Place Names in Rock Lyrics: Mess Around

For this feature we've previously done Sweet Little Sixteen, Dancing in the Streets, Night Train, Rock'n Me, Pop Muzik, Girls, Girls, Girls, Fire Down Below, Truckin', and Everywhere That I'm Not.

Today's song is Mess Around by Cage the Elephant. I had this on the radio the other day and noticed it had a few cities called out in the lyrics. This is the most recent song on our list, by a long way. It hit #2 on the US Alternative Chart and #16 on the US Rock Chart in 2015.

It's not real complicated lyrically, as the line between verse and chorus isn't clear and all the parts are repeated a few times with little change in the words.

Ahhhhh, oh no
Ahhhhh, oh no
Ahhhhh, oh no
No, she don't mess around
No, she don't mess around

Oh St. Louis, California
Blue eyes, yeah she's comin' for ya
Land of Mary, Charm City
Oh lord, wish she was my baby
You know she'll drive you crazy
Yeah she's coming for ya
No, she don't mess around
No, she don't mess around


The reference to Charm city in the Land of Mary is clearly Baltimore, Maryland. I think at one time that city's nickname might even have been used sincerely.

So the cities in this song are

Baltimore

California (OK, not a city, but we'll add it anyway)

St. Louis

_______________________________________________________________________

And here's the master list:

Notes: The cities that have been mentioned most often are New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia. The biggest cities we haven't heard from yet, at least in the United States, are Cleveland, Kansas City, and Seattle.

Atlanta x3

Baltimore x3
Boston
Buffalo
California

--(northern) California

Chicago x2
Dallas

Detroit x2

Ft. Lauderdale
Houston
Las Vegas

London

Los Angeles x3

Miami
Moline

Munich

New Orleans x4

New York City x5
--Queens
Nova Scotia

Paris x2

Philadelphia x4

Phoenix

Pittsburgh

Raleigh

Richmond

San Francisco
--Berkeley

St. Louis x2

Tacoma

(heart of) Texas
Tokyo

Vancouver

Washington, DC x2