    With the caveat that I’ve never even been to Chicago [blush], I think the confusion re Leroy Brown is with “The Night Chicago Died”, which starts out talking about “the East Side of Chicago, back in the U.S.A, back in the bad old days.” And it’s by a Brit group, IIRC.

  202. 202.

    Haydnseek

    @different-church-lady: Yeah, that one’s really tough to beat. Great song. The fact that it was performed by great singers didn’t hurt. I favor the Joe Williams version, until I hear Billy Eckstine singing it. We win either way. Good choice.

  205. 205.

    Haydnseek

    @Steeplejack: Ya know, that’s so full of win that I just wanna walk down my street and fall in love with a Mexican girl………..

  208. 208.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    Please tell me that you aren’t conflating San Francisco and “The Pacific Northwest”.

    I’ve never really understood why “The Pacific Northwest” actually. Is “The Northwest” too vague? Would people think you meant “The Atlantic Northwest” if you didn’t include the word Pacific?

  209. 209.

    Roy G.

    My vote is for Lou Reed’s ‘Romeo had Juliet’ – quite possibly the most evocative song about the City evar:

    I’ll take Manhattan in a garbage bag
    With Latin written on it that says
    “It’s hard to give a shit these days”

  213. 213.

    geg6

    @Vlad:

    Did you know that Chris Franz was from Pittsburgh? Wasn’t born here, but spent his school years here, graduating from Shadyside Academy, a very tony prep school.

  215. 215.

    Bill in Section 147

    California, Woodstock and A Case of You by Joni Mitchell, Going to California by Zeppelin, San Franciscan Nights by Eric Burdon and The Animals, Back in the USSR by the Beatles and a whole bunch mentioned above. Some I like because the music is awesome and some because the place I was in my life when I loved them and some for nostalgia.

  217. 217.

    Mark H

    Well, whether you like it or not, you have to mention “I’ve Been Everywhere” by Johnny Cash, because he pretty much mentions every city in the US.

  218. 218.

    raven

    The Commander

    When I was just a little bitty kid I remembered one time Mama said
    Daddy sends you all his love from Frisco Bay
    I didn’t understand till I was grown
    why my Daddy didn’t spend a little time at home
    Instead of runnin’ around the country that way
    Now I’m looking at the world through a windshield
    And see everything in a little bit different light
    I got a sweet little thing I’m wantin’ to see in Nashville
    And I’m down around Dallas and a’rollin’ on fast tonight
    Long strips of rubber that you see
    Were burned off of this rig by the likes of me
    And they’ll ride along the highways in this land
    I’m gonna sign my name in this diesel smoke
    And let the ones that come behind me choke
    Now I’m looking at the world through a windshield
    Watchin’ it a flyin’ by me at the right
    I got a sweet little thing I’m wantin’ to see in Nashville
    And I’m down around Dallas and a’rollin’ on fast tonight
    I’ve pushed this rig through sleet and rain
    And I’ve driven through the rough terrain
    Of the Rockies to the docks of old L.A.
    On down that old Pacific shore, sing north and headin’ for Baltimore
    Of somethin’ ‘bout two thousand miles away
    Now I’m looking at the world through a windshield
    Watchin’ it a flyin’ by me at the right
    I got a sweet little thing I’m wantin’ to see in Nashville
    And I’m down around Dallas and a’rollin’ on fast tonight

    written by Del Reeves

  224. 224.

    raven

    @Mark H: Already did but Cash just covered it

    The song “I’ve Been Everywhere” was written by Geoff Mack in 1959 and made popular by the singer Lucky Starr in 1962.

    The song (as originally written) listed Australian towns. It was later adapted by Hank Snow for North American (predominantly United States) toponyms and by John Hore (later known as John Grenell) with New Zealand toponyms (1966).

  225. 225.

    Haydnseek

    @SatanicPanic: I was fortunate enough to hear it live at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles when they were at the top of their game. Great show……

  226. 226.

    The Dangerman

    @Cris (without an H):

    Without knowing exactly what you mean by the term…

    From the introduction at RadioParadise, I’d say you nailed exactly what I was seeking. Up and playing now (and will check out the UW’s streams later).

  229. 229.

    muddy

    I can’t believe no one has said Ohio, Neil Young. Also My City Was Gone by The Pretenders, also about Ohio.

    Hey ho where’d you go Ohio?

  235. 235.

    geg6

    Okay, how about one that I detest?

    Detroit Rock City by one of the worst bands in history, KISS.

  236. 236.

    j

    “Champain Illinois” by the Old 97s.

    youtube.com/watch?v=cQuXuHBneOw

    I mentions Chicago, Champain, Springfield and Dallas.

    The lead singer reworked the words from Dylan’s “Desolation Row” and asked him if it was OK. Dylan listened to a tape and said, “Hell, go and record that thing”.

    If you die fearing God
    And painfully employed
    You will not go to Heaven,
    You’ll go to Champain, Illinois

  237. 237.

    MikeJ

    The Young Fresh Fellows had an album called “The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest” with interstitial travelogue bits.

    Hey what’s your hurry? I see. You’ve listened to the sounds of the Pacific Northwest and now you just can’t wait to go look. Fine. But we had one more important sound we wanted you to hear….

    youtube.com/watch?v=i9uUmz7xyJA

  239. 239.

    burnspbesq

    @rikyrah:

    What say those Bradley Manning defenders now??

    I’m sure they’ll think of something. They always do.

  240. 240.

    JerryN

    “They Don’t Play No Country On The East Side Of New York” by The Hangdogs and “Rockin’ The Bronx” by Black 47 (hell about half of Black 47’s songs, come to think of it).

  241. 241.

    Citizen_X

    Crass, Nagasaki Nightmare
    DKs, Moon Over Marin
    Slayer, South of Heaven
    And there are my apocalyptic picks!

  245. 245.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Steeplejack:

    Every song you’ve linked so far was on a mix I made for a musical four-year old about seven years ago (titled something like Places You’ll Go and How You’ll Get There, all place names and modes of transportation). He still listens to it.

    Here’s one that I don’t think you’ll get to though.

    Lambert, Hendricks and Ross Bijou

  246. 246.

    Vlad

    @geg6: I didn’t know that!

    I went to Fox Chapel, so I used to see kids from Shadyside all the time, at sports and such.

  247. 247.

    No One of Consequence

    @Roy G.: Brother give me another toke. Those downtown hoods are no damn good. Those Italians need a lesson to be taught. That cop who died in Harlem, you’d think they’d get the warning: I was dancing when I saw his brains run out on the street.

    Love that album. One of my top 20 of all time. Good stuff.

    – NOoC

    p.s. New Sensation; Last Great American Whale; Busload of Faith, Dirty Boulevard, etc. Pretty much every track is awesome. Totally underrated album, imho…

  251. 251.

    Tonal (visible) Crow

    Part of the reason I’m so concerned with Benghazi is that Nancy Pelosi isn’t a warm Northern California girl, but keeps her balalaikas ringing out to her ultra-lib’ral lib’ral lib’ral base, also too all of ’em.

  252. 252.

    MCA1

    @reflectionephemeral: Take that back immediately! Just kidding – I see some surface similarities, but one band made a debut album with T-Bone Burnett that was both a critical and commercial success, then followed it with mostly darker-edged stuff that tilted toward Springsteen’s Nebraska period and Van Morrison, and the other made a debut album that tried to sound like Counting Crows’ bigger radio hits, and then tried to pen a bunch of singles thereafter. I’m not saying Counting Crows was a massively important band, or one that was all art and no commerce, but I don’t think they’re nearly as indictable as Train, and while their influences are discernible, they’re not nearly as blatantly derivative (and certainly weren’t so in 1993 or ’94 or whenever they hit the scene and we were in the late stages of grunge and pretty much no one was making old school radio rock that sounded like the early ’70s, contra Train, who decided to try to sound like Matchbox 20 after Matchbox 20 had already released a couple albums).

  253. 253.

    Citizen S

    “Crescent City” by Lucinda Williams. Great song. Works in a couple of Cajun french phrases and a few places from the New Orleans area.

  255. 255.

    geg6

    @Vlad:

    Chris Franz is responsible for getting me into CBGBs my first time there back in the 70s. He knew my then-BF from the art scene in NYC and he got us into the place without getting us killed or beaten up. And then I got to go back many times, two of them to see Talking Heads.

  256. 256.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    Okie from Muskogee

    Followed shortly thereafter by “Hippie from Olema”

    “We still take in strangers if they’re haggard” was the best line, Merle’s band being “The Strangers”

  257. 257.

    zombie rotten mcdonald

    Really? Over 200 comments and no one mentions “London Calling”?

    Consider it mentioned.

  258. 258.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    From the movie Slap shot, A little south of Saskatoon by Sonny James. El Paso by Marty Robbins, part of the song is now in the fight song of Uuniversity of Texas-El Paso, and my favorite rap song California Love by 2Pac & Dr. Dre.

  260. 260.

    Citizen_X

    “In the darkest depths of Mordor…”

    Always seemed to me an odd place to meet a girl.

  266. 266.

    Tonal (visible) Crow

    @Citizen_X:

    “In the darkest depths of Mordor…”

    Always seemed to me an odd place to meet a girl.

    Plenty ‘a girls there, if you don’t mind Orc-kin.

  269. 269.

    Steeplejack

    @MCA1:

    I don’t like songs that just list a bunch of places where someone’s been. Songs named after places but not really about those places [. . .] won’t rise to the top for me [. . .]

    Agreed.

  271. 271.

    Haydnseek

    @zombie rotten mcdonald: Truly an egregious sin of omission. I’m surprised it didn’t appear sooner. If this reminds someone to mention “London Bridge is Falling Down,” I will personally travel to wherever they live and give their dog or cat a severe talking-to. In case you’re wondering, zombie rotten, I’m not trying to give you shite, I’m just havin’ a bit of fun. London Calling should have been in the top 5.

  272. 272.

    nalbar

    Geese, people

    Surfin’ Safari by the Beach Boys. It names every great surf spot in southern California, and beyond. Many are places non surfers never heard of. Such a great in joke.

    .

  273. 273.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @cleek: Definitely a lot of songs about it. This would seem be saying it’s New York though. And I guess these lists are just something someone compiled so who knows, but going by that one, NYC beats Paris hands down, yow.

    Wait a minnit “Stayin Alive” is a song about New York?? Maybe a little padded after all.

  276. 276.

    SatanicPanic

    Pet Peeve- the song Going Back to Cali– seriously people, does any native Californian who is not a deuche refer to California as Cali? I have yet to meet one. If I were famous I’d write a song called “Going Back to New Yorkie” just to see how New Yorkers like it.

  278. 278.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Jay B.:

    “Daddy was a cop on the east side of Chicago. Back in the USA. Back in the bad old days”

    (the east side of Chicago is under Lake Michigan)

  279. 279.

    flounder

    Jawbreaker, West Bay Invivtational

    All of the neighbors decided it’s time
    To have all our strangers over and make friends
    Chris got a pony keg of loose charm
    I had an accident, I hurt my arm

    People from bands and labels, the good ones
    Plenty of stunning children, East Bay
    You were from Oakland by way of the Midwest
    I bought a rose and a suit with the pants pegged

    You said I smelled you twice today
    Someone was passing out somewhere
    We kissed a shot of Kentucky straight
    I swore this life is worth the wait

    Hayes broke the scissors, apologized
    Our kitchen was crowded and steamy, isn’t it always?

    I just looked deeper into you
    You bit my neck blue
    We hung our clothes up on the floor
    And put our faith in a closed door

    We’re having this party
    Please come
    It won’t be the same without you
    Please come

  281. 281.

    MikeJ

    @Bill E Pilgrim: That is a woefully incomplete list. LEaves out 18 Miles from Memphis, Just Dropped in to See What condition My Condition was in, Memphis Hip Shake (The Cult), and at least 100 others.

  284. 284.

    catclub

    Istanbul was Constantinople.
    One place with two names. Perhaps they like it better that way.

  285. 285.

    MikeJ

    @MikeJ: Ridin into Memphis – Dash Rip Rock
    I’ve Been to Memphis – Lyle Lovett
    Sequestered in Memphis – The Hold Steady

  287. 287.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @nalbar:

    An excellent song, but not every great surf spot by far. They didn’t mention Rip-Your-Legs-Off cove or the San Diego seamount.

  289. 289.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    It’s “The Pacific Northwest” to distinguish it from the original “Northwest”… Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and part of Minnesota.

    We don’t mind it, really. Just as long as you don’t move here.

  290. 290.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    Since I’m splittin’ for work, I can drop this’n and avoid the slings and arrows.

    Glenn Campbell Wichita Lineman

    Throwing this out there without irony. Jimmy Webb FTW, motherfuckers!

  291. 291.

    Steeplejack

    Liked Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville” the first 30 times I heard it, have hated it the subsequent 3.5 million times.

  292. 292.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Napoleon:

    Yes.

    The south side of Chicago is the badest part of town, and if you go down there you better just beware of a man name of Leroy Brown.

  295. 295.

    moderateindy

    @Leo Artunian:

    That’s because the east side of Chicago (were there one) would be in f*kin’ Lake Michigan!

    You aren’t from Chicago, otherwise you would know that there is an Eastside, and plenty of folks consider themselves East siders. Ever heard of the area they call Dago Park?

  296. 296.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Villago Delenda Est: Yes that makes sense. I figured it was something like that.

    Don’t worry, I already lived there once ;) Another transplanted San Franciscan, but it was just for work and then I left. Great place.

  297. 297.

    flounder

    I once saw a guy named Brian Kenny Fresno play in a bar.
    Every song was about what a shithole Fresno California is. He played an instrument called the Warrguitar.
    Here’s a great one called “Ma dog, ma truck, Madera” about how Madera is just a little stupider than Fresno.

  299. 299.

    Napoleon

    @muddy:

    Also My City Was Gone by The Pretenders, also about Ohio.

    I saw them at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio back in the day. When they got to the line in that song “from Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls” the crowd went nuts.

  303. 303.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Amir Khalid: Plus that’s not even the place, it’s a newspaper;)

    Did anyone mention New York State of Mind yet? That’s possibly the only song about New York I actually like.

  304. 304.

    tinare

    I’ve always loved these lyrics from Simon & Garfunkel’s “America”

    “Kathy,” I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
    “Michigan seems like a dream to me now”
    It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
    I’ve gone to look for America

    I also like Walking in Memphis.

  305. 305.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Kib:
    He will bring you happiness in a kite,
    He’ll a ride away on silver bike,
    And apart from that he’ll be so kind,
    As consenting to blow your mind….

  307. 307.

    Just One More Canuck

    For my fellow Canadians:

    Running Back to Saskatoon – Guess Who
    Sudbury Saturday Night – Stompin Tom Connors
    Tragically Hip – take your pick; New Orleans is Sinking, BobcaygeonN a whole bunch of others

  308. 308.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I went from Phoenix Arizona all the way to Tacoma
    Philadelphia Atlanta LA

  309. 309.

    japa21

    Showing my age, but Chicago by Ol Blue Eyes was pretty good.

    A seasonal song, but Christmas in Dixie by Alabama is good and includes, among others, LA, Chicago and Detroit.

  314. 314.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Elaine Benis:

    Not true not true not true. They’re grey, they’re depressing, you don’t want to visit Seattle, ever, it’s filled with melancholy Norwegians that drive, top speed, 5MPH in Ballard…

  315. 315.

    Citizen_X

    @Steeplejack: Wasn’t that named Greatest American folk song of all time, recently, by, er, somebody?

    Also: I Hate Winnipeg by the Weakerthans, best love/hate song about a town ever.

  316. 316.

    Steeplejack

    @piratedan:

    Marty Robbins is a geographical name-checker deluxe. “Ballad of the Alamo” (“In the southern part of Texas, in the town of San Antone”), etc., and another of my favorites, “Big Iron.” “To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day.”

    I loved that album Gunfighter Ballads when I was a kid (it was my mom’s), and it holds up surprisingly well in a genre kind of way.

  318. 318.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Has anyone mentioned Randy Newman’s songs, like “Burn On” and “I Love LA” (which he calls “pure chamber of commerce”)

  319. 319.

    moderateindy

    Portland Woman, NRPS
    Colorado Girl, Townes Van Zandt… although I like Steve Earle’s version better
    Guy Clark, Dublin Blues …..
    I wish I was in Austin
    In the Chili Parlour Bar
    Drinkin’ Mad Dog Margaritas
    And not carin’ where you are

    But here I sit in Dublin
    Just rollin’ cigarettes
    Holdin’ back and chokin’ back
    The shakes with every breath

  320. 320.

    Tonal (visible) Crow

    “Hitch a Ride” by Boston: “Day is night in New York City….”

    “Taxi” by Harry Chapin: “It was rainin’ hard in ‘Frisco….”

    Apropos of Republicans’ hard and thankless hearts, “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos Canyon” by Judy Collins: “You’re flying back to the Mexican border….”

    And of course (for you irredeemable DFHs), “Puff the Magic Dragon” by PP&M: “Puff the Magic Dragon, lived by the sea, and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee….”

  321. 321.

    Steeplejack

    @Citizen_X:

    Wasn’t that named Greatest American folk song of all time, recently, by, er, somebody?

    Yeah, the Bob Wills Preservation Society, probably. LOL.

  322. 322.

    Chat Noir

    Arizona — Mark Lindsay.

    Ukiah — Doobie Brothers. Was at a work function in San Francisco 13 years ago and was served lunch by a guy who’s name tag said “Ukiah, California” as his hometown. I said, “The Doobie Brothers wrote a song about your hometown.” The guy was thrilled that someone actually knew that little factoid.

  324. 324.

    Citizen_X

    @japa21: Somebody already mentioned New York, New York, and Sinatra also did I Like Paris, LA’s My Lady, and In Foggy London Town.

  326. 326.

    gogol's wife

    @Steeplejack:

    That’s why “standin on the corner, Twelfth Street and Vine” makes “Kansas City” a good one. Very evocative.

  327. 327.

    Calouste

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    I’ve never really understood why “The Pacific Northwest” actually. Is “The Northwest” too vague? Would people think you meant “The Atlantic Northwest” if you didn’t include the word Pacific?

    The original Northwest in the US was the territory between the original 13 states, the Mississippi river, Kentucky and Canada. Northwestern University for example is in Illinois.

  330. 330.

    gogol's wife

    @Steeplejack:

    We took a little bacon and we took a little beans, and we fought the bloody British at the town of New Orleans.

    You’re hitting some good ones. El Paso has to win the prize as far as I’m concerned.

    ETA: North — to alASka, go north, the race is on. (I’m not googling, so these may be imprecise.

  331. 331.

    eemom

    Come to think of it…..doesn’t there have to be SOME kind of land mass that corresponds to “east side of Chicago”?

  332. 332.

    Chat Noir

    Running Back to Saskatoon — Guess Who
    Are You Going to San Francisco — Scott McKenzie

  333. 333.

    Steeplejack

    Michelle Shocked’s “Come a Long Way” is a great paean to Los Angeles. (Can’t find a video.)

    Also, since I belatedly noticed that Doug said “places,” not “cities,” I’ll throw in another favorite of mine: Bobby Womack, “Across 110th Street.” Quintessential ’70s urban funk.

  335. 335.

    gogol's wife

    @eemom:

    Someone upthread said there is a neighborhood considered the “east side.” Sounds plausible.

    You have to go to Chicago! It’s the best!

  336. 336.

    Tonal (visible) Crow

    Ah yes (and one of the best), “Crawling Back to You” by Tom Petty: “Waiting by the side of the road, for day to break, so we could go: down into Los Angeles, with dirty hands and worn-out knees….”

  338. 338.

    Tonal (visible) Crow

    And we can’t forget “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by The Who: “Welcome to the camp, I guess you all know why we’re here….”

  339. 339.

    TEL

    PIL “Seattle” – which is mostly about how much John Lydon hated that city. I like the song, even though I like the city of Seattle a lot more than PIL did.

  340. 340.

    Keith G

    Saturday night in Toledo, Ohio…

    … is like being nowhere at all. All through the day how the hours rush by. You sit in the park and you watch the grass die!

    John Denver was very unkind (the song was written by Randy Sparks) to the county seat of my home area, but I still loved that troubadour.

    edit :

    I see Amir Khalid also mentioned this. But Amir, were you a 13 year old living Toledo adjacent when this came out?

  341. 341.

    Steeplejack

    Can’t believe no one has mentioned Van Morrison’s “Tupelo Honey.” Although I guess it’s not specifically about Tupelo the place. But not to worry: Bobbie Gentry name-checks it in her great Southern gothic song “Ode to Billy Joe.”

    And, although he doesn’t name a specific place, Jesse Colin Young conjures a great sense of place in “Ridgetop.”

  342. 342.

    Amir Khalid

    @Tonal (visible) Crow:
    Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) is generally considered a Woody Guthrie song. He wrote the lyrics as a poem that was published in a newspaper, since he was ill by then to work on a tune with his guitar. It was Pete Seeger who made the song famous.

  346. 346.

    Steeplejack

    Some good (and not merely gratuitous) place-checking in Simon and Garfunkel’s “America.” “It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw.”

  347. 347.

    Gian

    Passage to bangcock… Rush
    One night in bangcock… Murray head
    El pas so marry Robbins
    Book… peter Gabriel (perhaps not the shout out port Elizabeth preferred)

  348. 348.

    Tonal (visible) Crow

    @Amir Khalid: Thank you for the correction. I had forgotten that history in the glare of Collins’s great performance.

  349. 349.

    Pappy G

    Bob Dylan – You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go

    I’ll look for you in old Honolulu / San Francisco, Ashtabula

  350. 350.

    Cris (without an H)

    @gogol’s wife: That’s why “standin on the corner, Twelfth Street and Vine” makes “Kansas City” a good one. Very evocative.

    For a couple of reasons, both according to my Kansas-raised mom. That intersection is in a historically black neighborhood (and a “cradle of jazz” to boot), so the location has a backstory that isn’t explicit in the lyrics. Also, the intersection itself doesn’t exist any more, so the line is now a slice of history.

  353. 353.

    Tonal (visible) Crow

    Ah! The best of them all: “Amsterdam” by Jacques Brel: “In the port of Amsterdam there’s a sailor who sings, of the dreams that he brings from the wide-open sea….” The forgotten Fred Holstein gives a fabulously passionate performance of this song on his album “Chicago and Other Ports”.

  356. 356.

    bk

    You’ll catch them surfin’ at Del Mar,
    Ventura County Line,
    Santa Cruz and Trestle,
    Australia’s Narrabeen,
    All over Manhattan,
    and down Doheny way….

    At Haggerty’s and Swami’s,
    Pacific Palisades,
    San Onofre and Sunset,
    Redondo Beach, LA,
    All over La Jolla,
    and Waimea Bay

  358. 358.

    Cris (without an H)

    @Gian: I actually love that song, mostly unironically. It’s a great depiction of the twentysomething flake who always thinks he’s found himself, until next year when he finds a new self.

    “You can sell your paintings on the sidewalk near a cafe where I hope that I’ll be working soon.”

  359. 359.

    quannlace

    “Can’t believe no one has mentioned “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra.

    Damn, I’m getting old!”
    ****************

    No you’re not. What about the grandaddy of ’em all. “I Left My Heart In San Francisco.”
    Course I was six the first time I heard it.

    Robin and Linda Williams pack a lot of geography into “Famous In Missouri.”

    ‘I was famous in Missouri
    Everybody knew my name
    From Kansas City to old Saint Louis
    I knew how to play the game
    Now it sure feels strange
    To be in South Dakota
    Down on the range….’

  360. 360.

    quannlace

    “Can’t believe no one has mentioned “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra.

    Damn, I’m getting old!”
    ****************

    No you’re not. What about the grandaddy of ’em all. “I Left My Heart In San Francisco.”
    Course I was six the first time I heard it.

    Robin and Linda Williams pack a lot of geography into “Famous In Missouri.”

    ‘I was famous in Missouri
    Everybody knew my name
    From Kansas City to old Saint Louis
    I knew how to play the game
    Now it sure feels strange
    To be in South Dakota
    Down on the range….’

  361. 361.

    gogol's wife

    @Cris (without an H):

    I just saw this: “During the ’20s and ’30s, Kansas City’s 12th Street became nationally known for its jazz clubs, gambling halls and brothels. The area was immortalized in the song ‘Kansas City,’ which features the refrain ‘I’m goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come…’ In 2005, a piano-shaped plaza was built at the intersection of 12th Street & Vine to pay tribute to the song that made the area famous. The plaza features interpretive displays about the area’s heyday as an entertainment district when jazz clubs and gambling halls lined 12th Street, and visitors can pose for pictures under a replica of a historic 12th Street & Vine sign. Around the same time the park was dedicated, the famous tune was adopted as the city’s official song.” I haven’t lived there for quite a while, and I wasn’t much of a frequenter of 12th & Vine anyway. Interesting.

  363. 363.

    j

    @Just One More Canuck: I like the Kings’ line from This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ to Glide:

    “Hey little Donna
    Do ya still wanna?

    You said to look you up
    When I was in Toronna”

    (Yeah, they cheated…”

  364. 364.

    eemom

    @Steeplejack:

    Bobbie Gentry name-checks it in her great Southern gothic song “Ode to Billy Joe.”

    Of which today is the day! Third of June….

  365. 365.

    Roy G.

    @No One of Consequence: Perfume burned his eyes/pulled in tightly to her thighs/then something flickered for a minute/then it vanished and was gone.

    The soundtrack of life when I lived there. I’m with ya – it’s a gem.

  366. 366.

    jackmac

    @moderateindy: I’m from Chicago and it’s the SOUTHEAST Side. There is no EAST Side.

    Also, “The Night Chicago Died” is a horrible song.

  367. 367.

    Steeplejack

    @Calouste:

    Yeah, even as late as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fiction in the 1920s characters talk about being from “out West,” e.g., Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis.

  368. 368.

    Kathleen

    @John: Love that one! I think it’s been “sampled” in a recent pop hit but I don’t know the name or vocalist. Also, too, “Dancin’ In the Streets” (Martha Reeves and the Vandellas – “They’ll be dancin’ in Chicago. Down in New Orleans. Up in New York City….” And James Brown’s “Livin In America”. And “MTA” by The Kingston Trio.

  371. 371.

    dance around in your bones

    @Steeplejack:

    I was going to mention Michelle Shocked’s Anchored Down in Anchorage but she has been somewhat ::ahem:: controversial lately.

    Hey Chel you know it’s kinda funny
    Texas always seems so big
    But you know you’re in the largest state in the Union
    When you’re anchored down in Anchorage

  372. 372.

    No One of Consequence

    @Roy G.: I concur. I loved Velvet Underground from way back, but Lou Reed cemented himself in my internal ‘Lexicon of Cool’ with New York. As much a part of my personal soundtrack (for when they make the inevitable biopic for NOoC, heh) as Exile on Mainstreet, Waiting for Columbus, Who’s Next, Stone Roses, One for the Road, Houses of the Holy, Sneakin’ Through the Alley with Sally, Thick as a Brick, Full Moon Fever, The Last Waltz, Moving Pictures or Blood on the Tracks. (So many more, but time’s a wastin’…)

    – NOoC

  373. 373.

    quannlace

    Saginaw?
    Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘America’

    Cathy, I said, as we boarded a greyhound in Pittsburgh
    Michigan seems like a dream to me now
    It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw….

  374. 374.

    Anna in PDX

    Gosh there are so many songs I love that mention places

    Paradise by John Prine
    Someone already mentioned Angel from Montgomery also by John Prine

    No one has mentioned All my exes live in Texas, ha ha

    I once7heard a cover of “Cocaine” that went “It’s not in Oregon, it’s in Washington, it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright…. Spokane”

    City of New Orleans by Arlo Guthrie, actually about the train, but a lot of lyrics about where it is going and coming from

    Harper Valley PTA (I skimmed this, didn’t see it, can’t believe no one has mentioned it)

    Well the rest just went out of my mind and I better get back to work

  376. 376.

    Steeplejack

    @eemom:

    Of which today is the day! Third of June . . .

    You’re absolutely right!

    Also the anniversary of an accident that put me in the hospital for 16 days when I was 12 years old. Thanks for reminding me!

  378. 378.

    The Other Chuck

    Tom Waits’s “Singapore” and “Telephone Call from Istanbul”. The lyrics to the second one go something like this:

    AHHNILONNUBUKENGASH LIBINMEDZUNCHHESHMEDUHREYNUHOJEBAHSRWAARODOPDESH MUNNEOHDEBAYNUVEHEFAH DEPAIDUHDONEEBLUYUPAY I GOT A TELEPHONE CALL FROM ISTANBUL MY BABYS COMING HOME TODAY

  380. 380.

    The Other Chuck

    And after those two supremely awesome Tom Waits songs, I’ll go ahead and plant an earworm you’ll hate me forever for: Falco, “Vienna Calling”

  381. 381.

    zombie rotten mcdonald

    @catclub:

    It’s been very strange. We went to see They Might Be Giants on Friday night, and since then it seems like half the blogs I visit mention the band.

  382. 382.

    Al Swearengen

    “And the Hammering in my Head don’t stop on the bullet train from Tokyo…To Los Angeles”

  384. 384.

    dance around in your bones

    @Steeplejack: That’s what I thought, but the Fear of Flaming kept me mute.

    I loved Michelle Shocked back in the day.

  385. 385.

    Bjacques

    The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati, Pico and Sepulveda (from Forbidden Zone), and Godzilla by BOC. You’re welcome.

  386. 386.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    City of New Orleans – Arlo Guthrie
    New York, New York – Nina Hagen

  391. 391.

    RandomMonster (formerly HE Pennypacker, Wealthy Industrialist)

    California Dreamin’.

  392. 392.

    Perfect Tommy

    All the Way From Memphis – Mott the Hoople
    Walk On The Wild Side – Lou Reed
    Rockaway Beach – Ramones
    Woman From Tokyo – Deep Purple

  393. 393.

    Sad_Dem

    Since I see “I’ve Been Everywhere” has been accounted for, I’ll go for the hyperlocal:
    “Emotional Weather Report,” Tom Waits, mentions how windy the corner of Sunset and Alvarado in LA is, the band Silversun Pickups took their name from Silversun liquor at Sunset and Silver Lake, and Beck’s “Debra” mentions Zankou Chicken, Sunset and Normandie.

  394. 394.

    Jacel

    Leonard Cohen’s “First We Take Manhattan”.

    And don’t forget Walt Kelly’s immortal Pogo holiday song, “Deck Us All With Boston, Charlie” that immediately goes on to namecheck “Walla Walla, Wash. and Kalamazoo.”

  395. 395.

    j

    @Haydnseek: How about “London Bridge” by Bread?

    It’s about Lake Havasau City AZ buying the actual bridge, disassembling it and moving it, and making it a tourist trap in the middle of the Arizona desert.

    youtube.com/watch?v=mt46Lvi1XeQ

    The keyboard player also did the piano on “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by S&G.

  396. 396.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Stars Fell on Alabama
    Moonlight in Vermont
    Gary, Indiana
    (My Kind of Town) Chicago Is
    Chicago, Chicago (that Toddling Town)
    A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo -zoo -zoo -zoo
    (I’m Going to) Jackson
    Everything’s Up to Date in Kansas City
    Wichita Lineman
    Country Roads (West Virginia)
    Why, Oh Why, Oh Why-Oh (Why Did I Ever Leave Ohio?)
    I’ll Take Manhattan
    Autumn in New York
    April in Paris
    The Poor People of Paris
    A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
    London Pride
    Norwegian Wood
    Istanbul Was Constantinople 

  398. 398.

    Cowgirl in the sand

    Geeze guys – California Dreamin’

    Every Picture Tells a Story Rod Stewart

    …down in Rome I wasn’t getting me none…

  400. 400.

    j

    @moderateindy: Especially since that area was heavily Polish, Slavic & Czech. (A few Lithuanians were thrown in just for spice). The Italian immigrants were kept to a small corner of the 10th Ward, and they weren’t really trusted at the steel mills either. Hence the local name for the park.

    Just look up the names of the churches in the area in order to get a feeling of the dominant ethnic populations.

    Every ethnicity needed some “other” group to dump on in order to make themselves feel superior.

  402. 402.

    moderateindy

    @j: Yeah , I know what the area is like ethnically. Besides the few Italian guys I met from the area, I knew a few Polish guys as well, although they may have actually been from Hegewisch. Anyway my point was the guys that I knew that lived near Eggers Woods would say that they were from the East side of Chicago, which is good enough for me. Not to mention that there is actually an area on the map of Chicago explicitly called East Side. Of course, I ignored addressing the original flaw of the incorrect lyric because that had been covered by a couple of folks.

  404. 404.

    Mike Nilsen

    Cities – by The Talking Heads
    No Sleep Till Brooklyn! – Beastie Boys

  405. 405.

    Mikita21

    Jonesboro, Illinois. — Tom Waite
    Kokomo, Indiana. — Vaughn Monroe
    Maybe it’s Because I’m A Londoner. — Vera Lynn
    Tillsonburg. — Stompin’ Tom Conners
    Sudbury Saturday Night. — same
    Valencia. — Tony Martin (1950)
    Dusk in Upper Sandusky. — jimmy Dorsey
    Seattle. — perry Como
    Lady of Spain. — Eddie fisher
    From Russia, With Love. — Matt Monroe
    Talk to me of Mendocino. — Kate & Anna McGarrigle
    Lost my Sugar in Salt Lake City. — Julie London
    Salt Lake City. — the beach boys
    Rhode Island is Famous For You. — blossom Dearie
    Louisiana 1927. — Marcia Ball
    Managua, Nicaragua. — Peggy Lee
    They’ve Got an Awful Lot of Coffee In Brazil. — Frank Sinatra

    & now my head hurts………

  407. 407.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Steeplejack:
    They also had a song called My Home in San Antone. Also Take Me Back to Tulsa (mentioned above already).

    @reflectionephemeral: Baltimore is a great and harrowing song. @SiubhanDuinne: You Missed “A Foggy Day (In London Town)” and London by Night. Billie Holliday did a great version of the former.

    I wish I was In New Orleans by Tom Waits. He’s got a bunch of them.
    Impossible Germany by Wilco – also mentions Japan.
    Aint Nobody Who Can Sing Like Me by Woody Guthrie (also California Stars by the same).
    Shattered by the Rolling Stones. How has that not been mentioned yet?

  409. 409.

    Tony Alva

    From a town known as Oyster Bay, Long Island
    Rode a boy with a six-pack in his hand
    And his daring life of crime
    Made him a legend in his time
    East and west of the Rio Grande…

  410. 410.

    edub

    The part in Wagon Wheel (OCMS version is still the best) where he practically shouts “Johnson City, Tennessee!”

    Also Chula Vista by Possum.

  411. 411.

    mikita211

    What a playlist!!! adding, hopefully not duplicating…..

    Johnsburg, Illinois — Tom Waites
    Kokomo, Indiana — Vaughn Monroe
    Dusk In Upper Sandusky — Jimmy Dorsey
    From Russia, With Love — Matt Monroe
    When The Swallows Come Back to Capistrano — the Ink Spots
    Seattle — Perry Como
    Tillsonburg — Stompn’ Tom Connors
    Sudbury Saturday Night — Stompin’ Tom Connors
    Valencia — Tony Martin (1950)
    Managua, Nicaragua — Peggy Lee
    The Coffee Song — Frank Sinatra (they’ve got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil)
    Take Me Back To Tulsa — Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
    Convoy — C.W. McCall (also mentions Tulsa & others)..also should be played this Friday, as the date is mentioned…..”in the dark of the moon on the 6th of June…..”
    Down Argentina Way — the Andrews Sisters
    What Do They Do On a Rainy Night in Rio — Bugs Bunny
    Michigan Rag — Michigan J. Frog (c’mon, you know it!!!)
    The North Atlantic Squadron (a bawdy Canadian service song of WW II — google it!)
    Blood Red Roses — Mathew’s southern Comfort
    You’re The Reason God Made Oklahoma — David Frizzell & Dotty West
    Idaho — The Four Seasons (“Grandma’s stew, the cows and you…..”)
    Louisiana 1927 — Marcia Ball, Van Morrison
    Sweet Kentucky Ham — Rosemary Clooney version (Dave Frishberg comp.)
    Me & Lenny On A Plane — Jay Leonhart (mentions flying to L. A. with Leonard Bernstein)
    Moon Over Parma — Drew Carey
    Cincinnati Dancing Pig — Red Foley
    East St. Louis Toodle-Oo — Duke Ellington

    & now my head is starting to hurt…….

  412. 412.

    mwbugg

    Paradise by John Prine. From Wikipedia “The song is about the impact of coal mining both while in activity and what happens to the area around the Green River in Kentucky once the coal mining ends. The song references the Peabody Energy Corporation, and a now-defunct town called Paradise in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.”

  413. 413.

    Sad_Dem

    @edub: “Chula Vista”–now there’s a great one!
    “All I Wanna Do,” Cheryl Crow, until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard.
    “Echo Park,” Keith Barbour
    “MacArthur Park,” Jimmy Webb
    “Sunset Grill,” Don Henley
    “Traces of the Western Slope,” Rickie Lee Jones
    “Smooth Operator,” Sade
    “Under the Bridge,” Red Hot Chili Peppers
    “Contrabando y traicion,” Los Tigres Del Norte
    “Pacific Coast Highway,” Hole

  416. 416.

    Mikita21

    Baltimore Oriole. — HoagyCarmichael
    Mention My Name In Sheboygan. — the Everly Brothers
    Waterloo Sunset. — The Kinks

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