Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Songs Describing Places in Absurdly Idealized Terms

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Songs Describing Places in Absurdly Idealized Terms

    I've been to Nassau and it wasn't that funky.

    I've been to Liverpool and it didn't seem like the kind of place where I'd want to "do nothing all the days of my life."

    Any others?

    #2
    I once had a conversation with a woman from Texas:

    "Have you ever been to Amarillo?"
    "Yeah.
    "What's it like?
    "It's a shithole."

    Comment


      #3
      You don't want me to end the thread with the first reply, so I'm not even going to mention Roger Miller and "England Swings". Carry on.

      (not 1st reply, we're safe)

      Comment


        #4
        England swings like a pendulum do.

        Comment


          #5
          Ha ha ...

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by MsD View Post
            England swings like a pendulum do.
            What does that even mean, apart from being ungrammatical?

            Comment


              #7
              Brett Anderson dreamed of going down to Worthing to work there. It has the second highest unemployment rate and lowest average salary of the seven borough and district council areas in West Sussex.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by tee rex View Post
                Ha ha ...
                My "haha!" reply doesn't seem to have posted. Snap.

                Comment


                  #9
                  England swings likes the dog's bollocks
                  Georgie Best and Beatles frolics

                  Comment


                    #10
                    There are stretches of Santa Monica Boulevard where you wouldn't be comfortable hanging around prior to the sun coming up (or at least wouldn't have been in the early 1990s).

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Coney Island - Van Morrison

                      Comment


                        #12
                        You can keep the Costa Brava,
                        I'm telling ya mate I'd rather have a day down Margate with all me family
                        Along the promenade we spend some money
                        Then we find a spot on the beach that's simply sunny
                        The kids will all enjoy themself digging up the sand
                        Collecting stones and winkle shells to take back home to nan

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                          Coney Island - Van Morrison
                          I can't comment on the one he was singing about as I've never been but Death Cab for Cutie were realistic with their depiction of the American one:

                          Sitting on a carousel ride without any music or light.
                          Everything was closed at Coney Island, and I could not help from smiling.
                          I can hear the Atlantic echo back roller coaster screams from summers past.
                          And everything was closed at Coney Island, and I could not help from smiling.
                          Brooklyn will fill in the beach eventually and everyone will go except me.


                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by MsD View Post
                            You can keep the Costa Brava,
                            I'm telling ya mate I'd rather have a day down Margate with all me family
                            Along the promenade we spend some money
                            Then we find a spot on the beach that's simply sunny
                            The kids will all enjoy themself digging up the sand
                            Collecting stones and winkle shells to take back home to nan

                            To be fair, that's not one of Bob Dylan's better ones.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Cause everyone's your friend
                              in New York City
                              and everything looks beautiful
                              when you're young and pretty
                              the streets are paved with diamonds
                              and there's just so much to see
                              but the best thing about New York City
                              is you and me


                              I didn't see those diamonds on either of my visits.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                On my first morning of a visit to San Francisco in 1998, there was a fairly tasty contre-temps between two guys at a breakfast diner. So much for Scott Mackenzie's 'gentle people'.

                                Beaut city, though. Another visit is well overdue.

                                Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                                I've been to Liverpool and it didn't seem like the kind of place where I'd want to "do nothing all the days of my life."
                                Wasn't that a comment on unemployment though? (I mean, rather than simply lying back on the banks of the Mersey and inhaling the fumes.)

                                But it was a stupid song either way.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post

                                  I've been to Liverpool and it didn't seem like the kind of place where I'd want to "do nothing all the days of my life."
                                  That's not what other teams' fans sing.

                                  Anyway, despite not being intimate with the local geography I've always been pretty sure that "the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike" have not "all come to look for America". Surely they're already in America?
                                  Last edited by Rogin the Armchair fan; 30-07-2020, 15:20.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Metaphor, old boy.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      The rest of the country episodically tries to disown New Jersey.

                                      That line is very specific to the time and place in that the infrastructure was such that were one in New York City and "looking for America" outside of New England, by far the most efficient starting point was the New Jersey Turnpike. This hasn't been the case for decades.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                                        On my first morning of a visit to San Francisco in 1998, there was a fairly tasty contre-temps between two guys at a breakfast diner. So much for Scott Mackenzie's 'gentle people'.

                                        Beaut city, though. Another visit is well overdue.


                                        Wasn't that a comment on unemployment though? (I mean, rather than simply lying back on the banks of the Mersey and inhaling the fumes.)

                                        But it was a stupid song either way.
                                        It was explicitly about the lack of opportunities in early 80's Liverpool - there's even a verse that mentions a UB40 form (which obviously the Bangles knew everything about when they covered it)

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Well, yes, that was my thinking, but Satchmo's post suggested that he thought otherwise.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            But the lyrics are about someone from a "green and pleasant land" choosing to go to Liverpool and live on the dole, which makes no sense, unless she's a masochist. It's as if they are comparing Liverpool to 1967 San Francisco (although George Harrison got a rude awakening when he went to the hippy part of SF in 1967 and found it was a much bleaker place than advertised, full of drug casualties).

                                            I'll admit that I have no idea what Katrina and the Waves were thinking about when they wrote it, and it seems The Bangles only covered it because they liked the chords.

                                            If the song is deliberately ironic, it might be compared to 'Back In The USSR' as something tongue in cheek, as describing in absurdly optimistic terms a trip you wouldn't really want to make.
                                            Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 30-07-2020, 16:33.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                                              But the lyrics are about someone from a "green and pleasant land" choosing to go to Liverpool and live on the dole, which makes no sense, unless she's a masochist.

                                              I'll admit that I have no idea what Katrina and the Waves were thinking about when they wrote it, and it seems The Bangles only covered it because they liked the chords.
                                              Wasn't Kimberley Rew still in the Soft Boys when he wrote it?

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                I was in Amarillo a few weeks ago and it's shitty even by Texan standards.

                                                There are huge stretches of old Route 66 where you really can't get any kicks.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  Highway 61 Revisited seems fairly accurate.

                                                  Comment

                                                  Working...
                                                  X