Geography in Song

I'd like to make a list of songs which contain geographical places in the title, or are mentioned in the lyrics.

Any genre of music...

If the place is in the lyrics, please provide an excerpt. If you know anything about the place, give us a quick factual run-down about the place. If you don't know anything about the place, look it up, and report back!

I'll start it off:

"China Grove" by the Doobie Brothers

China Grove is a city just East of San Antonio, TX. Population, per the 2000 census is aprox. 857.

"You keep me knockin' about from Mexico to Tibet
True love, true love tends to forget"

Bob Dylan, True Love, from Street Legal

She lives in Mojave in a Winnebago
His name is Bobby, he looks like a potato

- San Ber'dino Frank Zappa

[edit on 11-11-2006 by Beelzebubba]

Swinging London Town - Girls Aloud

London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. An important settlement for around two millennia, London is today one of the world's most important business, financial [1] and cultural centres. Its major influence in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion, sport and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the key global cities. - Wikipedia.org

Singapore - Girls Aloud

Singapore is an island city-state and the smallest country in South-East Asia. It is located on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, south of the Malaysian state of Johor, and north of the Indonesian Riau Islands. It lies just 137 kilometres (85 miles) north of the Equator. - Wikipedia.org

[edit on 12-11-2006 by Mr.President]

Yakko Warner sings the nations of the world

www.youtube.com...

Heres a song with several...

I went from Phoenix, Arizona all the way to Tacoma.
Philadelphia, Atlanta, L.A...

"Rock N Me" by the Steve Miller Band

Here's a song with plenty Geographical references.

Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire as listed by appearance.

Alabama
Trouble in the Suez
Little Rock
Lebanon
California baseball - referring to the Dodgers, A's, Angels, Padres, and Giants
Belgians in the Congo
Bay of Pigs invasion
Woodstock
Palestine
Ayatollah's in Iran
Russians in Afghanistan
China's under martial law

Just to name a 'few' places.

[edit on 11/13/2006 by gimmefootball400]

"La Grange" by ZZ Top.

La Grange, TX is the (former?) site of a famous brothel (the one in "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas"

"Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynrd Skynrd

Alabama is known as "the heart of dixie".

Lyrics mention Birmingham and Muscle Shoals

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama and Muscle Shoals is another city in Alabama known as the "recording capitol of the 60's and 70's".

"Katmandu" by Bob Seger

Katmandu is the capitol and the largest city in Napal.


I get to see Bob in concert soon, I'm so excited!

"I was thinkin' 'bout Alicia Keys, couldn't keep from crying
When she was born in Hell's Kitchen, I was living down the line
I'm wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be
I been looking for her even clear through Tennessee"

"Hell's Kitchen" is a neighbourhood in Bronx, N.Y.
"Tennessee", well you know where that is.

"I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Dad, get me out of this"

"Now I'm hiding in Honduras
I'm a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The # has hit the fan"

"Havana" is capital of Cuba
"Honduras" somewhere around there, a Caribian state, I think

"So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix."

"I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air."

"New Orleans", Louisiana
"Delacroix", fishing village South of New Orleans, "This is the end of the world" a sign there says.
"Montague Street" is in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. City, just by the Brooklyn Bridge.

"Georgia on My Mind" by Ray Charles

Home of the Georgia Bulldogs football team from the University of Georgia in Athens.

"Oh, the hours I've spent inside the Coliseum,
Dodging lions and wastin' time"

"I left Rome and landed in Brussels,
On a plane ride so bumpy that I almost cried.
Clergymen in uniform and young girls pullin' muscles,
Everyone was there to greet me when I stepped inside"

"Coliseum", ancient Roman theater in
"Rome", capital of Italy.
"Brussels", capital of Belgium.

Folks, I could go on, there's about one hundred geographical entries for Bob Dylan alone. For discussion on those go expectingrain.com

All the songs (and most others) you can find on www.metrolyrics.com

Okay, just one last one.

"With your sheet-metal memory of Cannery Row
and your magazine husband who one day just had to go"
from Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands / Blonde On Blonde / 1967

"Cannery Row" is a location of a John Steinbeck novel. It's about the people living around a can factory in a small fishing town. It is based on a street in the town of Monterey.

"Then they bring them to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles
By insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping
To desolation row"

"desolation row" is most likely an imaginary place, but somehow I've always connected it to Steinbeck's Cannery Row. Might not be correct. A more obvious connection would be Kerouac's "Desolation Angels", a place of refuge.

Some say it's an allegory for Greenwich Village. I don't know, but it's one of the best songs of Bob. One of the best songs of all time.

"Amarillo By Morning" by George Strait

Amarillo has about 100,000+ souls, and is in far NW Texas in the "Panhandle".

More from the song:

"...Amarillo by morning, up from San Antone"

San Antonio-Amarillo by car is something like 9 hours at 70 mph.

"Jackson" by Johnny Cash

We got married in a fever hotter than a pepper sprout
We've been talkin bout Jackson ever since the fire went out
I'm going to Jackson....


Jackson is the capitol of Missisippi. It is located on the Pearl river.

Tsunami by Simon & Milo.

Place(s) mentioned:
-South China Sea

Rush - A Passage To Bangkok

Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson


Our first stop is in bogota
To check columbian fields
The natives smile and pass along
A sample of their yield
Sweet jamaican pipe dreams
Golden acapulco nights
Then morocco, and the east,
Fly by morning light

We're on the train to bangkok
Aboard the thailand express
We'll hit the stops along the way
We only stop for the best

Wreathed in smoke in lebanon
We burn the midnight oil
The fragrance of afghanistan
Rewards a long day's toil pulling into katmandu
Smoke rings fill the air
Perfumed by a nepal night
The express gets you there