Entertainment For Lively Minds
Is Grimsby by Elton John the greatest ever song about a place?
Posted by kgb on 12 June 2009 - 4:12pm.
Apparently it is according to the Guardian Music supplement. And Croydon by Captain Sensible is the close runner up. Unfortunately I have never heard either and have no desire to either but surely we can do better than the tree huggers?
personally I think the Americans have this category all to themselves. When we do it all we have to offer is apparently Grimsby and croydon - Abergavenny did get a mention too. The yanks have thousands of place names that always seem more remote and romantic. They have whole songs based on place names (route 66, Wanted Man, evem I've been everywhere man).
I would offer Memphis tennessee (obvious) and Lake Charles by Lucinda Williams.
Any other suggestions?
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Nick Lowe
How about "Indian Queens" by Nick Lowe, a beautiful song inspired by the Cornish village (the song is actually much more attractive than the place!).
Grimsby
If Elton is singing it it's unlikely to even be the best song about Grimsby.
Presumably the song title has to just be a place name, otherwise Wichita Lineman would win easily.
Stockport
by Frankie Vaughan, Talk To Me Of Mendocino-Kate and Anna McGarrigle
I'm sure there's loads, but...
I can only come up with Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks and Granchester Meadows by Pink Floyd (cheers Stuart Maconie).
It can only be a place name
It can only be a place name so Waterloo Sunset doesnt get in.
Harper Valley PTA
Maybe the people would be the Times or Between Hill and Clarkdale
Boulder to Birmingham
Barrytown
Notting Hill Gate
...by Quintessence.
'We're getting it straight in Notting Hill Gate / We all sit around and meditate...'
What's not to like?
There you are Col - wondered where you'd got to
I saw a bloke busking at the tube today - and he was playing a bleedin' Chapman Stick! Made me think of you as I know how much you like the things.
Funnily enough....
...I saw a bloke busking with a damned Stick and an echo pedal outside Covent Garden tube last year (on a rare visit to London). It seemed he had spent his life working out a set of flash variations on the theme of John Martyn's 'Outside In'. It seemed to go on forever and, while very impressive for about 20 seconds, was in fact utterly pointless posturing. I'll say it again: there is NO place in the world for the Chapman bl**dy Stick - and PLEASE no-one mention Tony Levin this time!
As for where I've been, up to my eyes in day job (exam organising) and (much more fun) researching/penning the mother of all Quintessence CD notes - a two-part epic to accompany over three hours of blistering, prime, Island-era, previously unreleased multi-track-recorded live material from St Pancras Town Hall 1970 and Queen Elizabeth Hall 1971. Due later this year on Hux. Trust me, it'll blow your mind (man)...
Right, I'll, like, er, look forward to it...
I knew you'd be excited, Sheev...
...in fact, let's celebrate that excitement with this film of the eight-minute percussion break-down from the middle of Quintessence's Glastonbury 1971 set (reissued on cleaned-up DVD this week, though this is the ancient '80s TV broadcast I think):
ohio? as in four dead in.
ohio? as in four dead in.
nebraska - cash brothers - I'm just driving round listening to Nebraska - is a good one too. Not quite Grimsby or Croydon
i dont think Barrytown is a real place
Wot??!!
Trust The Dan to go twisting my melon man.
Sounds like a perfect place for the Massive to live
Im not one to look behind I know that times must change
But over there in Barrytown they do things very strange
And though youre not my enemy
I like things like they used to be
Even these birds like it - and you know what birds think about The Dan
I don't know if there is a real Barrytown....
....but it was the name of the town in the fictional trilogy by Roddy Doyle.
The Barrytown trilogy comprises of "The Commitments" (remember the film?), "The Snapper" and "The Van".
Get it from your library and hee-haw through the holidays.
There is only one
Jerusalem.
Sung by ELP, Sir Billy Bragg or the massed ranks of the Word Blog Barbershop Orchestra and Choral Society.
Kingston Town
Originally Lord Creator and covered by UB40? Oh, and bloomin Warwick Avenue by Duffer, which I can't stand, but its named after the street I grew up in...
only a prawn in whitby
by yes the mighty CUD
Alabama
Also available from Neil Young - Albuquerque.
Both marvellous.
Talking of Alabama
This is pretty good too. Birmingham - Randy Newman.
See also Louisiana and Baltimore.
Anchorage
Rock Ferry
No, not the Duffy one.
The mighty Deaf School.
...so hand me my coat and my beret
I'm going home to Rock Ferry...
Top rhyming sirs!
Lucinda
Something Lucinda Williams does extremely well if you ask me
Greenville
Ventura
Bus to Baton Rouge
Minneapolis
Jackson
all cracking songs.
Can't resist
I've Been Everywhere was actually an Australian song with Australian placenames. It's been adapted for a heap of different place and it's quite telling that the US cover should be the best known version.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27ve_Been_Everywhere
Original version
so many...
not many British ones though.
sadly "Goodbye Yellow Milton Keynes" never really caught on
my favourite is probably
Tom Waits - Johnsburg, Illinois
so tender, so beautiful
also contenders....
Mali Music - Bamako City
Akala - This Is London
Sleeper - C*nt London
January - Sandwood
Mull Historical Society - Tobermory Zoo
Nirvana (UK) - St' John's Wood Affair
Ocean Colour Scene - Chelsea Walk
Doves - Northenden
probably loads more, but my brain isn't working at the moment
Penny Lane? Definitely a
Penny Lane? Definitely a real place, must be so disappointing to the tourists.
oh and Abergele Next Time by the pale Fountains.
new
Coney Island by Van Morrison. We camped out there one night and I fell in, proceeded by about 8 others after me as the night wore on
Newman by Nina = wonderful.
And I guess all you fans of The Wire will know about Baltimore
Hard times in the city
In a hard town by the sea
Ain't nowhere to run to
There ain't nothin' here for free
Oh, Baltimore
Man, it's hard just to live
Newman by Tamlins / Sly & Robbie = even more wonderful
http://open.spotify.com/track/4osSmwE9DVCIzQaPBgkMDi
Grimsby
Previous discussions here have suggested that, based on the lyrical content (the Skinners Arms, the amusements), Bernie was almost certainly remembering Mablethorpe rather than Grimsby.
Not named after a place...
But Billy Bragg's 'A13 Trunk Road To The Sea' references many English places
(the actual song starts at 2:40 - after his lecture about the history of the place-name-song in rock and roll)
What about
Can't believe nobody has come up with these
Sinatra - Chicago & NY, NY
Glen Campbell - Galveston & Wichita Lineman
Isaac Hayes - By the time I get to Phoenix
EmmyLou - Boulder to Birmingham
Stanlow OMD
The greatest song about an oil refinery - ever
more songs, more places...
oh iTunes how I love thee...
The Zutons - Havana Gang Brawl
The Zombies - Beechwood Park
Zabrinski - Black Forest Science Friction
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Yeah! New York
Vera Lynn - The White Cliffs Of Dover
Vera Lynn - A Nightingale Sang In Berkely Square
Venetian Snares - Fuck Toronto Jungle
Venetian Snares - Swindon
Tom Baxter - A Day In Verona
The Tiger Lillies - Soho Boy
Thom Yorke - Harrowdown Hill
Supergrass - Shotover Hill
Supergrass - Brecon Beacons
Psapp - Northdown Flat B1
many more to go...
Tom Waits needs a section to himself... someone else can do that
On first scan...
I thought that list included
Vera Lynn - Fuck Toronto Jungle
!!
A lot of the above are not
A lot of the above are not songs with just the Place Name in it. The Guardian wouldnt accept them!
Perhaps we shoudl ask the next Guardian readers poll to be songs with Fuck in the title.
Belfast - Boney M
"Got to have a believin'
All the people
Cause the people are leavin'...
When the hate you have
For one another's past
You can try (You can try)
You can try (You can try)
You can try
To tell the world the reason why
Belfast
Belfast
Belfast"
A young girl called Dolores paused by the radio and vowed to become a politically-motivated lyricist. Thanks, Boney M!
Giving this a bit of a Euro slant
may I suggest the gorgeous Bonjour Trieste by 'Tuxedomoon
Billy Bentley (Promenades Himself In London)
by Kilburn and The High Roads - includes various places in London
also
Belfast 14 - Jake Burns
Alternative Ulster - Stiff Little Fingers
Hersham Boys - Sham 69
Alternative Ulster - SLF
Plaistow Patricia - Ian Dury
Billericay Dickie - Ian Dury
22 Acacia Avenue - Iron Maiden
Stanley Road - Paul Weller
Heart of Lothian - Marillion
Scarbourogh Fayre - Simon & Garfunkel
24 Hours Forn Tulsa - Gene Pitney
24 Minutes from Tulse Hill - Carter USM
London Calling - Clash
White man in Hammersmith Palais - Clash
Cod Save The Queen
Oh, sorry, you said Plaice
A pedant writes...
The Grauniad article was specifically songs about TOWNS.
Not cities, not villages, but middle sized towns.