# Songs About Imaginary Places **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 25, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-imaginary-places/110800 "2002-05-25T15:08:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-imaginary-places/110800/41 "2002-05-28T13:00:53Z")
Brigadoon? Eddie Grant: > [@](#): > > “We gonna walk on to _Electric Avenue_.” Another band (don’t remember the name): > [@](#): > > \ > Won’t you take me to… > \ > _Funky Town_ “Weird Al” Yankovic: > [@](#): > > …we took a bongo from the scene > and we went to Theed to see the Queen > we all wound up on Tattooine ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-imaginary-places/110800/42 "2002-05-28T13:11:38Z")
Octopus’ Garden Can you show me how to get to Sesame Street? ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-imaginary-places/110800/43 "2002-05-28T13:35:52Z")
**Bali-hi** from the song of the same name in _South Pacific_. Yes, I know there is an island group called Bali, but according to James Michner, he made a point of changing the name of the beautiful island group to remind people of the Indonesian islands yet create something completely different. He said he based Bali-hi on Palau in the Western Pacific. And wasn’t there a song about **Shangrila** in the terrible musical version of _Lost Horizon_ in the late '70s? ---
**Author:** ![Jerrybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8c91f0/32.png) [@Jerrybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerrybear)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-imaginary-places/110800/44 "2002-05-28T14:26:38Z")
“Terrapin Station” by the Grateful Dead is set in the mythical land of Terrapin. The version that the Dead did includes only part of a much longer set of lyrics written by Robert Hunter. Phish has several songs set in a fictional place called Gamehendge. ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-imaginary-places/110800/45 "2002-05-28T14:43:07Z")
“Big Rock Candy Mountain” “Moon River” ---
**Author:** ![Jerrybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8c91f0/32.png) [@Jerrybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerrybear)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-imaginary-places/110800/46 "2002-05-28T18:14:18Z")
Simon and Garfunkel did do a version of “Pretty Peggy-O” on their first album, as did Bob Dylan on his debut LP. The two versions are very different. S & G’s is very sweet sounding, and seems to place Fennario in the Old World of lords and ladies and so on. Dylan’s version, on the other hand, is quite rough and rowdy, more evocative of the American Wild West. The Dylan version also refers to two actual places in the United States, Louisiana (the captain dies and is buried there) and Texas (the lieutenant is “ridin’ in the rodeo” there). ---
**Author:** ![Jerrybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8c91f0/32.png) [@Jerrybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerrybear)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-imaginary-places/110800/47 "2002-05-28T18:17:09Z")
Dylan also begins his version with a spoken line about how “I’ve been all around this land but I ain’t yet found Fennario!” or something like that (It’s been a while since I listened to it). ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-imaginary-places/110800/48 "2002-05-28T19:25:17Z")
Yes **The Battle of Evermore** mentioned Ringwraiths: _The Ringwraiths ride in black_ was the line. Zep also had another song, **Ramble On** , that mentions _. . . a girl so fair. But Gollum and the evil Wargs crept up and slipped away with her_. I see that **Puff, The Magic dragon** has already been mentioned. I presume the Doobie Brothers’ **China Grove** is about a real place, but I don’t know. RR ---
**Author:** ![NajaSong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@NajaSong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaSong)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-imaginary-places/110800/49 "2002-05-28T21:01:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by interface2x \* > \*\*Was there ever a Scarborough Fair? \*\* According to [this site](http://www.geocities.com/paris/villa/3895/) there was. Of course, being the Renaissance Festival geek that I am, I thought it was about [Scarborough Faire](http://www.scarboroughrenfest.com/) in Texas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-imaginary-places/110800.md?page=2)