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.
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.
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)
I’ll give you one – it’s kind of obscure, but it’s a favorite of mine. *Windy City Anne* 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
