Today, I travelled through Allentown, Pa. I can’t seem to drive through or travel to Allentown without that Billy Joel song popping into my head. It’s not a great song – although it is a catchy one.
Today, I got to thinking about what other cities and places have a special connection with songs. Here’s list that I put together. What others can you think of?
- Meet me in St Louis
- London Calling
- New York, New York
- Chicago, My Kind of Town
- That song about San Francisco with the girl with flowers in her hair
- Viva Las Vegas
How about Sweet Home Alabama?
Youngstown, PA? Bruce Springsteen anyone? Oh, and every city in Johnny Cash’s I’ve Been Everywhere.
@ Maire,
I am not sure that that I’ve Been Everywhere has a deep connection to any particular city listed in the song. Cash mentions too many to have any one particular city or town claim it as its song.
Another thought: House of the Rising Sun for New Orleans
How about Gary Indiana from the Music Man. take me home country roads by John Denver. Indiana by the samples. Also, tons of the saw doctors songs mention counties and cities in Ireland. Or the devil went down to Georgia by Charlie Daniels. These are just some that come to mind.
If we’re going to use Viva Las Vegas I think we must agree that it will be the Dead Kennedys version.
And how about the album title “Strangeways, Here We Come,” from The Smiths, or “No Sleep Till Brooklyn,” from the Beastie Boys.