Songs that use city names as a rhyme (and is there one for every state?)

[Tim_R.Mortiss]

“Operator, operator, put me through to Decatur…”

The version I’m familiar with was by Pork and the Havana Ducks (a central Illinois staple back in the day) but I don’t know if that was the original. I also don’t know which Decatur it was written about; according to Wikipedia there are fifteen cities by that name in the USA.

[jimbuff314]

@Zeldar

Side issue: Which Jackson are Johnny and June singing about in this one?

Tennessee or Mississippi or what?

There has been much speculation regarding which Jackson the song is about; but, according to Wheeler, “Actually, I didn’t have a specific Jackson in mind. I just liked the sharp consonant sound, as opposed to soft-sounding words like Nashville.”[3] Though Wheeler had no particular Jackson in mind when writing the song, subsequent recordings have narrowed attributions to Jackson, Tennessee: The previous source also quotes Charlie Daniels as having recorded “Jackson” with these lines, “I ain’t talking 'bout Jackson, Mississippi. I’m talking 'bout Jackson, Tennessee”.[3] And, Johnny Cash is quoted in the video from the same source: “Well, I was gonna take her down to see Carl Perkins in Jackson.”[3] Carl Perkins lived in Jackson, Tennessee

Looks like Tennessee is the winner. (From the Wiki for the song)

[Zeldar]

Good job, jimbuff314 Makes good sense to me.

[ZipperJJ]

“The heart of rock n roll is still beatin’
In Cleveland…”

• Huey Lewis & The News
  I have read that there were different city names in the song in different markets but I have only heard it in Cleveland

[ZipperJJ]

Oh yeah, “Heart of Rock n Roll” also rhymes “Baton Rouge” with “too”.

[Mister_Rik]

@Annie-Xmas

Now the first of December was covered with snow
and so was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston.

There was a girl in Portland

Completely unrelated trivia, since you mentioned both Boston and Portland in the OP:

How Portland, OR got it’s name, from Wikipedia:

“This community was initially referred to as “Stumptown” and “The Clearing” because of the many trees being cut down to allow for its growth. In 1843 William Overton saw potential in the new settlement but lacked the funds necessary to file an official land claim. For 25 cents Overton agreed to share half of the 640-acre site with Asa Lovejoy of Boston. Two years later Overton sold his remaining half of the claim to Francis W. Pettygrove of Portland, Maine. Both Pettygrove and Lovejoy wished to rename “The Clearing” after their respective hometowns. In 1845 this controversy was settled with a coin toss which Pettygrove won in a series of two out of three tosses, thereby providing Portland with its namesake.”

[california_jobcase]

“Little green apples” sort of kinda rhymes with “Indianapolis”.

I guess “Lodi” and “again” don’t at all.

[Chefguy]

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland

-The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald

Omaha, oh you’ve been weighin’ heavy on my mind
Guess, I never really left it all
I’m turnin’ all those roads, I walked around the other way
Coming back to you Omaha

-Omaha (I’m guessing it’s supposed to be a rhyme for ‘all’)

[gigi]

@Chefguy

Back To Tupelo - Mark Knopfler

Porch Swing in Tupelo - Elton John (!)

The Boy From Tupelo (“He’s the king and he oughta know”), Emmylou Harris

[gigi]

If parodies count, and they may have to, “Granite State of Mind” for New Hampshire:

Now I’m down in Manchester
Next to Adam Sandler
But I’ll be woods forever
I’m the new Salinger

WHEN THIS SONG MAKES ME RICH,
I’M A MOVE TO RYE
EVERYBODY PUMP YOUR FISTS AND YELL
LIVE FREE OR DIE! LIVE FREE OR DIE!

- YouTube

[Accidental_Martyr]

@gigi

The Boy From Tupelo (“He’s the king and he oughta know”), Emmylou Harris

“Tupelo” - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
O ma-ma rock your lil’ one slow
O God help Tupelo! O God help Tupelo!
Mama rock your lil’ one slow
The lil one will walk on Tupelo
The lil one will walk on Tupelo

[drad_dog]

1- is someone going to keep track of which states have been checked.
2- There was a song called High School Hop which i think had a version for many markets. I am familiar with the one around Boston.

[drad_dog]

Thats’ Tommy Facenda High School U.S.A. there was 28 versions.

[movingfinger]

“I’m spending Hannukah in Santa Monica”. and later ’ I’m spending Rosh Hoshanna in Santa Ana."
Tom Lehrer, I think.

[ftg]

This one is going to be obscure:

Livin’ In Tualatin (Oregon) by Mighty Good Eatin’.

IIRC:

Livin’
In Tualatin
Wonderin’
What the hell I’m doin’

(A whole lot of elidin’ going on there.)

Much better rhyme than the attempts with “Portland”.

[Critical1]

Tom Waits

And nobody flinched down by the arcade
And the burglar alarm’s been disconnected,
And the newsmen start to rattle
And the cops are telling jokes about some whorehouse in Seattle

Steve Miller Band

I went from Phoenix, Arizona
All the way to Tacoma
Philadelphia, Atlanta, L.A.
Northern California where the girls are warm
So I could be with my sweet baby, yeah

the second one is a twofer

[adhemar]

long distance information give me Memphis Tennessee
help me find the party tried to get in touch with me…
Does this count?

[drad_dog]

HonoLulu Lulu

…pink gardenia
Its the little old lady from pasadena

San Jose
I been away so long I might go wrong and lose my way

[Senegoid]

Tupelo also mentioned in Ode To Billie Joe:
A year has come and gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
And brother married Becky Thompson; they bought a store in Tupelo

Also rhymes Choctaw Ridge with Tallahatchie Bridge. Is Choctaw Ridge a city or just a geographic place?

[astorian]

@buddha_david

“Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit…”

You mean… Windsor, Ontario?