Straight Dope Message Board

Songs that hint at where the band members are from in their lyrics

picunurse December 1, 2009, 1:57pm 41

I heard an interview with them where thay said to them, the"city by the bay" was LA. :dubious: Maybe they were joking?

Pray_for_peace December 1, 2009, 2:20pm 42

Well, I’m not sure. If Wikipedia’s version of the story can be trusted, it was originally written about LA and then changed to SF. So I would say we’re both right on this one.

The song is a ballad about Journey’s city of origin, San Francisco. It was one of Steve Perry’s first Journey songs, and was recorded soon after his joining the band. Although the song is about San Francisco, it was actually written in and originally intended to be about Los Angeles. In an interview, Perry said, “I had the song written in Los Angeles almost completely except for the bridge and it was written about Los Angeles. It was ‘when the lights go down in the city and the sun shines on LA.’ I didn’t like the way it sounded at the time. And so I just had it sitting back in the corner. Then life changed my plans once again, and I was now facing joining Journey. I love San Francisco, the bay and the whole thing. ‘The bay’ fit so nice, ‘When the lights go down in the city and the sun shines on the bay.’ It was one of those early morning going across the bridge things when the sun was coming up and the lights were going down. It was perfect.”

Valgard December 1, 2009, 5:58pm 43

Green Day’s “Stuart And The Avenue” refers to the intersection of Stuart and Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley (where the band is from). Two of my friends live about 100 feet from there.

davey77 December 1, 2009, 7:19pm 44

The Pretenders’ “My City Was Gone” is about Chrissie Hynde’s disillusionment with changes to her hometown of Akron, Ohio. The song mentions the city’s Howard Street and the suburb of Cuyahoga Falls.

Spoke December 1, 2009, 8:19pm 45

Yeah, it’s a damned shame. I have a lot of happy memories of that place.

Sitnam December 1, 2009, 11:55pm 46

"“I come from a land down under
Where beer does flow and men chunder”

Horatio_Hellpop December 2, 2009, 12:55am 47

“We’re Not the Jet Set” (John Prine/Iris DeMent, written by Bobby Braddock) had this delightful name-check:
By a fountain back in Rome I fell in love with you
In a small cafe in Athens You said you loved me too
And it was April in Paris when I first held you close to me
Rome, Georgia, Athens, Texas And Paris, Tennessee

Prine also wrote and sang “Sins of Memphisto,” “Paradise” (Muhlenberg Gounty, KY) and “Angel From Montgomery.”

A few others by less-famous singers: “Leaving Loachapoka,” “Beale Street Blues.”

The_Falling_Reverend December 2, 2009, 3:19am 48

Or it could refer to South Haven MI, where Darcy grew up.

Telemark December 2, 2009, 3:56am 49

Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

The_Falling_Reverend December 2, 2009, 4:08am 50

Don’t forget Government Center

TheFatKid December 2, 2009, 11:57pm 51

And let’s not forget Take the A Train.

ETA: Ok, so it’s not a lyric, it’s a title, but still…

Dusty_Rose December 3, 2009, 12:28am 52

A couple off the top of my head:

Kid Rock / All Summer Long - talks about northern Michigan.

But the first that comes to mind is Bob Seger. He mentions different towns in Michigan in a few different songs. On the Live Bullet album, which was recorded live at Cobo Hall, he gives a shout out to Detroit. That’s not uncommon during a live album taping, but he also throws in a line about going down to John R & Bush to a massage parlor.

When I was growing up, everyone said the song Main Street was about Ann Arbor, but I don’t remember anything specific written in the song that points to that. He has a song where he mentions Kalamazoo, but I can’t remember which one. Betty Lou? (They rhyme, so that’s a good possibility!) I’m too lazy to go look.