Ghost Town
And don’t forget, Randy Newman also had “I Love L.A.”. Getting close to having enough material for a concept album there.
Colin Meloy (of The Decemberists) has a love-hate relationship with Los Angeles as evidenced in his song Los Angeles, I’m Yours…
An ocean’s garbled vomit on the shore
Los Angeles, I’m yours
but then
As ancient choirs sing
A dozen blushing cherubs wheel above
Los Angeles, my love
and let’s bring it home
Ditch of iniquity and tears
How I abhor this place
Its sweet and bitter taste
Has left me wretched, retching on all fours
Los Angeles, I’m yours
R.E.M.'s Cuyahoga. https://youtu.be/mWPD1zPFZ3Q?si=IQYh-9cDpNue5e9B
Doesn’t reflect well on the Cleveland area.
" For there is surely nothing more beautiful in this world than the sight of a lone man facing single-handedly a half a ton of angry pot roast!"
One of my favorite lyrics.
Mine too. Also,
“The crowd held its breath, hoping that death, would brighten an otherwise dull afternoon”.
When I was first in the Midwest and first being exposed to C&W music (both kinds!), this was popular:
The words sure sound like they’re dissing Lubbock. Until he has a change of heart, realizes home and hearth is everything, and like the dumbest of crabs in a bucket, jumps back in voluntarily.
To me it’s still a dissing song if that place can raise people that low-sighted and unimaginative.
I also want to know what sign that is in his rear view mirror that reads forward to us.
AMBULENCE (in reverse).
LDN by Lily Allen sounds like an upbeat song about London, but if you listen to the lyrics it’s more about London’s grimey underbelly.
Beverly Hills by Weezer doesn’t make the city sound that great, either.
I dunno. When I was a kid and heard this lyric:
Oh, that talk of opportunities, TV breaks and movies
I thought, “How cool! LA is so into the entertainment industry, that they give you TV breaks, like others get coffee breaks, so you can watch your favorite show during the workday. I love LA!”
Having driven through Lubbock several times, I can assure you that Mac’s first impression was the correct one.
Another one for the London pile-on:
And in I love LA was pretty mean to Chicago and New York.
Same as Creedence and Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again.
Assuming the song is about California.
Henley called it “our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles,”[51] and later said, “It’s not really about California; it’s about America. It’s about the dark underbelly of the American dream. It’s about excess, it’s about narcissism. It’s about the music business. … It can have a million interpretations.”[
Thinking too hard about that song leads one down a scary road.
I came here to mention this.
“good God I hope the wind don’t blow
It take the paint off your car and wreck your windshield too”
Peter Schickele throws shade on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, gangsta style:
Larkin Poe says “Keep ‘Georgia off my mind’.”
Re: the latter, he was just getting back at Rodgers and Hart for saying the same thing about California in “The Lady Is a Tramp.” (Though IIRC they didn’t specify what kind of primates the locals dress like.)
I live just outside Lodi. There are worse places to be stuck. I’ve been stuck in Winnemucca, fer cryin’ out loud!