And ground zero for country music.
Anyone remember Midnight Cowboy and Harry Nilsson’s I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City?
I’m so tired of getting nowhere
Seein’ my prayers goin’ unanswered
I guess the Lord must be in New York City
Well, here I am, Lord, knockin’ at your back door, hmm
Ain’t it wonderful to be where I’ve always wanted to be?
For the first time, I’ll breathe free
Here in New York City
Without going back and reading nearly 200 posts, theres “Sioux City Sue”, for Iowa.
I know that New York has been covered, but it’s still worth adding the “Upstate New York Waltz” by Si Kahn and Tom Chapin. The lyrics recount a love affair, from its beginning:
We’d met unexpectedly
Deep in Schenectady
to its sad end:
But on a safari to Canajoharie
She was just climbing the walls.
We barely were speakin’
When we got to Beacon,
And broke up in Wappingers Falls.
A dozen or so other cities and towns get rhymed along the way.
Full lyrics here: http://www.tomchapin.com/docs/lunyw.html
Kermit Ruffins changed Louis Armstrong’s song “Christmas in New Orleans” to "Monday Night in New Orleans:
Way down in New Orleans,
the land of dreams,
Big juicy pig tails
in a pot of red beans,
on Monday night in New Orleans.
So baby,
don’t look so mean,
fix me some beans,
before you know it
I done licked the plate clean,
on Monday night in New Orleans.
Okay. I am resurrecting this thread to ask why nobody posted Huddie Ledbetter’s classic, only been covered about 100 times even in modern music, song Cotton Fields
When I was a little bitty baby
My mama would rock me in the cradle
In them old cotton fields back home
It was down in Louisiana
Just about a mile from Texarkana
In them old cotton fields back home
Long distance information, give me Memphis Tennessee…
Pardon me boy, but is that the Chattanooga choo-choo…
Nashville Cats
It’s so neat to beat your feet in the Mississippi mud
What city name is in that, and what does it rhyme with?
I came to say “No, no, this definitely referring to Annandale, VA. Same state that William & Mary is in.”
But, alas, turns out it isn’t:
Mind you, the Wolverine still doesn’t go there, being a Michigan/Indiana route.
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Another bump, asking why nobody has mentioned the one song using a city’s name as a rhyme that some of us have heard the most times, the one that I heard this morning in a full length version playing at McDonald’s:
Baby, if you’ve ever wondered,
Wondered what ever became of me.
I’m living on the air in Cincinnati
Cincinnati, WKRP
Unless the singer is putting the stresses in really weird places, “became of me” doesn’t really rhyme with “Cincinnati”. A proper rhyme goes all the way from the vowel of the last stressed syllable to the end of the word, which means that you need to match the “ati”, not just the “i”.
Me, ti, and P do rhyme, at least to my ears.
Another from Pennsylvania;
“I was born in Mechanicsburg
My daddy worked for Pontiac ‘til he got hurt”
“The Factory” by Warren Zevon
‘
Me, ti, and P rhyme, but “became of me” doesn’t rhyme with “Cincinnati”.
Wordburglar “Rhyme O’clock”
from Halifax to Orlando
we run the millennium
Like Han or Lando
Ok he did rhyme Orlando with “or Lando” but at least its clever.
Not exactly what the OP asked for, since it’s state names, not cities, and none of them exactly rhyme, but the first thing I thought of was Perry Como’s 1959 novelty song, “Delaware,” which references no fewer than 15 US states.
Oh what did Del-a-ware boy, what did Delaware
What did Del-a-ware boy, what did Delaware
She wore a brand New Jersey,
She wore a brand New Jersey,
She wore a brand New Jersey,
That’s what she did wear
One, two, three, four
Oh, why did Cali-fon-ia
Why did Cali-fon
Why did Cali-fon-ia
Was she all alone
She called to say Ha-wa-ya
She called to say Ha-wa-ya
She called to say Ha-wa-ya
That’s why she did call
And it goes on like that. Pretty corny.
Jim Croce’s Operator was playing at the store:
She’s been living in LA
With my best, old, ex-friend Ray
Arlo Guthrie’s Comin’ Into Los Angeles:
Comin’ into Los Angeles
Bringin’ in a couple of keys
Don’t touch my bags if you please
Mister customs man
Already quoted by Typo Negative in post #71, a scant four years ago. ![]()
Unless I’ve missed it, we haven’t seen “Everything’s Up to Date in Kansas City” from the musical Oklahoma!, which rhymes the city name with “pretty”.