Philadelphia PA, deep in the heart of Texas and round the Frisco Bay

October 1, 2016 10:33 AM

The states that Americans sing about. Some data to back up those bar bets?
posted by fixedgear (41 comments total)

I bet MN gets no credit for "Toolmaster of Brainerd."
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:39 AM on October 1, 2016 [5 favorites]

Indiana wants me,
But I can't go back there...

Pretty much sums it up in soooo many way.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:48 AM on October 1, 2016 [3 favorites]

Indiana also gets a special credit because damned near every song written by John Mellencap is, de facto, a reference to Indiana.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:51 AM on October 1, 2016 [4 favorites]

Iowa Stubborn always comes to mind.
posted by hippybear at 11:10 AM on October 1, 2016

Rhode Island's so grey because songs about Rhode Island mention every other state.
posted by Kattullus at 11:11 AM on October 1, 2016 [3 favorites]

(Silge cautions that New York is so dark in part because some songs that include the state’s name are undoubtedly referencing New York City.)

There can't be many hit songs about non-NYC New York State.
posted by pracowity at 11:12 AM on October 1, 2016 [2 favorites]

Oddly enough, I did, just an hour ago, sing the words "Deep in the heart of Connecticut," while telling the kids about our plans for next weekend.
posted by Ruki at 11:21 AM on October 1, 2016 [2 favorites]

Here in Michigan we have:

"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"

Saginaw, Michigan, by Lefty Frizzel, which is also about the Alaskan gold rush;

Simon & Garfunkel, "Looking for America," also mentions Saginaw.

Judy Garland singing "I Was Born in Michigan," from Easter Parade. Like the Lefty Frizzel tune, this mentions fishing, in this case because "fish again" can be rhymed with "Michigan."

Journey mentions "South Detroit," which doesn't exist, in "Don't Stop Believin'"

Glen Miller, "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo"

As was mentioned above re: John Cougar Mellencamp and Indiana, all Bob Seger songs are implicitly or explicitly about Michigan.

We might not have a lot of songs, but we have some real doozies.

I think I'll make mix CDs for my kids. That would be fun.
posted by not that girl at 11:37 AM on October 1, 2016 [6 favorites]

Did they account for non-explicit mentions?

Hey Shell, you know it's kind of funny
Texas always seemed so big
But you know you're in the largest state in the union
When you're anchored down in Anchorage
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:48 AM on October 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

...all Bob Seger songs are implicitly or explicitly about Michigan.

There's a Katmandu, Michigan?
posted by Thorzdad at 12:25 PM on October 1, 2016 [2 favorites]

I don't think I've ever heard a song about Delaware.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 12:27 PM on October 1, 2016

Chuck Berry mentions 'Delaware Bay' which rhymes with USA.
posted by fixedgear at 12:33 PM on October 1, 2016

If Indiana gets de facto credit for every Mellencamp song then surely New Jersey gets that credit for Springsteen and/or Bon Jovi.
posted by ActionPopulated at 12:47 PM on October 1, 2016 [2 favorites]

A related and also important graphical and cartographic depiction of... songular... location...ings.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:57 PM on October 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also related: every location mentioned in a Mountain Goats song.
posted by dephlogisticated at 1:00 PM on October 1, 2016 [5 favorites]

Also: every location mentioned in a Tom Waits song.
posted by dephlogisticated at 1:07 PM on October 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'll add to the Michigan songs. Jelly Roll Morton "Michigan Water Blues". The map may be skewed by not including songs of earlier decades. Hawaii was an insane fad in the late 20s-early 30s. And not every NY song is about NYC, as is evidenced by "Bungalow in Quogue", lyrics by P.G. Wodehouse (who lived in Bellport).
posted by acrasis at 1:55 PM on October 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Oh what did Della-wear boy, what did Delaware
What did Della-wear boy, what did Delaware
She wore a brand New Jersey,
She wore a brand New Jersey.

(and so on)
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:57 PM on October 1, 2016

Louisiana is getting robbed here, on account of city mentions not being counted. New Orleans is probably in more songs than every state combined.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:31 PM on October 1, 2016 [2 favorites]

This would be quite the undertaking, but it might be fun to see how many of those songs were written by people from the state they're about. I'm guessing not that many.

"Georgia On My Mind" -- Indiana
"Sweet Home Alabama" -- Florida
"Mississippi Queen" -- New York, Canada
"Ohio" -- Canada
"Alabama" -- Canada
"California" -- Canada
etc.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:01 PM on October 1, 2016

I might be moving to Montana soon
just to raise me up a crop of dental floss...
I left New York in 1949
To go across the country without a bad blame dime
Montana in the cold cold fall
Found my father in the gambling hall
I'm in Deerlock Montana in the territory prison
They've got me for something that I didn't do
I've been framed for killin' a dude down in Dillon
But babe don't you worry 'cause I always come through...
In the state of Montana
In the Year of the Ford
Nineteen hundred & fifty-four
People are leaving
They're driving all night
Women are crying
They're frozen in lights
And we roll on the river
posted by Theiform at 4:17 PM on October 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Do the Dropkick Murphy's give credit for 'Shipping of to Boston' for Massachusetts, or do they only give credit for 'the State of Massachusetts'? What about Rubio and 'Last night on the Mass Pike?'
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:09 PM on October 1, 2016

In cinema, the fistfight in the diner while The Yellow Rose of Texas plays on the jukebox at the end of the film 'Giant' stands out.
posted by ovvl at 6:13 PM on October 1, 2016

Journey mentions "South Detroit," which doesn't exist, in "Don't Stop Believin'"

Unless you count Windsor, Ontario.
posted by jonp72 at 6:48 PM on October 1, 2016

Louisiana is getting robbed here, on account of city mentions not being counted. New Orleans is probably in more songs than every state combined.

One example is how Gary U.S. Bonds mentions Mississippi (as in the river), but doesn't mention in Louisiana in "New Orleans."
posted by jonp72 at 6:52 PM on October 1, 2016

The BeeGees came to Massachusetts once, but they couldn't stand the Dirty Water in Boston, man, they really hated Boston, especially after hearing about what happened to Charlie on the MTA, so they fled to Old Cape Cod, where they were kind of disappointed they didn't see a single Roadrunner, and so they left without meeting Miss Massachusetts.

Massachusetts outrage: We have an official polka, but a couple years back, the legislature refused to declare Roadrunner the official Rock Song of the Commonwealth.
posted by adamg at 6:55 PM on October 1, 2016 [3 favorites]

Moonlight in Vermont...
posted by jim in austin at 8:00 PM on October 1, 2016

In a great South Carolina wreck, I crashed my bicycle!
posted by SansPoint at 8:07 PM on October 1, 2016

VERMONT DOESN'T HAVE SYCAMORES, UGH.

(We have tamaracks though.)
posted by maryr at 10:04 PM on October 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Anyway, what are all these Maine songs? I only know one, it's by an obscure twee band, and they don't go in the end. (There's one about Rhode Island on there too.)
posted by maryr at 10:15 PM on October 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Anyway, what are all these Maine songs?

Per the link above, the Mountain Goats have three.... one even inspired a MeFite.
posted by Pink Frost at 10:53 PM on October 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

The only songs about Pennsylvania I can think of are "The Pennsylvania Polka" and "Pennsylvania 6-5000". There must be more, right? If any of you come up with more, please let me know.
posted by james33 at 3:26 AM on October 2, 2016

I went to college in Rock Island in the late 90s when the group Quad City DJs had their big hit, whatever it was. The most memorable thing about it, though, was finding out that the group wasn't from the confluence of Rock Island, Moline, Davenport and Bettendorf, but somehow from Miami, which is neither cities plural nor quad, but had temporarily taken then name because of absurdly loud car stereos.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:51 AM on October 2, 2016

I agree, though, that this would work much better if it took city names into account. I'm sure that's a much more intensive search than googling state name and song lyric, but the results would be pretty interesting. I have a rooting interest, but I can imagine Michigan being quite close to the top.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:02 AM on October 2, 2016

These are towns, not states, but my favorite place-name usage in a song was Tom Waits' "I was broke down in East St. Louis, on the Kansas City line" because those are state-line cities on opposite sides of Missouri, yet it being a Waits song, I assume he had envisioned some kind of Borgesian spacetime nexus located somewhere around Jeff City that made it possible.
posted by middleclasstool at 7:31 AM on October 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

The Kansas City line is the rail line to Kansas City, surely?
posted by Sys Rq at 10:53 AM on October 2, 2016 [2 favorites]

DAMMIT DONT RUIN IT FOR ME
posted by middleclasstool at 11:48 AM on October 2, 2016

Say, what song is that from, by the way?

BRACE FOR EXPLOSIVE GOTCHA
posted by Sys Rq at 12:39 PM on October 2, 2016

"Pennsylvania 6-5000" was a phone number in NYC.
posted by sixpack at 1:53 PM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

My favorite place-name usage in a song is from the Magnetic Fields song "Long Vermont Roads":

Your eyes are Kansas City
In Kansas and in Missouri/misery.
posted by maryr at 8:50 PM on October 3, 2016

I don't think I've ever heard a song about Delaware

Now you have!
posted by dmt at 1:03 AM on October 4, 2016