This is the sound of the ... country?
A comment by iamnotthebeatles reminded me of a documentary in the BBC Edwardian season: "How the Edwardians spoke". (At the time of writing, you can find it on Google Video and GUBA.)
There is an interesting sequence near the beginning (from 03'00" to 04'00") to in which a dialect coach, Joan Washington, makes a link between "the way we speak and the scenery that surrounds us. ...Landscape has something to do with the tune of an accent." She compares the flatness of East Anglian accents and the undulation of South Wales (perhaps we could get Jude to demonstrate this for us on the next podcast). (She also talks about accents being in major or minor keys -- Birmingham being an example of the latter and North Yorkshire one of the former.)
An interesting theory, but what iamnotthebeatles's comment made me wonder is this: if Creedence Clearwater Revival is the sound of the American highways, then what does that say about our landscape. Does Oxford sound like Radiohead, and Glasgow like a mix of the Blue Nile, Franz Ferdinand and Alex Harvey? And what about the countryside? What does the Peak District sound like?
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Interesting
I always think the Blue Nile make the sound of Scottish cities at twilight with the lights just going on. The odd thing about Creedence Clearwater Revival is that while they sang about Louisiana they actually came from Oakland, California and had never seen a bayou in their lives.
Nice Idea but...
A romantic idea but, having grown up in the same Glasgow suburb as Paul Buchanan, I assure you that the sound of Blue Nile is not the sound of Scottish cities at twilight. Far from it. Don't really go along with the geography:sound thing in general, nice though the notion is. Authentic blues can be played by the sons of Essex as well as the Deep South. There may be exceptions - Sigur Ros certainly fits my idea of Iceland - but then, I've never been. For all I know, the reality could be Frankie Teardrop all the way...