I discovered your Tracks of the Day about a month ago and am really enjoying it. I have a pair of “songs about a place.” Kind of. I guess the pair of songs “Manhattan, Kansas” (the idyllic college town I grew up in) aren’t so much about the place, but they start there to sing about abandoned mothers. The two songs present an interesting contrast.
Glenn Campbell sang in 1972 about a young girl, abandoned by her baby’s father, leaving Manhattan in shame and washing dishes in Denver to support the baby. His “Manhattan, Kansas” made it to near the top of the country charts. (His version has been covered by Loretta Lynn and Jeannie C. Riley and others [including Donna Fargo, whose version is the most popular among them on YouTube].)
Susan Werner’s “Manhattan, Kansas” (not a cover!) is less well known, but it’s by a wonderful, talented, funny, and whip-smart folk artist based in Chicago. The song is about a girl similarly abandoned and who handles the pregnancy differently and sings about a long sidewalk and “… deputies on either side of me, people crying, praying rosaries.”
(Submit a song via hello@. Track of the Day archive here. Pre-Notes archive here.)
A reader in Oakland, Dave, emailed this entry prior to last night’s World Series finale:
I was tickled to see among your recent “Track of the Day” choices two songs by the late lamented singer/songwriter Steve Goodman. Before his tragically premature death from leukemia, my wife and I attended many Goodman sets at Somebody Else’s Troubles and other Chicago folk venues of the ’60s and ’70s. Thanks for introducing Steve’s work to a whole new generation of music fans.
An interesting footnote: As a lifelong, dogged Chicago Cubs fan, Goodman was locally famous for “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request,” but he also wrote a rollicking anthem called “Go, Cubs, Go,” which the club now plays as a fan sing-along after every Cubs home victory. It’s a shame he’s not around see his favorite team’s success this year.
Goodman’s 1984 song never appeared on a Billboard songs chart, but it has been a staple at Cubs home games since 2007, playing after every home win at Wrigley Field -- and since the Cubs rarely advanced to the playoffs, where they play to a larger audience, “Go, Cubs, Go” didn’t gain much traction outside Chicago. [But the song] logged 1.19 million on-demand streams (audio and video combined) in the tracking week ending Oct. 27, according to Nielsen Music, a 412 percent increase from the week prior. It’s on track for a big gain in the week ending Nov. 3 (the day after the Cubs won the World Series), according to preliminary data. ...
Goodman, who died from leukemia in 1984 at age 36, is somewhat of a cult figure among die-hard Cubs fans. An article in Sports Illustrated says he would schedule his concert tours “around chemotherapy and the baseball season,” and some of his ashes were spread on Wrigley Field.
(Submit a song via hello@. Track of the Day archive here. Pre-Notes archive here.)
Sufjan’s other state-based album, Michigan, is nearly as good as Illinois, and I do have personal ties to Michigan—I was born in Alma and my dad now lives in East Tawas—but I haven’t live there much at all, let alone Flint. So if any Flint natives want to reflect on your city, especially in light of the horrible water crisis, drop me a note and I’ll update.
(Submit a song via hello@. Track of the Day archive here. Pre-Notes archive here.)
A reader in Massachusetts writes, “As a displaced Angeleno in New England, this song takes me back to L.A. in every way.”
The video below presents a version of the song remixed by Diplo and illustrated with various scenes from Wattstax. What’s Wattstax?
It was a benefit concert organized by Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the 1965 riots in the African-American community of Watts, Los Angeles. The concert took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 20, 1972. The concert’s performers included all of Stax’s prominent artists at the time. The genres of the songs performed included soul, gospel, blues, funk, and jazz. The concert was filmed by David L. Wolper’s film crew and was made into the 1973 film titled, Wattstax. The film was directed by Mel Stuart and nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Documentary Film in 1974.
(Submit a song via hello@. Track of the Day archive here. Pre-Notes archive here.)
For your Track of the Day series about specific places, I respectfully submit a song about West Berlin: “Heroes” by David Bowie and Brian Eno. It is, as everyone knows, beautiful and inspiring. The West Berlin lyrics:
I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing, by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns, shot above our heads (over our heads)
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
And the shame, was on the other side
Oh, we can beat them, forever and ever
Then we could be heroes, just for one day
The song also contains the lyrics, “I, I wish you could swim; Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim.” Bowie, an animal welfare supporter, allowed the song to be used for a nominal fee in the documentary The Cove about the annual mass murder (and capture for enslavement at marine parks) of innocent, defenseless dolphins and whales, in front of their families, in Taiji, Japan. The heroes, of course, are the dolphin defenders who travel to the Taiji cove and everyone who supports them.
It was one of the most emotional performances I’ve ever done. I was in tears. They’d backed up the stage to the wall itself so that the wall was acting as our backdrop. We kind of heard that a few of the East Berliners might actually get the chance to hear the thing, but we didn’t realize in what numbers they would. And there were thousands on the other side that had come close to the wall. So it was like a double concert where the wall was the division. And we would hear them cheering and singing along from the other side. God, even now I get choked up. It was breaking my heart. I’d never done anything like that in my life, and I guess I never will again.
(Submit a song via hello@. Track of the Day archive here. Pre-Notes archive here.)
One of my other favorite cover songs is when Elvis Costello covered his friend, early producer and label-mate Nick Lowe’s song “When I Write The Book,” interpolating his own “Everyday I Write The Book.” The best version I’ve heard was his last appearance on Letterman, but I haven’t found it online anywhere. This version is almost as good.
Elvis does a wonderful job with cover songs; his version of “Penny Lane” at the White House is masterful, with a beautiful trumpet solo by MSgt Matthew Harding of the USMC band. [Embedded above]
The cover that's been occupying a lot of my attention lately has been Shearwater’s full-length cover of David Bowie’s Lodger album. They did it for the AV Club and have just released a very limited-edition vinyl copy. Really nice. They also did a covers album a few years ago, covering artists they’d toured with. Their version of Xiu Xiu's “I Luv The Valley OH!!” is great.
(Submit a song via hello@. Track of the Day archive here. Pre-Notes archive here.)
The song isn’t about the city itself, but rather a train called City of New Orleans, which travels overnight between Chicago and NOLA:
A reader in Houston, Dan, knows that train well:
My father and mother met on a train in Louisiana in 1941. My father, a 25 year old from Appleton, WI, was in the army (yes, pre-Pearl Harbor) and was coming back from his mother’s funeral. My mother, a 16 year old from Franklin, LA, in St Mary’s Parish, was introduced to my father by the nuns she was traveling with.
They corresponded throughout the war (my father saw much combat in Europe with the First Special Service Forces) and he proposed in a letter. They married when he returned in 1946. My grandfather said he knew the Civil War was over when his daughter married a Yankee.
During my childhood my family spent every summer in Louisiana and every winter in Wisconsin (there was something wrong with that picture). In 1963 I was five years old and my oldest brother was 14. Our mother was already in Louisiana with two of my siblings, and for some reason, the folks decided it would be a good idea for my brother and me to take the train down—just the two of us. We took the City of New Orleans. And instead of getting a roomette (I can hear my father say it would be a waste of money to get a roomette for those kids), we just had second-class seats.
We made it to New Orleans, complete with a change in depots in Chicago. At one point I got mad at my brother for trying to make me eat Jell-O with fruit in it. I got so mad I walked back from the dining car to our seats on my own. I am still not quite sure how I found the seats; I was 5, for crying out loud!
It was a fun trip. AND I get to tell anyone who cares that I rode on the City of New Orleans.
Update from a reader, Greg (who might not have seen our previous TotD linking to the Guthrie and Goodman versions):
I have a low opinion of Willie Nelson’s recording of “City of New Orleans.” I don’t detect any modifications to Arlo Guthrie’s interpretation (which is substantially different from Steve Goodman’s original) that he may have made, save for changing “Good night, America, how are you” at the end to “Good morning.” Hell, I wonder if Nelson changed that lyric simply because it’s a downer if it’s interpreted metaphorically.
(Submit a song via hello@. Track of the Day archive here. Pre-Notes archive here.)
A regular Notes contributor, Diane, adds to the most popular location in our series so far:
You posted “Lake Shore Drive” [and “Dennehy”], but a more representative song for the real Chicago is one by Steve Goodman about the “Lincoln Park Pirates,” which was really a sardonic take on a notorious towing company called Lincoln Park Pirates. (Goodman is also known for “City of New Orleans”—made famous by Arlo Guthrie—and for a Cubs song [“A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request”] that is on the minds of many this year.) I believe his ashes were scattered at Wrigley Field after his untimely death. Oh, and the towing company still exists.
If any NOLA residents have a good memory of “City of New Orleans,” drop us a note.
(Track of the Day archive here. Pre-Notes archive here.)
Dylan is the latest reader to add to our placed-based series:
My closely guarded secret is that I grew up in West Virginia not really liking John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” This is sacrilege. The song is deified in the Mountain State. It’s the official state anthem. (This is odd because the lyrics actually invoke geography—Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River—that actually describes the Commonwealth of Virginia, not West Virginia.)
Nevertheless, for the past 29 years, “Country Roads” has permeated my life. My first grade class performed it in the lunchroom, even accompanying it with sign language. During our high school trip to New York City, Jamaican steel drum players heard where we were from and ecstatically chimed out the tune unprompted. After moving out of state, it has become a common reference point when I was asked where I’m from. And every West Virginia wedding I go back for ends in everyone forming circle on the dance-floor, arms intertwined and singing, “Take me home, to the place, I belongggggggggg.”
But the song eventually caught up to me. Maybe it’s the charm of a gorgeous melody sung with quavering loneliness. Maybe it’s the lyric “almost heaven,” which recognizes the feeling of living somewhere that is simultaneously beautiful and undeniably impoverished. Maybe it’s the magic of a song that ushered me into adulthood, whether I liked it or not. Whatever it is, it worked.
For a few fantastic covers of that country song, check out our note featuring a reggae version from Toots and the Maytals and a German-language version by Dieter Dornig. Bring mich nach Hause!
Update from reader Jeremy, who can relate to hearing the German rendition up close:
Wow, thanks for a great Track of the Day. I've always like the song and it’s remarkable how universal it is. It’s remarkable how many times and in how many diverse places I’ve heard it. I grew up in Virginia and have always sort of identified with Denver’s description of the Blue Ridges and the Shenandoah, yet the times that the song most sticks in my mind have been in in totally different contexts.
The first time I went to Munich for Oktoberfest I was treated to the song being covered by a traditional German brass band as we walked into a beer hall tent. The entire tent was singing along at nearly full volume and the entire scene just emphasized the universal camaraderie that the best international gatherings can bring out in people. We ended up having a wonderful afternoon with everyone around us, including a group of Russians seated next to us with whom we could only communicate by drawing images on a sheet of paper.
The other instance that stands out in my mind was roughly five years ago while I was traveling alone in Vancouver and feeling lonely and homesick. Seeking comfort food I ended up in a ramen restaurant and was treated to a K-Pop cover of country roads that translated everything but the “West Virginia” line into Korean. Somehow the song brought me back to Virginia and Munich at the same time and put a smile on my face.
Another reader, Garrison, highlights a Japanese version:
I was struck by your discussion of international renditions of “Country Roads,” so I thought I’d add another take to the pile. I’ve always enjoyed the song, but the first time the song ever really jumped out at me was when I heard it in a Japanese animated film. The protagonist of Studio Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart, an aspiring writer, struggles over the course of the movie to rewrite the song in Japanese. The final product serves as the song for film’s ending credits (a translation—which I cannot vouch for the accuracy—is available here):
It’s interesting how a song with such a specific geographic focus has such an international presence, but I think the nostalgia it evokes for a
“home” is something that anyone can relate to. Everyone has their own West Virginia.
(Submit a song via hello@. Track of the Day archive here. Pre-Notes archive here.)
All you Chicagoans out there can probably relate to reader Max:
So, I’m a transplant to Chicago, and am sure that you will be inundated by songs about New York (my real hometown) and Los Angeles (where I spent my late 20s). While I don’t think any song can accurately capture a city in its totality, I think Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah’s “Lake Shore Drive” captures the feeling of driving on the iconic roadway in Chicago, at a particular time in the past. The blue lights and the concrete mountains all speak to the place as it was in the ’60s and ’70s. The blue lights are gone, replaced with bright yellow lights that produce the worst light pollution in the world (We’re #1, We’re #1). The area they were driving to is the Gold Coast, now called the Viagra Triangle … someone should put that in a song.
Snowbound on Lake Shore Drive,
getting out of town.
Won't get my car back,
'til springtime comes around.
Thought that I would make it,
but oh boy was I wrong.
I'm sitting here on Lake Shore Drive,
singing this sad song.
I'm stuck in Lake Shore Drive,
'til a snowplow comes along.
There ain't no road just like it,
anywhere to me.
When I took Lake Shore Drive,
should have brought my skies.
I'm stuck here on Lake Shore Drive,
trying not to freeze.
It starts up north on Hollywood,
no one's gettin through.
Got snowed in half way home,
nothing I could do.
I hope they come and get me,
the snowplows make it through.
I didn't fill the tank before I left,
I would have if I knew.
I should have filled the tank before I left,
I would have if I knew.
There ain't no road just like it,
anywhere to me.
When I took Lake Shore Drive,
should have brought my skies.
I'm stuck on Lake Shore Drive,
trying not to freeze.
Someone help me please.
(Submit a song via hello@. Track of the Day archive here. Pre-Notes archive here.)
As someone who’s lived in four Brooklyn neighborhoods, I’m getting a bit maudlin over this first pick from reader Doug:
“Tourniquet” by Hem and “I and Love and You” by The Avett Brothers evoke a very specific time and place for me during the six months I spent living in Brooklyn interning in the winter and spring of 2013. Both of these songs were released around then, and they served different purposes for me: “Tourniquet” was a song that put names to all of the neighborhoods surrounding me that I was coming to know. “I and Love and You” felt dead on to me, because that was very much what I was looking for at the time: a city to take me in.
If you have any nostalgia bound up in a song based on a specific place, please drop us a note and we’ll post.
(Track of the Day archive here. Pre-Notes archive here.)
Reader Doug tosses out another song for the series, and this one is based on two places really:
A little bit of a curveball, but after four years living in West Philly, I feel like this might be one of the closest connections between a location and a song (among people of a certain age). EVERY time you mention West Philly to an ’80s/’90s kid, there’s almost a 100% chance they start quoting the Fresh Prince theme song back at you.
Even if you watched the show religiously, as I did, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard the full version of the song, embedded above. Here’s the uncut version of the show’s intro, which is a few scenes short of the one that aired every episode. For a different kind of bonus track, here’s one of many examples of someone getting prank-called under the guise of the Fresh Prince:
That same Christian show actually got Fresh Prince’d a second time. And then there was C-SPAN.
(Submit a song via hello@. Track of the Day archive here. Pre-Notes archive here.)
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