I was vaguely contemplating the idea of making a playlist of songs I have that mention specific roads in them. Then I thought "Matt, you should really use Google before you do that" so I did. And what did I discover but an official Federal Highway Administration list of songs that mention specific roads. Take that, libertarians! These are the government services I need.
« Good News / Bad News | Main | Worst of the Worst »
Thank God for the State
28 Dec 2007 02:42 pm
Comments (18)
The Green Book probably had it first.
I notice that Rage Against the Machine's "Down Rodeo" isn't on the list. I give you one guess why.
Missing...
The awe-inspiring Beastie Boys 'Open Letter to NYC' with the 'The LIE, the BQE...*'.
The less than awe-inpiring Vanilla Ice 'Ice Ice Baby' with 'A1A, Beachfront Avenue!' which until 5 minutes ago I thought was the far cooler sounding 'A1A, Detroit Avenue!'.
* - LIE, Long Island Expressway, BQE, Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
Disappointing. From your description, I thought it would be organized by highway, so that you could find all the songs that mention (say) Route 128 in Massachusetts. What use is a listing by artist?
I notice that Rage Against the Machine's "Down Rodeo" isn't on the list. I give you one guess why.
They also shortened the title of Bob Dylan's "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)" to "Senor."
And, while I guess this is just a matter of taste, they chose not to use the best verse from "Highway 61 Revisited":
Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God says, "Out on Highway 61."
Donald Fagen's "Trans Island Skyway" is a weird one; I wouldn't have expected them to include fictional roads.
Hmm. The first one that popped into my head -- "10th Ave. Freeze Out" by Springsteen -- isn't on the list. He even has a real road in his band's name. Actually, 10th Ave. and E St. cross in Belmar.
Also Incident on 57th Street, one of his finest
Typical. Now you want the government to issue us state-authorized music we are to listen to when we travel. When will you big government types wake up and realize that they're calling from inside the house???
Mick Abrahams. Wow.
Yeah, but you used Google to find that list.
And your taxes paid for the list.
Aren't you happy?
And if you weren't so lazy as to take the top pick from Google, you might have found this further down the list of results:
http://www.route40.net/songs/complete.shtml
also missing: the post punk classic "Rose Island Road" by Squirrel Bait.
The list is highways only. That's why your favorite street-referencing songs aren't in there.
Van Dyke Parks's "Song Cycle" is one one big LA name drop - vine, laurel canyon, silver lake, san fernando, etc. However, Soul Coughing have to be the kings of the piquant geographic reference, viz. "Going down to Baltimore/Going in an off-white Honda"
Comments closed January 11, 2008.
| 
Heads in the Sand
If they can rationalize people starving, they can rationalize anything.
Posted by Rickm | December 28, 2007 3:04 PM