# Which States have the most and least songs written about them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130 "2012-03-18T11:50:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/61 "2012-03-19T05:46:17Z")
Sweet Home Alabama-Lynyrd Skynyrd Alabama-Neil Young Alabama Getaway-The Grateful Dead Alabama Song-The Doors The Three Great Alabama Icons The Boys From Alabama-Both by Drive-By Truckers who also have a live album titled “Alabama Ass Whuppin’”. Stars Fell On Alabama-Recorded by many different artists. There are many other songs which reference Alabama or cities like Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, etc. These were the first ones I thought of with “Alabama” in the title. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/62 "2012-03-19T06:46:14Z")
I’m from Connecticut originally and I can’t come up with a reference. Such an awkward word. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/63 "2012-03-19T06:53:34Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > I’m from Connecticut originally and I can’t come up with a reference. Such an awkward word. Yeah. [It’s just not conducive to good music](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idi159XOe3o). ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/64 "2012-03-19T08:43:34Z")
[Back Home Again in Indiana](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFc_rDHo0dM) - performed here by Red Nichols and His Five Pennies (including Benny Goodman and Jack Teagarden). I would have posted the version by the Mound City Blue Blowers if I’d been able to find it. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/65 "2012-03-19T11:29:37Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > NP. I didn’t take it that way. > > There have been several efforts to remove ‘and Providence Plantations’ from the name. I don’t know why they fail. The reasons are because it is too long and so many people don’t know it, even here, and the association of the term ‘plantation’ with slavery. That wasn’t the basis of the name originally, but RI has other associations with the slave trade, so it sounds offensive to some. But just being too long seems to be sufficient reason for me. > > Actually he’s a moron. He became governor because he ran against two more repugnant morons, and we reserve the positions of governor and the mayor of Cranston so that only Democrats don’t get elected to office. You should note that in this state, the mayor of Providence outranks the governor. As does the legisture in most aspects. (some liberty taken with the facts in that diatribe). Combined with your colonial history of taking in misfits unsuited to Massachusetts et al, y’all sound almost like an east coast, colonial proto-Texas. How’s it hangin’, little bro? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/66 "2012-03-19T12:54:22Z")
You can end this thread now. New York _State_ has the least number of songs written about it. Hear me out … almost every reference to “New York” in a song is to New York _City_. As far as general songs that are either reference New York _State_ or are about the state in general that aren’t NYC-specific, there just aren’t any, except for the commercial-friendly _I love New York_. Besides, everybody associates that song with the city. Corollary? Try to find a travel book about New York _State_. They’re quite uncommon, even compared to much smaller, less prominent states. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/67 "2012-03-19T13:33:03Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > You can end this thread now. New York _State_ has the least number of songs written about it. > > Hear me out … almost every reference to “New York” in a song is to New York _City_. As far as general songs that are either reference New York _State_ or are about the state in general that aren’t NYC-specific, there just aren’t any, except for the commercial-friendly _I love New York_. Besides, everybody associates that song with the city. > > Corollary? Try to find a travel book about New York _State_. They’re quite uncommon, even compared to much smaller, less prominent states. Years ago, I was struck by the lovely little town of [Nyack](http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/archive/article.php?issue=26&dept=10&id=546): > [@](#): > > In “Let’s Get Away from It All,” his 1940 hit song, Frank Sinatra crooned, “Let’s take a kayak to Quincy or Nyack, let’s get away from it all.” Or you could [Shuffle Off to Buffalo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6EryDAnwFw). I agree that it’s not fair. Of course NYC is amazing place. But New York is a beautiful State. And so very different from Texas… Where we had Doug Sahm–who gave us [Texas Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCzi8-H08Jw),[At The Crossroads](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq7V2DV5sTs), [Beautiful Texas Sunshine](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry4XZ8la9QI)–& made [Is Anybody Going to San Antone](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrsgxBq7HEs) his own. (I could keep going.) Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys did [a song about San Antonio]([YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch)? v=Mw2k8VfX83o), too; he’s another one who had Texas in most of his songs–even though his conflict with Pappy O’Daniel made him flee to Tulsa. How about Ernest Tubb, [waltzing across Texas](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9GTKJrLgYc)? In modern days, Steve Earle wrote [Fort Worth Blues](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4WOys7sWvU) about Townes van Zandt. On a less sublime note, Ray Wiley Hubbard (from Oklahoma) gave us [Screw You, We’re From Texas](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-cFtSPIF4Q)–just when he’d begun to live down writing “Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother.” We’re not all rednecks; Valerio Longoria does the multiethnic thing with [Texas Polka](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIwK5xOMpAM). Don’t know that Lightnin’ Hopkins mentions Texas in[this tune](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFN9lebEvF0)—but it’s about picking cotton in Texas. Of course he decided to head to Houston & find a better way to earn a living–joining the distinguished group of Texas Bluesmen. We’ve also had a bunch of rap & hip-hop coming out of Houston. Not my area of expertise–just check out YouTube! We’ve had an mild winter & an early Spring down here–which might mean a Hotter Than Usual Summer. Bringing me dreams of visiting a beautiful green state with lovely lakes… ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/68 "2012-03-19T13:48:06Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > " Other than the Bee Gees, who wrote a song about “Massachusetts”? Indirectly, “Sweet Baby James”: Now the first of December was covered with snow and so was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston. Though the Berkshires seemed dreamlike on account of that frosting, with ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/69 "2012-03-19T13:49:51Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Combined with your colonial history of taking in misfits unsuited to Massachusetts et al, y’all sound almost like an east coast, colonial proto-Texas. How’s it hangin’, little bro? Scary innit? ---
**Author:** ![MarsBarsArePlastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@MarsBarsArePlastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarsBarsArePlastic)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/70 "2012-03-19T14:17:01Z")
Wyoming, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Simmerdown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simmerdown/32/14859_2.png) [@Simmerdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simmerdown)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/71 "2012-03-19T14:44:16Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I’d guess both of those are talking about the river, not the state. You’re probably right. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/72 "2012-03-19T14:59:30Z")
Rockapella did a song called “Indiana” on the “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” album. It’s pretty catchy. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/73 "2012-03-19T15:27:36Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > " Other than the Bee Gees, who wrote a song about “Massachusetts”? [This](http://www.televisiontunes.com/Family_Guy_-_The_Spirit_of_Massachusetts.html) could be the Massachusetts state song. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/74 "2012-03-19T16:12:55Z")
> [@lew\_cody](#): > > Found another one about RI: “Poor Little Rhode Island”, recorded by Guy Lombardo on 12-1-44. Don’t think anyone else recorded it at the time. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3\_uE7olZ9cU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_uE7olZ9cU) Also, [“Sweet Rhode Island Red”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbWAeix_K14) by Ike & Tina Turner. ---
**Author:** ![lew\_cody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e274bd/32.png) [@lew\_cody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lew_cody)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/75 "2012-03-19T16:15:57Z")
There was a 1946 song called simply “Connecticut” recorded by the Modernaires, Artie Shaw and Martha Tilton at the time. Also “Connie’s Got Connections in Connecticut”, recorded by Frank Crumit for Decca in 1938. Quite a few early country artists recorded songs about Wyoming in the 20s and 30s–“I Was Born in Old Wyoming”, “Wyoming Cowboy”, etc. A song straightforwardly entitled “Massachusetts” was recorded by the Gene Krupa and Johnny Long orchestras in 1942, as well as the Andrews Sisters. But yeah, I really can’t come up with anything strictly about New York state, other than the state song itself. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/76 "2012-03-19T16:19:28Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Also, [“Sweet Rhode Island Red”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbWAeix_K14) by Ike & Tina Turner. I’m gonna call the Mayor of Providence and ask him to make that the state song! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/77 "2012-03-19T16:24:54Z")
Fruit basket: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MSvJ9SN8THE/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AHOBYAC4AOKAgwIABABGCcgXihyMA8=&rs=AOn4CLCaUBN9fajcRsdlvOYFQmGjWum3wg "Wakko's 50 State Capitols with Lyrics/Subtitles") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSvJ9SN8THE) Empty basket that looks full: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/EX9p50MIexs/hqdefault.jpg "Your State's Name Here - Lou & Peter Berryman") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX9p50MIexs) ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/78 "2012-03-19T16:27:48Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > " Other than the Bee Gees, who wrote a song about “Massachusetts”? This one took place in MA, I learned it in school; “In '75 on an April night, the air was cloudy and the moon shone bright, to alert and to alarm, every villiage and every farm, and the men to call to arms, was the ride of Paul Revere”. “Ride ride though the night be old, ride ride till the truth be told, ride ride like that man of old, the ride of Paul Revere”. Those words are from memory though. It was a nice catchy tune. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/79 "2012-03-19T16:30:15Z")
Not that I’m any kind of music guru, but the only song about Vermont I know of is [Moonlight in Vermont.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_in_Vermont_%28song%29) > [@](#): > > “Moonlight in Vermont” is a popular song about the U.S. state of Vermont, written by John Blackburn and Karl Suessdorf and published in 1943… The song is considered an unofficial state song of Vermont and is frequently played as the first dance song at Vermont wedding receptions. Popular? By what metric? I only know of it because I remember a few years back there was a goings on about the Vermont State Song, for some reason, and how people thought it was Moonlight. Eventually, a whole new state song was written. And I have never once heard it played at a Vermont wedding. Not the first song, last song, or any song in-between. Maybe it was played more in the 40’s/50’s/60’s, but certainly not anymore. ---
**Author:** ![lew\_cody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e274bd/32.png) [@lew\_cody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lew_cody)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130/80 "2012-03-19T16:36:30Z")
> [@lew\_cody](#): > > But yeah, I really can’t come up with anything strictly about New York state, other than the state song itself. OK, I retract that statement after reading the lyrics. But there’s always this song from '37: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PiSn2gJyKo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PiSn2gJyKo) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-states-have-the-most-and-least-songs-written-about-them/616130.md?page=5)