Friday, April 22, 2016

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: America

For this feature we've previously done Sweet Little SixteenDancing in the StreetsNight TrainRock'n MePop MuzikGirls, Girls, GirlsFire Down BelowTruckin'Everywhere That I'm NotMess Around, Back in the USA, and Back in the USSR.

Our song today is America, by Simon & Garfunkel. It came out in 1968 on their Bookends album, but was not released as a single until 1972, to promote their Greatest Hits album that came out that year. Oddly, it only hit #97 on the Billboard chart. It's a pretty song with some pretty great lyrics. Personally, my favorite version is the lengthy prog rock workout (10 1/2 minutes) Yes gave it in 1970.

There aren't really verses and choruses, it sort of just flows. Here are the first three stanzas:

Let us be lovers,
We'll marry our fortunes together.
I've got some real estate
Here in my bag.

So we bought a pack of cigarettes,
And Mrs. Wagner's pies,
And walked off
To look for America.
"Kathy", I said,
As we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh,
Michigan seems like a dream to me now.

It took me four days
To hitch-hike from Saginaw.
"I've come to look for America."


Look, I understand they're looking for the real spirit or meaning of America, but I don't get why they hoped to find it in Saginaw, Michigan? Anyway, here's the final stanza:

Counting the cars
On the New Jersey Turnpike
The've all come
To look for America,
All come to look for America,
All come to look for America.

So the place names in this song are:
New Jersey (turnpike)
Pittsburgh
Saginaw

_______________________________________________________________________
And here's the master list:

Notes: The cities that has been mentioned most often is New York, with Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Philadelphia tied for second. The biggest cities we haven't heard from yet, at least in the United States, are Cleveland, Kansas City, and Seattle. Also surprising to me is that Memphis hasn't yet appeared on the list.

Atlanta x3
Baltimore x3
Baton Rouge
Boston
Buffalo
California
--(northern) California
--(coast of) California
Chattanooga
Chicago x3
Dallas
Delaware (Bay)
Detroit x3
Ft. Lauderdale
Georgia (country)
Houston
Las Vegas
London
Los Angeles x4
Miami
--Miami Beach
Moline
Moscow
Munich
New Jersey (turnpike)
New Orleans x4
New York City x6
--Queens
Nova Scotia
Paris x2
Philadelphia x4
Phoenix
Pittsburgh x2
Raleigh
Richmond
Saginaw
San Francisco
--Berkeley
St. Louis x3
Tacoma
(heart of) Texas
Tokyo
Ukraine
Vancouver
Washington, DC x2

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