I'm thinking about place names and songs and back in the day when I used to make mix tapes (you remember that ancient technology, don't you? I sure do...basically you could produce audio signals by manipulating a magnetic tape...pretty cool) they never really had any sort of theme beyond what I was enjoying at that time. And I generally named the tape by the date on which it was recorded. Hence, the "25 September 1993 Mix" for example. Yes, back in the day.
So these days we make playlists on our iPods or at the very least mix CDs, if we make them at all. Really, I need to get another iPod because I was much more in touch with the connections between songs and bands and my own idiosyncrasies when I tried to figure out a particular playlist on the iTunes. For instance I had a great one about loss that included Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" and U2's "One" and The Shins' "Pink Bullets." Etcetera. It was actually thematically organizized.
So a mix of place name songs seems like an interesting idea to me right now. Here's what I've got so far:
Desolation Row - Bob Dylan (I didn't say it had to be a real place...)
Haiti - The Arcade Fire
Big Dipper - Built to Spill (it's a place, right?)
The Guns of Brixton - The Clash
Holiday in Cambodia - Dead Kennedys (or maybe California Uber Alles...)
Marching Bands of Manhattan - Death Cab for Cutie
Telegraph Road - Dire Straits (I have always loved this song, and I think it pairs well with "Desolation Row")
Mt. Pleasant Isn't - The Evens (for the local flavor and it's a damn good song)
Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
Ohio - Neil Young (aka Crosby Stills Nash and Young)
Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles
Woodstock - CSNY version, not the Joni Mitchell one.
New Madrid - Uncle Tupelo
New Orleans - The Silver Jews
New York - Sex Pistols
A New England - Billy Bragg
New York - U2
Medicine Hat - Son Volt
Zurich is Stained - Pavement. Or should it be "Texas Never Whispers"?
Via Chicago - Wilco
Sweet Home Chicago - Robert Johnson
Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen. Maybe "10th Avenue Freezeout"?
Night Boat to Cairo - Madness
Redondo Beach - Patti Smith
Motorway to Roswell - Pixies
Hotel California - The Eagles (a late addition for MG! )
I'm sure I'll think of about ten more after I post this... (and I already thought of "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zep but have decided against including it, although I could be persuaded to include "Kashmir")
4 comments:
Nice work.
Teehee-- thank you for the shout-out. I am having so much fun looking through my iTunes for contributions. I could do this all day (and am probably dedicating more attention to it than makes you comfortable :) ).
Maybe you could open with "Go Places," by The New Pornographers.
"Scythian Empire," Andrew Bird
"Fake Tales of San Francisco," Arctic Monkeys
"The Great Salt Lake," Band of Horses
Literally anything from Beirut's Gulag Orkestar album
"The Moon" or "Islands," Cat Power
"Fire in Cairo," The Cure
"Babylon," David Gray
"N.Y." or "Black and White Town," Doves
"Alameda" or "Alphabet Town," Elliott Smith
"NYC," Interpol
"Florida," Modest Mouse
"The Geese of Beverly Road," The National
"Crystal Village," Pete Yorn
"Budapest," Reindeer Section
"Oh My Sweet Carolina," Ryan Adams
and about half of his Love is Hell album
"Australia," The Shins
"Louisiana" or "Lost in Boston," The Walkmen
"Surf Wax America" or "In the Garage," Weezer
"Impossible Germany," Wilco
and maybe "Maps" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs would work :)
Okay. Longest comment ever. Sorry.
If you had included "Stairway to Heavan" I think you would have been obliged to includ "Highway to Hell."
I also like "Chicago" by Sufjian Stevens, and "Somerville" by Pernice Brothers
MA: It spans decades.
MG!: Your knowledge of contemporary music (i.e. things released after 1996) amazes me. And gives me ideas.
GSR: I think you've got something. An opener and a closer. I think if I did those, I'd pretty much try to filter my list for otherworldly references, keeping things like "Big Dipper" and "Motorway to Roswell."
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