# Favorite song about where you live **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011 "2019-02-05T15:58:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/1 "2019-02-05T15:58:38Z")
What’s your favorite song that is about where you live? Bonus points if your town is mentioned in the title. Mine is [_Portland Woman_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0XzuM5OAFQ), by New Riders Of The Purple Sage(1969). ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/2 "2019-02-05T16:02:15Z")
Rock Island Line. No link because I’m at work. Will provide later. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/3 "2019-02-05T16:04:37Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Rock Island Line. No link because I’m at work. Will provide later. Will [Lonnie Donegan’s live version do?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI4nRD-DRpk) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/4 "2019-02-05T16:07:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Will [Lonnie Donegan’s live version do?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI4nRD-DRpk) That’s a goody! I was going to post the original version, the skiffle version (yours), than the Beatle version! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/5 "2019-02-05T16:30:47Z")
There are no song smaller than the state level for me. If you count both South and North Carolina together, though, I like James Taylor’s _Carolina on My Mind_. (Much more compelling than _Sandlappers_, _Nothing Can Be Finer_.) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/6 "2019-02-05T16:38:38Z")
[Dirty Water](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDbeopynlrE) by the Standells. ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/7 "2019-02-05T16:51:11Z")
That’s a tough one. My favorite song about the South in general is probably [All I Can Do Is Write About it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH-gnMSzmtI) by Skynyrd. More specifically Alabama, gotta go with [My Home’s in Alabama](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4Ryzfvf7AE). ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/8 "2019-02-05T16:59:57Z")
I’m lucky enough to have a song about my specific neighborhood: [Lincoln Park Pirates](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF3q7o8Yjrg) by Steve Goodman. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/9 "2019-02-05T17:00:34Z")
When I lived in Seattle [the theme song to “Here Come The Brides”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRNpa_vTjRM) was a favorite of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/10 "2019-02-05T17:03:51Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I’m lucky enough to have a song about my specific neighborhood: [Lincoln Park Pirates](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF3q7o8Yjrg) by Steve Goodman. I heard that done by [Frank Hayes at a convention many years ago.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0cbIIoLUFM) ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/11 "2019-02-05T17:05:28Z")
Tony Bennett, “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/12 "2019-02-05T17:12:11Z")
[Tom Waits- Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxVo5mjK4eg) I live just outside, but close enough. ---
**Author:** ![Hapax\_Legomenon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8c91f0/32.png) [@Hapax\_Legomenon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hapax_Legomenon)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/13 "2019-02-05T17:14:06Z")
‘Bohemian Like You’ by the Dandy Warhols never explicitly says it’s about Portland, but it’s totally about Portland. And an awesome song. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/14 "2019-02-05T17:21:43Z")
For where I grew up, (Don’t Go Back to) Rockville - R.E.M., written by Mike Mills as a plea to his then girlfriend to not leave school and return to Rockville, Maryland. Great tune, but very amusing to me as Mills clearly either had a completely made-up version of Rockville in his head or the GF had given him a wildly inaccurate portrayal of her hometown. In fact, having been to both places, I feel like Athens, GA and Rockville, MD are not really all that different. And as far as I know, there are no, nor have there ever been, any factories in Rockville. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/15 "2019-02-05T17:24:38Z")
God damn it. I was trying to think of a song for Toronto. I am ashamed to say it took longer than 3 seconds for me to come up with [YYZ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdpMpfp-J_I). ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/16 "2019-02-05T17:26:09Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > There are no song smaller than the state level for me. If you count both South and North Carolina together, though, I like James Taylor’s _Carolina on My Mind_. (Much more compelling than _Sandlappers_, _Nothing Can Be Finer_.) I’ll see your James Taylor and raise you [the Chairmen of the Board](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsTEw2QJe5Y). ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/17 "2019-02-05T17:28:06Z")
I don’t know of any about my specific city but Tom Petty’s [Casa Dega](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFQPR6eI1FY) is a pretty good song about an interesting place in this not so interesting state. Sadly, the most well know song about Florida is Stephen Foster’s _Old Folks at Home_ (wayyyyy down upon the Suwanee River) ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/18 "2019-02-05T17:32:19Z")
[White Boy From Sacramento](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gamxQTm6RL0) by Timothy B. Shmidt But to be fair, it’s the only song that’s explicitly about living in Sacramento I’m aware of. There’s also Cake’s [Arco Arena](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfBLJdq_sm8) (I live down the street from Arco) but I’m not sure it counts. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/19 "2019-02-05T17:37:40Z")
[St. Louis Blues.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2TUlUwa3_o) Of course [the lyrics](https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/louisarmstrong/saintlouisblues.html) make it a little hard to be used as a civic pride thing. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2019, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011/20 "2019-02-05T17:37:54Z")
My fav about where I live is [Praga Khan - Breakfast In Vegas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_dPYmn77Ps). I made a killer ringtone from it that I use for a friend of mine who was born here and had never really left the valley until he was 23 years old. I was not born here, however, and if ya’ll will indulge me, my favorite song about my hometown is [_It Sprinkled, It Rained, and It Poured_ by John and Marina Nickerson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7Q9xHjcv_g). I lost my copy to use and damage decades ago and was thrilled to find this online some years back. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-about-where-you-live/829011.md?page=2)