Like the thread title says, are there any songs which speak ill of your state or city? (Or some other state or city you hold dear?)
My contribution (for the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia) is an oldie from Jimmie Rodgers (the Singing Brakeman). The song is “T for Texas” and the relevant lyrics are:
*I’m going where the water
Drinks like cherry wine, sing 'em boy, sing 'em
Lawd, I’m going where the water
Drinks like cherry wine
'Cause the Georgia water
Tastes like turpentine.
…
Rather drink muddy water
Sleep in a hollow log
Rather drink muddy water
And sleep in a hollow log
Than to be in Atlanta
Treated like a dirty dog.*
I was living in Boston when Dirty Water came out. Created quite an uproar.
Down by the river
Down by the banks of the River Charles
That’s where you find me,
Along with the beggers, drunks and thieves.
Cause I love that dirty water
Boston you’re my home.
I don’t know of any songs bad-mouthing Chicago or Illinois as a whole. There’ve been a few criticizing/satirizing various parts/features/people, like “The Lincoln Park Pirates”.
And I’m proud to be an asshole from El Paso.
A place where sweet young virgins aren’t deflowered.
You walk down a street knee deep in tacos,
And the wetbacks still get twenty cents an hour.
I don’t know whether this counts as badmouthing, but Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee” made the claim that “We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee,” and that’s a big ol’ lie.
The Rolling Mills of New Jersey
When I die, bury me low
Where I can hear the petroleum flow.
A sweeter sound, I never did know
The rolling mills of New Jersey…
Well, there’s The Toronto Song by Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie that bashes every province and territory in Canada (except for Alberta, though they still bash Calgary).
I can’t believe someone else knows this song. Do you ever go to Clearwater festivals?
I came into this thread to post this song.
Copyright John Roberts and Tony Barrand
Sung to the tune of The Rolling Hills of the Border.
see also The Rolling Hills of the Border
I have several friends that are minor folk musicians and this is one of the songs they don’t play for general audiences but among themselves when they are trading off songs.
Not my state or city (or even country, for that matter), but Ren and Stimpy mocked Canada long before South Park was a twinkle in Stone and Terry’s eyes using some very very alternate lyrics to God Save the Queen
I taught my impressionable little brother this song when he was but a toddler. I’m such a bad bad sibling.
Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Lodi”:
Rode in on the Greyhound
I´ll be walkin´ out if I go
I was just passin´ through
Must be seven seven months or more
Ran out of time and money
Looks like they took my friends
Oh ! Lord I´m stuck in Lodi again
There are lots of songs that mention Memphis–I’d never realized how many until I moved here. I can’t think of any that speak badly of it, though there may be some.
