# Songs badmouthing your state or city **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 25, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216 "2006-05-25T18:05:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/21 "2006-05-26T14:13:47Z")
I got a very recent one: “Lubbock Or Leave It” by the Dixie Chicks. I don’t blame them one bit for hating Lubbock. This town made a major stink over Natalie’s “we’re ashamed the president is from Texas” remark, and country radio stations in town have a still-standing ban on playing any Dixie Chicks songs. It’s ridiculous, and it’s embarassing. “Lubbock Or Leave It” off their most recent album is their response. Full lyrics are out there on the web. They’re pretty harsh, what with the “hell’s half acre” and “more churches than trees” and “fool’s paradise” and whatnot. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/22 "2006-05-26T15:10:33Z")
There’s Gary P Nunn’s _London Homesick Blues_: _When you’re down on your luck And you ain’t got a buck In London, you’re a goner Even London Bridge Has fallen down And moved to Arizona Now I know why And I’ll substantiate the rumor That the English sense of humor Is drier than the Texas sands. You can put up your dukes Or you can bet your boots I’ll be leavin here as soon as I can._ ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/23 "2006-05-26T15:52:15Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] I got a very recent one: “Lubbock Or Leave It” by the Dixie Chicks. [/QUOTE] Which makes an excellent companion piece to Mac Davis’ “I Thought Happiness was Lubbock, Texas in my Rear View Mirror”, I’m sure. Jimmy Buffett’s “Come Monday” - I’ve spent four lonely days in the brown LA haze and I just want you back by my side. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/24 "2006-05-26T16:18:29Z")
[QUOTE=want2know] **Randy Newman**'s _I Love L.A._ : “Hate New York City, It’s cold and it’s damp, And all the people dress like monkeys” :mad: [/QUOTE] I dunno when you were last in NY, but that whole bellboy tunic and pillbox hat look is _sooo_ over. In rebuttal to Mr. Newman: _LA is a great big freeway Put a hundred down and buy a car In a week, maybe two, they’ll make you a star …And all the stars that never were Are parkin’ cars and pumpin’ gas_ - “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” (Bacharach/David, 1967) ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/25 "2006-05-26T18:22:24Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Can’t leave out Kinky: 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. [/QUOTE] As a refugee who just escaped after a 20 year sentence in Hell Paso, I can’t say these lines are accurate, but I appreciate the sentiment. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/26 "2006-05-26T19:53:39Z")
Do operas count? 😃 > [@](#): > > They listen to money > These Borough gossips > I have my visions > Fiery visions. > They call me dreamer > They scoff at my dreams > And my ambition. > But I know a way > To answer the Borough > I’ll win them over. _Peter Grimes_ ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/27 "2006-05-26T20:13:12Z")
[QUOTE=rowrrbazzle] I don’t know of any songs bad-mouthing Chicago… [/quote] I’ll give you one – it’s kind of obscure, but it’s a favorite of mine. \*[Windy City Anne\*](http://lyrics.doheth.co.uk/songs/tom-t-hall/the-storyteller/windy-city-anne.php) by the great Tom T. Hall: _Chicago gets along so well without me, I thought I’d go to Indiana for a while The wind comes off the lakes so cold it freezes, Chicago didn’t try to make me smile_ ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/28 "2006-05-26T20:18:01Z")
There’s a song dissing NYC from the 70s, the Rolling Stones’ _Shattered_: > [@](#): > > Don’t you know the crime rate is going up, up, up, up, up! > To live in this town, you must be tough, tough, tough, tough, tough! > > You got rats on the West Side, bed bugs Uptown > What a mess, this town’s in tatters > I’ve been shattered, my brain’s been battered > Splattered all over Manhattan > > This town’s full of money grabbers > Go ahead, bite the Big Apple – don’t mind the maggots… And Lou Reed’s _Dirty Boulevard_ isn’t exactly an ode to his hometown either. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/29 "2006-05-26T21:22:56Z")
Not from Ohio, but the Pretenders _My City Was Gone_ seems appropriate. A snippet: [QUOTE=Chrissie Hynde] I went back to Ohio But my pretty countryside Had been paved down the middle By a government that had no pride The farms of Ohio Had been replaced by shopping malls And muzak filled the air From Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/30 "2006-05-26T22:20:12Z")
Death Cab for Cutie has a rather blunt & unpoetic song called “Why You’d Want To Live Here” about Los Angeles. Thematically, insert “I Can’t See” before the song title. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/31 "2006-05-26T22:27:01Z")
The Decemberists sing this beautiful song about my hometown: There is a city by the sea A gentle company I don’t suppose you want to And as it tells its sorry tale In harrowing detail Its hollowness will haunt you Its streets and boulevards Orphans and oligarchs it hears A plaintive melody Truncated symphony An ocean’s garbled vomit on the shore, Los Angeles, I’m yours That’s just the beggining, it gets worse. No one likes LA ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Viridiana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Viridiana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viridiana)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/32 "2006-05-26T23:20:44Z")
I’d never go “disco.” Man, I ain’t from Frisco! -DJ Quik It’s an easy stereotype so I’m sure many other rappers/songwriters have similar gems, though I don’t recall any songs entirely about it. I’m not offended, I enjoy our collective homo-naiety. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/33 "2006-05-27T07:26:37Z")
[QUOTE=NAF1138] That’s just the beggining, it gets worse. No one likes LA ☹ [/QUOTE] No. No, no one does, I’m afraid. I give you _Aenema_: [QUOTE=Maynard Keenan] Here in this hopeless fucking hole we call LA The only way to fix it is to flush it all away Any fucking time, Any fucking day Learn to swim, See you down in Arizona bay Some say a comet will fall from the sky Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves Followed by faultlines that cannot sit still Followed by millions of dumbfounded dipshits … One great big festering neon distraction I’ve a suggestion to keep you all occupied: Learn to swim [/QUOTE] It’s kind of rare that a city is so loathed rock bands revel in the thought of an astronomical cataclysm erasing any trace of its existence. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/34 "2006-05-27T08:10:30Z")
“Washington Bullets” by the Clash ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/35 "2006-06-02T19:05:00Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] I can’t believe someone else knows this song. Do you ever go to Clearwater festivals? [/QUOTE] No, but I know some folks who do. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/36 "2006-06-02T19:10:30Z")
[QUOTE=Steve MB] No, but I know some folks who do. [/QUOTE] Cool, I usually help to run the Monmouth County one. {now in Asbury Park} I learned the song hanging out with some of the folk musicians. If you like Bruce, early rumors are he might show up this year if he is in NJ the third week of August. This is tied to him doing a Pete Seeger\* tribute album. Jim - Pete founded Clearwater ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/37 "2006-06-02T20:50:01Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] I was living in Boston when [Dirty Water](http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/feverpitch/dirtywater.htm) came out. Created quite an uproar. [/QUOTE] The Standells were from L.A., too… There seems to be a general lyrical tilt in most early Springsteen stuff to want to get the hell out of New Jersey. I always found it ironic therefore that Jersey has embraced him so. And of course his “Born in the USA” was widely misinterpreted by many at the time as a blindly patriotic anthem. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/38 "2006-06-02T20:54:17Z")
[QUOTE=Crandolph] The Standells were from L.A., too… There seems to be a general lyrical tilt in most early Springsteen stuff to want to get the hell out of New Jersey. I always found it ironic therefore that Jersey has embraced him so. And of course his “Born in the USA” was widely misinterpreted by many at the time as a blindly patriotic anthem. [/QUOTE] What, all the good folks of New Jersey, take living in New Jersey with a grain of salt. You will notice he keeps coming back. The state has many huge advantages and many huge disadvantages. We have almost everything in one small overcrowded state. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/39 "2006-06-02T22:46:52Z")
Outshined by Soundgarden. “I am looking California but feeling Minnesota”. Never understood that phrase until a couple years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216/40 "2006-06-03T02:50:04Z")
If it weren’t for the title, you’d never know where Less Than Jake was talking about: > [@](#): > > There was a time when I could say it right to you > that I was never going to leave this place > but now its “I was wrong” > and “I don’t wanna fucking talk about it” > cause it feels like things have changed But a title like \*[Never Going Back To New Jersey](http://www.lyricsmania.com/lyrics/less_than_jake_lyrics_2716/losing_streak_lyrics_7887/never_going_back_to_new_jersey_lyrics_92236.html) \* kinda gives it away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-badmouthing-your-state-or-city/358216.md?page=3)