# How many songs have "Kalamazoo" in their lyrics?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-kalamazoo-in-their-lyrics/438956
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 24, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-kalamazoo-in-their-lyrics/438956 "2008-02-24T16:14:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-kalamazoo-in-their-lyrics/438956/21 "2008-02-25T03:18:28Z")
_It’s a Beautiful Day for a Ballgame_, by the Harry Simeone Chorale, long played as the introduction to Chicago Cub and Los Angeles Dodger radio broadcasts:
The fans are out to get a ticket or two
From Walla Walla, Washington to Kalamazoo . . .
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### Author:  [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-kalamazoo-in-their-lyrics/438956/22 "2008-02-25T04:48:09Z")
This thread just brought back a cute memory–I went to college with a guy from Kalamazoo. This was nowhere near there and there weren’t many people around from that area. He was always having to say “Yes, it’s a real place.”
Come to think of it, the girl from Chattanooga had the same problem. 🙂
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### Author:  [@7\_7\_fourteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/7_7_fourteen)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-kalamazoo-in-their-lyrics/438956/23 "2011-12-28T02:00:16Z")
Lots of songs. See [[Kalamazoo, Michigan - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalamazoo,_Michigan) Kalamazoo, Michigan] in Wikipedia. Make sure you look at today’s version (I can’t guarantee that some editor won’t delete this stuff). In a lot of those lyrics, “Kalamazoo” is a reference to an old Gibson Guitar. Hope that helps. Best to all of you. Happy New Year.🆒
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### Author:  [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-kalamazoo-in-their-lyrics/438956/24 "2011-12-28T03:02:10Z")
> [@freckafree](#):
>
> Hmmm. I always assumed “kalamazoo” in Down on the Corner was to “kazoo” as “edumacation” is to “education.” (There’s a name for inserting extra syllables in words like that, and I can’t remember what it is!)
[Tmesis.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tmesis#Examples_of_tmesis_for_emphasis)
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-kalamazoo-in-their-lyrics/438956/25 "2011-12-28T03:36:21Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#):
>
> [Tmesis.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tmesis#Examples_of_tmesis_for_emphasis)
It’s funny that a word that means the addition of syllables to a word looks like it’s gone through the opposite function.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-kalamazoo-in-their-lyrics/438956/26 "2011-12-28T04:00:54Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#):
>
> [Tmesis.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tmesis#Examples_of_tmesis_for_emphasis)
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> It’s funny that a word that means the addition of syllables to a word looks like it’s gone through the opposite function.
“I hate tmesis to pieces!” ---------------- Mr. Jinks, as portrayed by Messrs. Hanna and Barbera
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### Author:  [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-kalamazoo-in-their-lyrics/438956/27 "2011-12-28T16:54:50Z")
In the Bowling for Soup song “I Can’t Stand L.A.” (from the album _Sorry For Partyin’_), Kalamazoo is listed as one of the places BFS has been that Jaret would rather be than Los Angeles.
After he sings the line mentioning Kalamazoo, though, you can hear bass player Eric Chandler shout in the background, “We’ve never been there!”
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-kalamazoo-in-their-lyrics/438956/28 "2011-12-28T18:52:56Z")
> [@Fetchund](#):
>
> …and Gibson made a guitar model called a “Kalamazoo”, so that might be the referenced instrument. Other than that, there is a brand of amp called a Kalamazoo.
Just to add a bit of geekery: it wasn’t a “model.” During the Depression, Gibson was desperate and started making private-label guitars for Montgomery Ward under the Recording King name, and for a toy distributor by the name of [Kel Kroyden](http://www.frets.com/fretspages/museum/Guitar/Gibson/KelKroydon/kelkroydon.html) (link to ref page with pics of some KK guitars - great looking old Gibson guitar designs…with parrots and stuff painted on them ;)).
Anyway, one brand that they sold was Kalamazoo - great guitars that fueled the Delta blues (along with old Stellas, Kays, etc.); although Robert Johnson, the legendary bluesman who made a pact with the devil at the crossroads, is seen in the photos we have of him playing an old Gibson L-2, he mainly played Kalamazoos, to my knowledge. Anyway, that is what Fogarty was referring to in the song Down on the Corner - Willie and the Po’ Boys include a guitar player playing a Gibson-made-but cheaper Kalamazoo.
Sorry - guitar geekery moment over…carry on.
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