Boomer Top 5: Top 5 songs about an American city

1. Walkin’ in Memphis, Marc Cohn

2. (Stuck Inside of Mobile with the) Memphis Blues Again, Bob Dylan

3. LA Woman, The Doors

4. House of the Rising Sun, Eric Burden and The Animals

5. Dirty Water, The Standells

Honorable mention: City of New Orleans, Arlo Guthrie (written by Steve Goodman); Wichita Lineman, Glenn Campbell (such an oddly poignant and beautiful song); a gumbo of songs about New Orleans; Allentown; Bill Joel; Detroit Meltdown, J Geils; San Francisco Nights, Eric Burden, and, the Winslow, Arizona mention in Takin’ It Easy!

We might have our first argument here, as Dylan fans will scream that he should be # 1. Look, Dylan is SO good, he has entire books just about him; give Marc Cohn this spot, and here he is live (m'am i am tonight!). It is a wonderful song. The Animals song doesn’t have New Orleans in the title, but the first line is so memorable, we had to include it. We have to make note here that Galveston actually has two songs about it, due to its precarious penchant for attracting storms: Glenn Campbell’s Galveston and Tom Rush’s What a Mighty Storm, which wasn’t a hit but is one of the great folk songs of its time and worth a listen for the amazing slide guitar. Eric Burden, a white bluesman from Newcastle, England, could’ve been a second time for Monterey, one of the definitive pop festival songs of our time, but we’ll save that one.

As for Dirty Water, my Boston friends would have me put that at # 1, and even on my own, I am sorely tempted. Check out the youtube. Another great rock guitar riff.

Comments

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Have to challenge you about giving honorable mention to Arlo's City of New Orleans--technically it's about a train, not the city. How about a list of top 5 train songs...?

Posted by: Larry Hughes | June 19, 2009 at 10:21 AM