Olympia has another very awesome song.
Leaving from the Bronx
If you drive west, sir
You might end up in
Good old Rochester
Now I just need someone to set it to music.
R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills wrote this song about a girl he was dating at the time who was leaving UGA to return home to Rockville, Maryland. He apparently thought it was some small rural factory town (it’s the county seat and very much a high mid- to upper class DC suburb. I lived a large chunk of my childhood there. As far as I know there’s never been anything resembling a factory there).
As for Washington, DC, the primary candidates are probably either Sousa’s “Washington Post March” or Parliament’s “Chocolate City.”
Meet Me in St. Louis
St. Louis Blues
St. Louis Song (by jazz/pop singer Erin Bode)
Go to San Francisco, get the blues…
New Orleans has a lot of iconic songs (including one that is really about a train and another about a battle), which is fitting for a city of music, but I’m partial to a song that doesn’t even mention the name:
And both of these are the official songs of San Francisco. Two more different songs it’s hard to pick. Folks are probably familiar with the first one, so here is the happy peppy (and deliciously corny show-stopper) second one:
The Castro Theater in San Francisco is (or was, I haven’t been in a while and I don’t know if it survived Covid) a repertory movie theater, and they used to feature this movie from time to time. The house was always packed, and believe me the audience didn’t wait to be asked to sing along. Some of my best memories.
My city of Sydney
I miss the warmth of you
Miss the heart of your people
That little church steeple
In Woolloomooloo
etc etc
Sung by imported American singer / tonight show host Tommy Leonetti. It became the end broadcast transmission song for Channel 7 every night. Covered by local band, the XL Capris.
I don’t know of anything for the smaller town I live in now. I came here from Nashville and it seems half of the country songs mention Nashville.
I always thought “Coming into Los Angeles” captured the LA zeitgeist better than “I Love LA”.
Blackburn, Lancashire has far more lyric-space dedicated to it that I suspect it deserves. Come to think of it, Tupelo, MS does too. Ditto Winslow AZ.
I grew up in Calgary and remember that song well. I did not know that This American Life did a story on it, but I do remember coming across a YouTube video that mentioned it.
I’m going to listen to that episode now.
It’s not really about the city of Kent though. It’s about an event that happened at the university that is in Kent, and the name “Kent” is not mentioned. Kind of like saying the song “Jeremy” is the city song for Richardson, Texas because that’s where the kid shot himself.
Yeah, I remember that one used in St. Louis.
And 20-odd years before that, there was “That’s My Hometown.” I heard it in Dallas and Evansville, Indiana, as well as these unforgettable renditions.
Previous thread: "I Love L.A.," "Phila. Freedom," and other "city songs"
You could say John Denver wasn’t a fan of a particular Ohio burg:
Lahaina - Loggins and Messina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0mpUMpd6WM
Honolulu City Lights - The Beamers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akNbC7hcblw
Edit: The centipede say “Hey Mr. Haole”, not “Hey Mr. Hall” as most of the lyrics say. Haole means foreigner in Hawaiian, but usually means a white person. It’s not considered derogatory or racist by locals. Though it can be used that way in anger.
And John Fogerty had a rather jaundiced view of a small city in the Central Valley of California:
Everyone in Morgantown, WV seems to think Joni Mitchell wrote “Morning Morgantown” about us, but it’s never been confirmed. And there are other Morgantowns in the U.S., so it could be about one of them.
We’re so vain…
Seattle by Perry Como. Top 40 song back in 1968.
I found out that I had been transferred to Sudbury when I found out the town had a song. The song did not make me want to move there but after living there I’ve grown fond of the song.
