# Do Other Countries Besides the U.S. Go All Misty-Eyed Over Their Rivers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 3, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066 "2010-08-03T22:26:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066/21 "2010-08-04T22:43:44Z")
OTOH, the River Jordan is romaticized much more by people living \*outside \*of Israel than by Israelis. It’s just that we’ve seen it, and it’s not very impressive. There are still some songs about it - but then, there are songs for basically every geographical feature in the country. ---
**Author:** ![\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/eada6e/32.png) [@\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Undecided_Adrian)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066/22 "2010-08-04T22:44:46Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > Germany has any number of songs celebrating the Rhine, most notably “Die Wacht am Rhein” and “Einmal am Rhein”. Germany even has songs celebrating rivers that are not actually German any more, like the first stanza of the Deutschlandlied and the Wolgalied… ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066/23 "2010-08-04T22:45:09Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > It seems to me that an awful lot of American nostalgia has to do with rivers. Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, the Rio Grande, the Swanee (even though that one used to be Suwanee until Steven Foster changed it.) [nitpick] It’s still the [Suwanee River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suwannee_River). An excellent place for kayaking, canoeing, fishing or just settin’ around, all 266 miles of it. I wouldna said anything, but I’m from around them parts and I love that river. [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066/24 "2010-08-05T02:27:23Z")
We do it too. Rivers are plugged in the second stanzas of both the French (i.e. original) and English lyrics of O Canada: _Sous l’oeil de Dieu, près du fleuve géant_… (Under the eye of God, near the giant river); and _Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow_. Off the top of my head and from my own musical tastes, Stan Rogers sings of _rac[ing] the roaring Fraser to the sea_ in “Northwest Passage,” and Kate and Anna McGarrigle wrote a song about (and named an album after) the Matapédia, a river in the Gaspé. Considering that the St. Lawrence was how Europeans got into Canada in the first place, it’s pretty appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066/25 "2010-08-05T04:16:21Z")
I’m sure there are many more songs about the “Blue Danube” than about the “Kinky Cuyahoga” . . . although AFAIK, the Danube has never caught fire. (And by the way, I’ve seen the Danube . . . and it’s brown.) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066/26 "2010-08-05T04:22:23Z")
Connie Kaldor wrote a lovely little song about the Wood River, featured on her “Wood River” CD. The album is essentially an hour long paen to Saskatchewan. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066/27 "2010-08-05T04:29:23Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > (And by the way, I’ve seen the Danube . . . and it’s brown.) It was blue when I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066/28 "2010-08-05T04:42:50Z")
Another classic German poem/song about the Rhein: Heinrich Heine’s [Lorelei](http://loreley.de/loreley/marctwai.htm) (the link is to Mark Twain’s translation). And Brecht’s[Kinderhymne](http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets/Bertolt_Brecht/9288) (a really bad translation, but all I could find; what you need to know is that it was intended an alternative national anthem) includes the line: "from the sea to the Alps, from the Oder to the Rhine. Hanns Eisler set it to [music](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tWNwmbN23w&playnext=1&videos=LUmVaBW5QpI), which I think gives you a better sense for the feel of the poem. I’m sure if I go through my standard collection of German poetry, I can pull out a bunch of poems with river references. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066/29 "2010-08-05T15:33:35Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > > [@panache45](#): > > > > (And by the way, I’ve seen the Danube . . . and it’s brown.) > > It was blue when I saw it. I thought everybody knew it was [green.](http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/thebluedanube.shtml) (Spike Jones being an acknowledged authority on such matters…) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066/30 "2010-08-05T15:41:56Z")
> [@brad\_d](#): > > I thought everybody knew it was [green.](http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/thebluedanube.shtml) (Spike Jones being an acknowledged authority on such matters…) That’s the [Chicago](http://daveferguson.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/03/18/chicago_river_green.jpg) River. ---
**Author:** ![\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/eada6e/32.png) [@\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Undecided_Adrian)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066/31 "2010-08-05T17:57:28Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > > [@panache45](#): > > > > (And by the way, I’ve seen the Danube . . . and it’s brown.) > > It was blue when I saw it. Yes. Here is an [aerial view of Passau](http://www.aelf-pa.bayern.de/dreifluessestadt_passau.jpg), the Danube is to the right of the peninsula. (I had about the same view of Passau from my glider once, that was a great flight. The small river to the right had yet another color, it was beautiful.) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066/32 "2010-08-05T20:04:40Z")
> [@'\[Undecided](#): > > Adrian;12768576’] > > > [@Kyla](#): > > > > It was blue when I saw it. > > Yes. Here is an [aerial view of Passau](http://www.aelf-pa.bayern.de/dreifluessestadt_passau.jpg), the Danube is to the right of the peninsula. > (I had about the same view of Passau from my glider once, that was a great flight. The small river to the right had yet another color, it was beautiful.) Indeed, the river to the left is the Inn. it is the “Inn” in “Innsbruck” and also contains the contents of the Salzach river which flows through Salzburg. The cloudiness is apparent all the way back to the sources in the glaciers of the Austrian Mountains. Off topic but I have to say, I’m actually on holiday at the moment in Austria. Visiting the mountains, lakes, high passes etc and can honestly say it is one of the best holidays I’ve ever had. If you have a penchant for the high country, beautiful scenery and great food and beer then I highly recommend it. (especially since I’m a stingy git and it can all be done for very little money) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-besides-the-u-s-go-all-misty-eyed-over-their-rivers/549066.md?page=1)