# Does EVERYONE know 'Country Roads'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [May 13, 2025, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317 "2025-05-13T02:46:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/41 "2025-05-13T15:58:04Z")
West Virginia’s state motto, per _Our Dumb World_: “Country Roads, Take Me Anywhere Else” ---
**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:** [May 13, 2025, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/42 "2025-05-13T16:03:14Z")
> [@solost](#): > > The Blue Ridge Mountains _are_ one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, this is true, estimated to be as much as 1.1 billion years old. > > But life is estimated to have begun around 3.8 billion years ago, give or take. Life is old _there_ - on land. Life started appearing on land around 450 million years ago, which means that when the Blue Ridge mountains rose, there was no life anywhere near them. Anyway, I like “Annie’s Song”. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/43 "2025-05-13T16:03:17Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > > [@solost](#): > > > > older than the trees > > Shouldn’t that be “deciduous growths”? Yes! Good point. _Life post-dating the Cretaceous-Paleogene event is old there, as old as deciduous trees, which first appeared in the Cretaceous period 90 million years ago_ _Younger than the mountains, blowin’ like the snow_ Just had to swap out ‘breeze’ to fix the rhyme. Songwriting is easy! > [@Alessan](#): > > Life is old _there_ - on land. Life started appearing on land around 450 million years ago, which means that when the Blue Ridge mountains rose, there was no life anywhere near them. Hmmm…ok, you have a point there… > **[First Life on Land?](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/first-life-on-land/)** > > 440 million-year-old fungus fossils may be remnants of earliest land-dwelling organism ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/44 "2025-05-13T16:12:52Z")
I prefer the New Jersey version: _Concrete road, take me home To the place I belong Jersey City, Bayonne mama Take me home, concrete road_ ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/45 "2025-05-13T16:31:22Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Readers of this thread may also be interested in this one: I’d forgotten about that one. 😳 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/46 "2025-05-13T16:35:04Z")
I was told they picked “West Virginia” for the meter. And that they started with some other state. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/47 "2025-05-13T16:37:45Z")
You all rob me of some illusions, that Denver himself wrote the song and was a proud West Virginian. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/48 "2025-05-13T16:37:47Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > [@Pleonast](#): > > > > Readers of this thread may also be interested in this one: > > I’d forgotten about that one. 😳 To be fair, you presciently asked for someone to open a thread like this one: > [@Stranger to blue water?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-to-blue-water/986105/1): > > Like, in addition to this movie, I think it was Anthony Bourdain who found himself in a carful of strangers somewhere in Asia, everyone’s been drinking, and suddenly everyone started singing it. (‘You haven’t lived until you’ve found yourself drunk in a car in [Cambodia/Vietnam/Wherever] with a bunch of drunk strangers singing _Take Me Home, Country Roads_’, or something like that.) But that’s a topic for another thread, which someone can start if they want to. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/49 "2025-05-13T16:39:34Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Take me home, concrete road What exit? 🙂 I like Calypso. At least he wrote that one. ---
**Author:** ![DaveUnknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@DaveUnknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveUnknown)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/50 "2025-05-13T16:39:50Z")
“Rodinia began to split there” sort-of matches the meter, if you change the notes, change to triplets or something. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/51 "2025-05-13T16:40:40Z")
Plus 1. I was gonna say Annies Song. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/52 "2025-05-13T16:41:26Z")
He was born in Roswell, NM. ( Que _Twilight Zone_ theme) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/53 "2025-05-13T16:43:46Z")
Makes sense, the only biographical fact I’ve always known about him was that his real name was Deutschendorf, so he was an alien. A German alien in NM. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/54 "2025-05-13T16:47:44Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Country and folk never have been very popular genres in Germany, but rather niche, but “Country Roads” by far is the most popular country folk song here. Just curious, EinsteinsHund, you say Country and folk never have been very popular genres in Germany, but [Wikipedia says that 32% of Germany is forested](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forests_of_Germany), and Germany has its own very impressive mountain ranges. Are there any popular German songs extolling the beauty of Germany’s own forests and mountains? ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/55 "2025-05-13T16:48:35Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > > [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > > > Take me home, concrete road > > What exit? > > 🙂 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/0sH3M8IHizY/maxresdefault.jpg "Concrete Road") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sH3M8IHizY) ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/56 "2025-05-13T16:51:01Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Concrete road, take me home One of the versions sung in _Whisper of the Heart_ is _Concrete Roads_. As a parody about the loss of the countryside to urbanization, which many from New Jersey would appreciate. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/57 "2025-05-13T16:57:41Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Are there any popular German songs extolling the beauty of Germany’s own forests and mountains? Well sure, but German Volksmusik\<\>American (or British) folk music. I could go on a long explanation, but I’ll sum it up as short as I can: German folk music has had a long, multi-faceted tradition in the many different regions of Germany and probably had its peak in the Romantic era, but got hijacked by nationalists in the late 19th century and totally ruined later by the nazis. What emerged after the War as what now is usually called “Volksmusik” is total trash inspired by cheap Schlager and pop music. “Real” German folk musicians who work in the old traditions (not spoiled by nationalism) make it a point to call that schlagerized music “volkstümliche Musik” instead of “Volksmusik” to differentiate it from the real thing. To sum it up: like everything having to do with “Volk”, German folk music has been shat over and spoiled by the nazis, so we’re still struggling to acknowledge and renew our folk traditions. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/58 "2025-05-13T17:06:15Z")
Really interesting historical perspective, thanks! > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > “Real” German folk musicians who work in the old traditions (not spoiled by nationalism) make it a point to call that schlagerized music “volkstümliche Musik” instead of “Volksmusik” to differentiate it from the real thing. Not knowing much German, I ran both “volkstümliche Musik” and “Volksmusik” through Google Translate, and both terms translate as “folk music”. Not much help, Google Translate! So I ran just “stümliche” and it translates to “stupid”. So “volkstümliche Musik” apparently means “_stupid_ folk music” 😁 ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/59 "2025-05-13T17:09:27Z")
> [@solost](#): > > So I ran just “stümliche” and it translates to “stupid”. So “volkstümliche Musik” means “_stupid_ folk music” 😁 No, “stümlich” is not a word in German, I think it was a confusion with “dümmlich”, which means stupid. Literally, “volkstümliche Musik” and “Volksmusik” mean exactly the same, right, but think of “volkstümliche Musik” more as “folkish music” or “in the vein of folk music”., expressing that it’s not exactly the genuine thing. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317/60 "2025-05-13T17:14:43Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > No, “stümlich” is not a word in German, I think it was a confusion with “dümmlich”, which means stupid. Oh, ok. I tried doing an English to German translation of ‘stupid’ and and it came back with just ‘dumm’ for German. So, at least when it comes to German translations, it seems Google Translate is dumm, or more accurately, dümmlich 😏 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-know-country-roads/1018317.md?page=4)