Entertainment For Lively Minds
A is for: An alphabetical map of the world in rock
Posted by PaddyH on 5 February 2011 - 7:59pm.
Can we assemble a map of the world from pop and rock song/ album titles or band names?
A few entries for each nation are acceptable, but, let's not go nuts on some, America/ American etc.
How many countries are represented in popular song?
So I'll kick off:
A
America - Paul & Art
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and if we add
Africa by Toto, we're well on our way.
Continent
Not a country! .... or music, some might argue!
And of course
The Afghan Whigs
Armenia
City in the Sky - The Who
Australia
The Manic Street Preachers
Down In Mexico - The Coasters
Brazil
EDIT: in my haste I overlooked the rather subtle reference to alphabetical order. Remember Mexico for later.
Continent for the not so content
Antarctica
Al Stewart/Peter White
Wisdom
Sir Norman, Tony Hawks etc - Big in Albania. Rock 'n' Roll!
I'll log Big in Japan for later...
Europe.
See above
See comment about Africa above. Asia falls into the same category.
Yesbut...
A map of the world will have the names of the continents as well. You could also include the oceans e.g.
Pacific by 808 State
Atlantic Crossing by Rod Stewart
Indian Ocean by The Frank And Walters
North Sea Bubble by Billy Bragg
Don't Cry for Me
Argentina
Jumping straight to the end
Zimbabwe by The Wailers
also
Cuba by The Gibson Brothers
India by Roxy Music
Israel by Siouxsie & The Banshees
and I seem to remember a nondescript dance hit from about ten years ago whose lyrics consisted entirely of some guy shouting "Ecuador" at the breakdown - I therefore suspect the record was called "Ecuador"
*edit* I've looked it up:
Let's not jump straight to the end
Any more As? We need Austria, Albania and Algeria, off the top of my H.
Angola - Ry Cooder
Next up: B
Albania
I did Albania - please pay attention!
Apologies
.
How about
Aaaa Vienna?
It means nothing to me
Vienna, that is......
There's a song called
Algérie Mon Beau Pays by Slimane Azem, my Windows Media Player tells me...
I can't believe
Falco has no Austria in his music. Even in the later political stuff
Martin Stephenson
Boat to Bolivia
Typically Tropical
Barbados
Boys From Brazil
Simple Minds
B is for Barbados
Totally Tropical (I had to look their name up) with Whoa, I'm Going To Barbados.
EDIT: Snap, alf2019. Terrible song x 2!
Welcome to Coconut Airways...
We're going to Barbados
Edit - Oooh - triple snap.
How about Bermuda Triangle - (Barry Manilow)
George Harrison
Bangladesh
Bombay...
from the Dutch masters..Golden Earring
Burundi
All My Colours by Echo and the Bunnymen as perfomed live with the Drummers of Burundi - live at WOMAD #1.
aka Echo and the Burundi Men
If we're going down that route:
Bahama Chameleon
Bostonian punk
Misson of Burma
Bono and his mob
must have barbled on about Bosnia somewhere - anyone know?
Not Bono
but The Cranberries
Is that the one that goes...
"Bosnia, Bosniurgha-urgha-urgha"?
They only sang about Sarajevo
but we could just use the Eurovision entry The Balkan Girls and be done with the whole region in one clean sweep! No ?
EDIT : Ah, problem solved without this "solution"...
Cyprus
'Izitso' an album released by Cat Stevens in 1977 contained a song about his nation of birth:-
"Kypros"
also
Cyprus Avenue
other Cs:
Canada by Low
Holiday In Cambodia by Dead Kennedys
Congoman by The Congos
and (cough) Hear The Drummer Get Wicked by Chad Jackson
From South Pacific
Bali H'ai
Canada
Before we leave B
Have we got anything for:
Bulgaria
Brunei
I'm guessing there is nothing for Burkina Faso, although it is named on the B Side of Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid.
Wasn't there
a Womble called Bulgaria?
How could we forget about Belgium?
Can we move on from B now?
It's A Beautiful Day
Their eponymous debut has a song titled Bulgaria.
Some nice music
by hot French First Lady Carla Bruni. Not close enough?
Colin Blunstone
had a very sweet song about Andorra.
Apparently
Jeff Beck did Bulgaria
Djibouti - the Republic of Djibouti
As in the classic album by Frank Zappa - Shake Djibouti
or should that be "Sheik Yerbouti'
Can I be the first to say
Voodoo Chile - Jimi Hendrix
Elton John
Just like Belgium
XTC
Living Through Another Cuba
The Chinese Way
Mark King and the Thumb Slapping 5 (Level 42)
which is almost as awful as
China In Your Hand. Howabout (killing two birds..) Visions of China by Japan?
So Cs so far
Cyprus Avenue - Uncle Vanya
Canada by Low
Holiday In Cambodia by Dead Kennedys
Congoman by The Congos
and (cough) Hear The Drummer Get Wicked by Chad Jackson
Boards of Canada
Blame Canada
Can i have this one for the As?
Abergavenny - Marty Wilde
I'll just say it and get it over with...
Queen Of Denmark - John Grant
Ahem
Oasis - Columbia
Jakob Dylan
Costa Rica
Anything for Croatia?
D so far
Frank Zappa - Shake Djibouti
Queen of Denmark
Can't think of many more Ds except Dominican Republic, and it ain't rock and roll
We can cover a lot of those wee islands with this...
On to E
Ethiopia - Lee Perry
Cambodia
Kim Wilde, obviously.
Kate Bush
Egypt
Also
Oh England My Lionheart
Roy Harper
One Of Those Days In England
Oh this year...
E
is for El Salvador, by Athlete.
And anything by The EcuaDoors, obviously
"Oh I'm In Love With Egypt"
or should that be Kate Bush!
Egypt from Never For Ever
EASTER Island
Patti Smith album
"Finland, Finland, Finland that's the place for me..."
I feel contractually obliged to suggest...
French kissing in the USA
2 for 1
John Cale
Half Past France from the Paris 1919 album.
Er...Bonnie Tyler
Lost In France
Ben Vaughn
Always good to get the opportunity to link to a Ben Vaughn song....
.... and definitely better than Bonnie Tyler.
Carlos Santana
Ecuador
Robert Wyatt
East Timor
G now?
How many Germany entries are there?
Impossible Germany - Wilco
"I'm in Love
With A German Film Star" but I can't remember who sang it.
The Passions
but the Foo Fighters - of all bands - have had a crack at covering it:
Georgia - A country as well as a U.S. state
Two more from my 18 CD Africa box...
Ghana Freedom - E.T. Mensah
Gambia Su Nous Raew - Super Eagles
Guatemala
Oh dear...
Haiti
Hungary.... Like The Wolf
Ah, one of my favourite songs!
I Left My Hat In Haiti - Fred Astaire!
Holland
Beach Boys
Skipping G and lack of other Hs
Iceland
I win for Ireland
This is unbeatable
Iran
Another UN member state Jordan
Italian Shoes - Mink DeVille
It's Indian Tobacco My Friend - Cornershop
Hey Brits!
Aren't you forgetting one?
Also
You're forgetting what's left of the empire:
Sheep Farming In The Falklands - Crass
Rock Of Gibraltar - Nick Cave
Committee meeting
We need a committee meeting to decide on whether we are going down the GB route or UK route. It will have ramifications for U obviously.
Coalition
It's the way to go.
UK
For U and Me both
It'll be the dead of night when we get to Zaire...
Kuwait - "Yes we're going to a World Party"
A great hidden track and pastiche by Karl (World Party) Wallinger - Kuwait City
Kosova
We have missed J
Haven't we forgotten something ?
My Jamaican Guy - Grace Jones
Not forgetting "The Lebanon"
Jamaica - the inevitable
Yes before Jordan should have been this
Yes before Jordan should have been this
TMFML
- Two more from me later
FLC - Korean Bodega
Korea (North and er.... South)
represented by.... who else
Chick Corea with a tune called er..... Spain. I'll get my koat!
Korea again...
Elvis Costello
Luxembourg
Any more L?
Just "The Lebanon"
as mentioned earlier by The Human League
Dial M for?
Halfway there...
"Mexico"
by James Taylor
"What Do You Want From Me?" by Monaco
Cake
Also have a song called Mexico. It's on their album Prolonging The Magic.
Amadou & Miriam
Welcome to Mali
Bing & Bob
Don't forget Mu Mu Land!
Another M
and an N
(It's not part of China, not on this board)
An Irish hombre called Johnny Duhan had a single called Northern ireland. Not on youtube.
An M and an N
Bruce Cockburn sings Mines of Mozambique on The Charity of Night and Nicaragua on the Stealing Fire album.
Not forgetting Bob Dylan doing Mozambique on Desire to double up on that country.
Sort of Kind of Northern Ireland
Alternative Ulster - SLF
HJHs
The Beat - Dream Home In New Zealand
Oh! Man
it's hard to come up with an O at this time of the night. So here's a P:
Oman
Well spotted...
There is a tune by Sean Paul ft. Daddy Yankee - Oh Man
My selections
I've just gone through my collection and these are the ones I've found
Songs
Holland Town - Frank Black
England & Wales - Go-Kart Mozart
Scotland - Bill Monroe
The Chad Who Loved Me - Mansun
Costa Rica Kristen Hersh
peru boo - Ralph Carney
The Panama Limited - Bukka White
The Turkey Hop - The Johnny Otis Show
Artists
Mission Of Burma
St Vincent
The only thing for O
Qatar
Now that will be difficult!
Qatar: The answer is, as ever, HJHs
That was my first thought but...
.... how about Qatar by Myra Davies on the Cities and Girls album. No I didn't use Google... Yes I did cheat!
Not forgetting "Poland"
an album by Tangerine Dream
Glad to see you got some sleep last night PaddyH
Vaya Con Dios - Puerto Rico
Former Soviet bloc
iForwardRussia!
'There Are No Russians In Russia'
by The Radio Stars.
Sketches of Spain
Miles Davis
Senegal
Cold Turkey
John Lennon
Kanye
Covering the bases
Strangely seem to have led to something of a web presence for West Xylophone...
Neil Hannon
Sweden - The Divine Comedy
Started Late But here's a few
Haiti - Arcade Fire
El Salvador - Athlete
Tahiti - Bat For Lashes
Lovers in Japan - Coldplay
Holiday in Spain - Counting Crows
Mexican standoff - Elbow
Mexico - Incubus
And after looking through my collection I realised I would probably be able to do an alphabetical tour of world cities represented in song and could make a good start on naming features of the solar system.
Bit late but ...
England 1 Colombia 0 (Kirsty McColl)
Art Blakey and the Messangers
Timor
From Them Later
A map of Morocco
By TMTCH, (tmftl)
Back to S
Roy Harper - South Africa from Lifemask.
Not sure if you've got it above...
...System at work blocks out the Youtube videos... but there's "Belgium" by Bowling For Soup.
Van Dyke Parks
Right, I'm putting this thread out of its misery
At risk of boosting posts, here's one to end it:
Vietnam:
Venezuela
Wales
Zaire
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Coming late to the party, a few extras
China Crisis, China Lake - David Baerwald, China Girl - Bowie, or China Pig - Trout Mask Replica in memoriam for the Captain
Egypt - Mental As Anything
New England - Billy Bragg
Tour De France - Kraftwerk
India - Psychedelic Furs
King of Jordan - Deborah Conway
Joke about Jamaica - Hold Steady, or Sexiest Man In Jamaica - Mint Royale
Lebanese Blonde - Thievery Corp
Mexico - James Taylor
Norway - R. Stevie Moore (no, I have no idea who he/she is either, or why they're on my computer)
Panama - Van Halen, and Panama City Motel - Sugar
Blue Spanish Sky (stretching it a bit) - Chris Isaak, or Spain - Tom Robinson
Italian Plastic (stretching it even further) - Crowded House
America, the band
Back in the USSR - HJH (although doesn't strictly speaking exist any more, and was a conflation of states which the judges are frowning on...)
Zimbabwe - Toni Childs
The material on this thread would make a very interesting and strange playlist.