What I'm Reading: The King's Best Highway

The King's Best Highway is a history of what was once called the Boston Post Road--the road from New York to Boston that developed in colonial times from a series of Indian trails, became the most important and trafficked road in America in the 19th century, and still exists in piecemeal form, largely as the modern Route 1.

Lots of interesting stuff in here. I thought the two best chapters were the early one on how the road's early improvements were largely driven by Benjamin Franklin in the 1760s, when he headed the colonial postal service (hence, the name of the road at the time), and a later one on how after a period of decline when the railroads outcompeted them, the old highway system returned to prominence in the 1890s during the national craze for the bicycle.

In fact, it was these improvements to the road system driven by bicycle enthusiasts that literally paved the way for the automobile to flourish ten to twenty years later. Not to mention that much of the early automobile industry was located along the Boston Post Road, in the factories and workshops that made bicycle components in Connecticut and Massachusetts. If not for Henry Ford's production innovations in Detroit, the US auto industry may very well have ended up in New England.

So this book is more than just a history of a highway, it's also a history of America from a certain perspective. All sorts of historical figures march, ride, or drive their way through this book, often in roles we don't normally associate with them--P.T. Barnum as a state congressman in Connecticut fighting for road improvements so more people can travel and visit his Manhattan museum, for instance. We also see George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Robert Moses, J.P. Morgan, and plenty of other lesser-known but still important figures.

Yet somehow I don't feel like this rises to the level of one of my "Shortcuts to Smartness" books. While the topic is right up my alley ("A book about a highway! Cool!" I said upon first seeing this), it's probably too narrow a topic for the general reader. For those interested in the histories of cities, infrastructure, or transport, it's appeal will be evident. For others, this is probably one you could skip.

What I'm Reading: Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade

Medieval Cities, by French professor Henri Pirenne, was published in 1952 but is the synthesis and culmination of lectures he had been building on since the 1920s. I believe Dr. Pirenne was the one who came up with the theory that it was not the fall of the western Empire after Rome was sacked in 470 that caused the decline of urban civilization in western Europe. He believe the Ostrogoths and Visigoths who took over from the Romans largely left the old economic structures in place. They didn't want to destroy the Roman empire, they wanted to share in its prosperity, and in fact, did so.

Rather, it was the spread of Islam across north Africa in the eighth century that disrupted the ancient trade routes, cut western Europe off from its grain and luxury sources, and caused the real "fall" of the old Roman empire (in the west). It was in the eighth and ninth centuries (not 200 years earlier) that trade ebbed to almost nothing and economies, such as they were, became dominated by a feudal system where great lords ruled over estates and everything the people lived on, rich or poor, was produced locally on those estates.

I believe attributing the decline to the spread of Islam is fairly standard now in medieval studies, but at the time it was revolutionary. Dr. Pirenne builds up quite a convincing argument, even if he's a bit breezy with the evidence at times. Moreover, that's just the first couple chapters. In the rest of the book, he continues the story of the re-sparking of urban life in the tenth and eleventh centuries, after the threats from the Vikings and other barbarian invaders had receded. He traces the origins of merchants, the middle class, market towns, and medieval economic institutions in, initially, the Netherlands and northern Italy, and spreading during the High Middle Ages into England, France, and Germany. He explains his particular view that for security purposes, the new trading centers developed at first as suburbs of the episcopal and political centers of the feudal age, but gradually supplanted them in population and wealth.

This book was right up my alley, with some of my favorite subjects--cities and European history--and told in a grand sweep by an author who seems to know everything possible about the topic. There are interesting observations or opinions on practically every page. Of course, it's an academic work written in an elevated style, but for those who share my particular fascinations, I highly recommend this classic work of history.

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: Rip This Joint

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', Everywhere That I'm Not, Mess Around, Back in the USA, Back in the USSR, and America.

The next song is Rip This Joint, from the Rolling Stones' Exile On Main Street album. The lyrics sound to me like the Stones are ready to go on tour but have some trepidation US authorities will let them in to play:

Mister President, Mister Immigration Man,
Let me in, sweetie, to your fair land.

I know they sometimes had some trouble with local police in the US (if you can believe it). I'm not sure I remember hearing about trouble with US immigration, but maybe they did, or maybe it's just rhetorical. In any case, once they get in, they have an expansive list of cities they want to play:

I'm Tampa bound and Memphis too,
Short Fat Fanny is on the loose.
Dig that sound on the radio,
Then slip it right across into Buffalo.
Dick and Pat in ole D.C.,
Well they're gonna hold some shit for me.
Ying yang, you're my thing,
Oh, now, baby, won't you hear me sing.
Flip Flop, fit to drop,
Come on baby, won't you let it rock?
Oh, yeah!

From San Jose down to Santa Fe,
Kiss me quick, baby, won'tcha make my day.
Down to New Orleans with the Dixie Dean,
'Cross to Dallas, Texas with the Butter Queen.
Rip this joint, gonna rip yours too,
Some brand new steps and some weight to lose.
Gonna roll this joint, gonna get down low,
Round and round and round we'll go.
Wham, Bham, Birmingham, Alabam' don't give a damn.
Little Rock fit to drop.
Ah, let it rock.

So the place names in this song are:
Birmingham
Buffalo
Dallas
Little Rock
Memphis
New Orleans
San Jose
Santa Fe
Tampa
Washington, DC

And lots of cities new to our list: Birmingham, Little Rock, Memphis, San Jose, Santa Fe, Tampa

_______________________________________________________________________

And here's the master list:

Notes: The city that has been mentioned most often is New York, with New Orleans in second and Los Angeles and Philadelphia tied for third. The biggest cities we haven't heard from yet, at least in the United States, are Cleveland, Kansas City, and Seattle. Odd to me that Memphis, a huge blues city, has been mentioned only once.

Atlanta x3

Baltimore x3
Baton Rouge
Birmingham
Boston
Buffalo x2
California

--(northern) California
--(coast of) California
Chattanooga

Chicago x3
Dallas x2
Delaware (Bay)

Detroit x3

Ft. Lauderdale
Georgia (country)
Houston
Las Vegas
Little Rock

London

Los Angeles x4
Memphis

Miami
--Miami Beach
Moline
Moscow

Munich
New Jersey (turnpike)

New Orleans x5

New York City x6
--Queens
Nova Scotia

Paris x2

Philadelphia x4

Phoenix

Pittsburgh x2

Raleigh

Richmond
Saginaw

San Francisco
--Berkeley
San Jose
Santa Fe

St. Louis x3

Tacoma
Tampa

(heart of) Texas
Tokyo
Ukraine

Vancouver

Washington, DC x3

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: America

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', Everywhere That I'm Not, Mess 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

What I'm Reading: Town, City & Nation: England, 1850-1914

Working on my newest novel (it's going well, thank you!) has taken its toll on my posting frequency lately, that and that my most recent book doesn't lend itself to much light discussion. Town, City & Nation: England, 1850-1914 is a real academic book. But I enjoyed it--lots of good stuff about historical city development.

I think my favorite part was the section on English seaside resorts and their development. The first were upper-class getaways like Brighton in the early 1800s, but steamboats, and later railroads, made seaside towns increasingly accessible to the middle and then lower classes as the 19th century went on. The most famous of these more middle-class seaside town was Blackpool, which remained a favored vacation destination until the 1970s. This was a subject I was simply not familiar with before reading this book.

It's quite a thorough book, covering or at least touching on pretty much any urban history or economic topic concerning English cities in its time period. I found sections on different types of work in London and class relations in the great industrial cities to be worthwhile, and a section on crime in small market towns unexpectedly fascinating. On the other hand, I was hoping for more on transportation in cities during this time period, but that's probably well-covered elsewhere.

I can't claim that Town, City & Nation would be of widespread interest, but for those with into urban history, especially how cities develop, this is well-written and well-organized, and packed full of great information.

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: Back in the USSR

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', Everywhere That I'm Not, Mess Around, and Back in the USA.

Our song today is Back in the USSR by the Beatles. It was released as a song on their White Album, obviously as a parody of the last song we did, Back in the USA, although there are also lyrical allusions to the Beach Boys' California Girls. It was not released as a single at the time except in Scandinavia, but it's always gotten plenty of airplay on AOR/classic rock stations.

One interesting thing is Ringo had quit the Beatles temporarily during the recording of the White Album, so Paul actually plays drums on this song.

Here's the first verse:

Oh, flew in from Miami Beach B.O.A.C.
Didn't get to bed last night
On the way the paper bag was on my knee
Man I had a dreadful flight
I'm back in the U.S.S.R.
You don't know how lucky you are boy
Back in the U.S.S.R. (Yeah)
And here's the bridge a little later in the song:

Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on my mind

Note the allusion to Ray Charles's Georgia on My Mind in that last line.

Here's the final verse. No cities in this one, I just think it's funny:

Oh, show me around your snow-peaked mountains way down south
Take me to your daddy's farm
Let me hear your balalaika's ringing out
Come and keep your comrade warm
I'm back in the U.S.S.R.
Hey you don't know how lucky you are boys
Back in the U.S.S.R.

So the cities and places in this song are:
Georgia (country, then part of the USSR, not the US state)
Miami Beach (a suburb of Miami)
Moscow
Ukraine

_______________________________________________________________________

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 Orleans x4

New York City x6
--Queens
Nova Scotia

Paris x2

Philadelphia x4

Phoenix

Pittsburgh

Raleigh

Richmond

San Francisco
--Berkeley

St. Louis x3

Tacoma

(heart of) Texas
Tokyo
Ukraine

Vancouver

Washington, DC x2

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: Back in the USA

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, and Mess Around.

Tonight's song is Back in the U.S.A., by Chuck Berry, the second song by Chuck Berry we've done. (The first was Sweet Little Sixteen.) I guess Chuck was big on places, maybe a result of his extensive touring. The song hit #37 for him in 1959 and Linda Ronstadt did a cover version that hit #16 in 1978. It's also the first of several America-themed songs we'll do.

Oh well, oh well, I feel so good today,
We touched ground on an international runway
Jet propelled back home, from over the seas to the U. S. A.

New York, Los Angeles, oh, how I yearned for you
Detroit, Chicago, Chattanooga, Baton Rouge
Let alone just to be at my home back in ol' St. Lou.

Did I miss the skyscrapers, did I miss the long freeway?
From the coast of California to the shores of Delaware Bay
You can bet your life I did, till I got back to the U. S. A.

Looking hard for a drive-in, searching for a corner café
Where hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and day
Yeah, and a juke-box jumping with records like in the U.S.A.

I really like these lyrics. Very picturesque!

So the cities and places in this song are
Baton Rouge
(coast of) California
Chattanooga
Chicago
Delaware (Bay)
Detroit
Los Angeles
New York
St. Louis

Baton Rouge and Chattanooga appear here for the first time.

_______________________________________________________________________

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
Houston
Las Vegas

London

Los Angeles x4

Miami
Moline

Munich

New Orleans x4

New York City x6
--Queens
Nova Scotia

Paris x2

Philadelphia x4

Phoenix

Pittsburgh

Raleigh

Richmond

San Francisco
--Berkeley

St. Louis x3

Tacoma

(heart of) Texas
Tokyo

Vancouver

Washington, DC x2

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

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: Everywhere That I'm Not

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, and Truckin'.

Tonight's song is a fairly obscure New Wave song from 1982 by the San Francisco band Translator. According to Wikipedia, this song was a hit on college radio stations at the time but failed to appear on the main US chart. I know it due to its inclusion on one of my numerous 80's New Wave compilation discs. It's quite a catchy tune, and adds a big international city to our list. I'll give you the whole first verse and chorus:

I thought I saw you, out on the avenue
But I guess it was just someone
Who looked a lot like, I remember you do
'Cause I thought I heard your voice

In a bar making a choice
But, no, it was just someone
Who sounded a lot like I remember you do

'Cause that's impossible, that's im
That's impossible, that's imposs
That's impossible, that's impossible

'Cause you're in New York but I'm not
You're in Tokyo but I'm not
You're in Nova Scotia but I'm not

Yeah, you're everywhere that I'm not
Yeah, you're everywhere that I'm not
I'm not, I'm not, I'm not

And the cities we can add to our list this time out are

New York

Nova Scotia (yes, I know this is a province and not a city)

Tokyo

_______________________________________________________________________

And here's our master list as it currently stands:

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 x2
Boston
Buffalo

(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

Tacoma

(heart of) Texas
Tokyo

Vancouver

Washington, DC x2

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: Truckin'

For this feature we've previously done Sweet Little Sixteen, Dancing in the Streets, Night Train, Rock'n Me, Pop Muzik, Girls, Girls, Girls, and Fire Down Below.

Tonight's song is Truckin' by the Grateful Dead. It was released in 1970 and only reached 64 on the US charts, though its a well-known song. In fact, I expect a lot people thought this would be one of the first songs I did for this feature. Its lyrics describe the misfortunes that befell the band during their extensive touring in the late 1960s. And for our purposes, they reference a number of cities, including some cities we don't otherwise have on our list.

Here are the first verse and chorus:

Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on Main Street.
Chicago, New York, Detroit and it's all on the same street.
Your typical city involved in a typical daydream
Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings.

Dallas, got a soft machine; Houston, too close to New Orleans;
New York's got the ways and means; but just won't let you be, oh no.

And a later chorus goes like this:

Truckin', up to Buffalo. Been thinkin', you got to mellow slow
Takes time, you pick a place to go, and just keep truckin' on.


So the cities for our list are
Buffalo
Chicago
Dallas (finally gets a mention after eight songs)
Detroit
Houston (same as Dallas)
New Orleans
New York

_______________________________________________________________________

And here's our master list as it currently stands:

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 x2
Boston
Buffalo

(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 x4
--Queens

Paris x2

Philadelphia x4

Phoenix

Pittsburgh

Raleigh

Richmond

San Francisco
--Berkeley

St. Louis

Tacoma

(heart of) Texas

Vancouver

Washington, DC x2

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: Fire Down Below

For this feature we've previously done Sweet Little Sixteen, Dancing in the Streets, Night Train, Rock'n Me, Pop Muzik, and Girls, Girls, Girls.

Tonight, let's do Fire Down Below, a song by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. It was released as a single in 1977 but didn't chart very highly. I'm not sure why not, it rocks pretty well and is one of my favorite songs by Seger. For our purposes, the chorus has a number of cities that aren't usually mentioned in rock songs, so we'll be adding several new cities to our list.

Here's how it goes:

It happens out in Vegas happens in Moline
On the blue blood streets of Boston
Up in Berkeley and out in Queens
And it went on yesterday and it's going on tonight
Somewhere there's somebody ain't treatin' somebody right

So the cities we can add to our list are

Berkeley

Boston (finally gets a mention after seven songs!)

Las Vegas

Moline (this is a city in Illinois, in case you didn't know, and one of the cities in the Quad City area on the border with Iowa)

Queens

Note that two of these cities, Berkeley and Queens, are suburbs or parts of larger cities. On the master list below, I'll list them with their parent cities.

_______________________________________________________________________

And here's our master list as it currently stands:

Notes: The biggest cities we haven't heard from yet, as least in the United States, are Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and Seattle.

Atlanta x3

Baltimore x2
Boston

(northern) California

Chicago

Detroit

Ft. Lauderdale
Las Vegas

London

Los Angeles x3

Miami
Moline

Munich

New Orleans x3

New York City x3
--Queens

Paris x2

Philadelphia x4

Phoenix

Pittsburgh

Raleigh

Richmond

San Francisco
--Berkeley

St. Louis

Tacoma

(heart of) Texas

Vancouver

Washington, DC x2

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: Girls, Girls, Girls

We've previously done Sweet Little Sixteen, Dancing in the Streets, Night Train, Rock'n Me, and Pop Muzik, so tonight let's get classy and do some Motley Crue! The song is Girls, Girls, Girls and was a biggish hit for the Crue in 1987. It's basically a tour of their favorite strip clubs in various cities.

I might add this song has a personal connection for me because when I was in the 9th grade, I took a tennis class at my school for my P.E. requirement. A buddy of mine and I played every day with some seniors on the farthest court, and one of the seniors would park his Jeep just outside the tennis court and open the doors, blasting this album on his stereo while we played. The coach mainly stuck to the other set of courts closer to school with kids from the tennis team, and didn't seem to care too much what we got up to. It was great.

Here's the first verse. It doesn't actually have any cities, I just wanted to note that it's a clear allusion to (is that too fancy a word for the Crue? How about "They ripped it off from") Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright For Fightin'."

Friday night and I need a fight
My motorcycle and a switchblade knife
Handful of grease in my hair feels right
But what I need to make me tight are

And the chorus:

Girls, Girls, Girls
Long legs and burgundy lips
Girls,
Dancin' down on Sunset Strip
Girls
Red lips, fingertips

The second chorus gets into the cities. Note the Seventh Veil is in Los Angeles (according to Wikipedia, not my personal knowledge!).

Girls, Girls, Girls
At the Dollhouse in Ft. Lauderdale
Girls, Girls. Girls
Rocking in Atlanta at Tattletails
Girls, Girls, Girls
Raising Hell at the 7th Veil

The third verse and chorus have more cities. The Body Shop and Tropicana are apparently also in Los Angeles, and the Marble Arch in Vancouver.

Crazy Horse, Paris, France
Forget the names, remember romance
I got the photos, a menage a trois
Musta broke those Frenchies laws with those

Girls, Girls. Girls
Body Shop. Marble Arch
Girls, Girls, Girls
Tropicana's where I lost my heart

Okay, so the cities we have this time are

Atlanta

Ft. Lauderdale

Los Angeles

Paris

Vancouver (admittedly a stretch since it's not named explicitly in the song, but I'll count it)

_______________________________________________________________________

And here's our master list as it currently stands:

Notes: The biggest cities we haven't heard from yet, as least in the United States, are Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and Seattle.

Atlanta x3

Baltimore x2

(northern) California

Chicago

Detroit

Ft. Lauderdale

London

Los Angeles x3

Miami

Munich

New Orleans x3

New York City x3

Paris x2

Philadelphia x4

Phoenix

Pittsburgh

Raleigh

Richmond

San Francisco

St. Louis

Tacoma

(heart of) Texas

Vancouver

Washington, DC x2

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: Pop Muzik

We've previously done Sweet Little Sixteen, Dancing in the Streets, Night Train, and Rock'n Me, so tonight let's add M's Pop Muzik. This was an international number one hit in late 1979 for English band M, basically consisting of singer Robin Scott and studio musicians. The song has a definite New Wave sound with lots of synthesizers and a drum machine beat. It will also add some international cities to our list.

Verses are sort of "pop music" nonsense lyrics, like so:

Sing it in the subway
Shuffle with a shoe shine
Mix me a Molotov
I'm on the hit line

While the chorus is this, which may have slight variations but, for our purposes, the same cities are repeated every time:

New York, London, Paris, Munich
Everybody talk about, mm, pop muzik
Talk about pop muzik
Talk about pop muzik
Pop, pop, pop muzik
Pop, pop, pop muzik

So the cities we have in this song are:

London

Munich

New York

Paris

_________________________________________________________________________
And here's our master list as it currently stands:

Notes: The biggest cities we haven't heard from yet, as least in the United States, are Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, and Seattle (but we do have Tacoma!).

Atlanta x2
Baltimore x2
(northern) California
Chicago
Detroit
London
Los Angeles x2
Miami
Munich
New Orleans x3
New York City x3
Paris
Philadelphia x4
Phoenix
Pittsburgh
Raleigh
Richmond
San Francisco
St. Louis
Tacoma
(heart of) Texas
Washington, DC x2

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: Rock'n Me

In this feature, we've previously done Sweet Little Sixteen, Dancing in the Streets, and Night Train. Tonight, as promised, we'll balance out the East Coast-centric Night Train with a song with lots of West Coast cities. The song is Rock'n Me, released in 1976 by the Steve Miller Band.

The second verse contains the sort of city list we're looking for:

I went from Phoenix, Arizona
All the way to Tacoma
Philadelphia, Atlanta, L.A.
Northern California where the girls are warm
So I could be with my sweet baby, yeah

Are the girls especially warm in northern California? We'll take Steve's word on it. That verse is followed by the chorus:

Keep on a rock'n me baby
Keep on a rock'n me baby
Keep on a rock'n me baby
Keep on a rock'n me baby
Baby, baby, baby
Keep on rock'n
Rock'n me baby
Keep on a rock'n
Rock'n me baby

Okay, not a real intellectual song, but it's fun to listen to and sing along with. The second verse is repeated again later, with no change in the city list. So here are the cities we have in this song:

Atlanta

Los Angeles

northern California

Philadelphia

Phoenix

Tacoma

_________________________________________________________________________
And after four songs, here's our master list.

Notes: Philadelphia is the only city mentioned in every song so far. Is Philly as especially musical city? Rock musicians seem to think so. I think the biggest cities we haven't heard from yet are Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, and Seattle (but we do have Tacoma!).

Atlanta x2
Baltimore x2
(northern) California
Chicago
Detroit
Los Angeles x2
Miami
New Orleans x3
New York City x2
Philadelphia x4
Phoenix
Pittsburgh
Raleigh
Richmond
San Francisco
St. Louis
Tacoma
(heart of) Texas
Washington, DC x2

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: Night Train

In this feature, we've previously done Sweet Little Sixteen and Dancing in the Streets. Now let's add Night Train. It's a very East Coast-centric song, basically consisting of James Brown shouting out the stops the Night Train is taking. (Next week, to make up for that, we'll do a West Coast-centric song.) It was originally done in 1951 by Jimmy Forrest, and has been covered numerous times, but James Brown's cover is by far the most famous version.

All aboard for the night train
Miami, Florida
Atlanta, Georgia
Raleigh, North Carolina
Washington, DC
Oh, and Richmond, Virginia too

Baltimore, Maryland
Philadelphia
New York City
Take it home
and don't forget New Orleans
the home of the blues

Not sure how the train jumps from New York to New Orleans there at the end. Here are the cities in this song:

Atlanta
Baltimore
Miami
New Orleans
New York City
Philadelphia
Raleigh
Richmond
Washington, DC

_________________________________________________________________________
And after three songs, here's our master list:

Atlanta
Baltimore x2
Chicago
Detroit
Los Angeles
Miami
New Orleans x3
New York City x2
Philadelphia x3
Pittsburgh
Raleigh
Richmond
San Francisco
St. Louis
(heart of) Texas
Washington, DC x2

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: Dancing in the Streets

In this feature, we've previously done Sweet Little Sixteen. Now let's do Dancing in the Streets. Originally by Martha and the Vandellas in 1965 (and co-written by Marvin Gaye), this song also charted in the 1980s in a version by Van Halen.

I might add this song is a personal favorite of mine.

The difference between the verse and chorus is a little vague in this song, but there are at least "A" and "B" sections, with the lyrics in the "A" sections varying slightly each time to incorporate different place names.

Calling out around the world,
Are you ready for a brand new beat?
Summer's here and the time is right
For dancing in the street.
They're dancing in Chicago,
Down in New Orleans,
In New York City.

And the next time it's this:

It's an invitation across the nation,
A chance for folks to meet.
There'll be laughing, singing, and music swinging,
Dancing in the street.
Philadelphia, P.A.
Baltimore and D.C. now.
Can't forget the Motor City.

And then in the final "A" section the only city names is Los Angeles. So the list for this song is
Chicago
New Orleans
New York City
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Washington, DC
Detroit
Los Angeles

_________________________________________________________________________
And after two songs, here's our master list:

Baltimore
Chicago
Detroit
Los Angeles
New Orleans x2
New York City
Philadelphia x2
Pittsburgh
San Francisco
St. Louis
(heart of) Texas
Washington, DC

Place Names in Rock Lyrics: Sweet Little Sixteen

Here's something I've been wanting to do for a while. I've always liked it in rock songs when they sing about different places in the chorus. If you don't realize what I mean, I think you'll see in the lyrics below.

My plan for this feature is to count up all the different times various cities are mentioned. Which cities are the rocking-est? Let's start with perhaps the first rock song to do this, Sweet Little Sixteen, by Chuck Berry.

In the first chorus, he sings this:

They're really rockin in Boston
In Pittsburgh, P.A.
deep in the heart of Texas
and round the 'Frisco Bay
All over St. Louis
and down in New Orleans
All the cats wanna dance with
Sweet Little Sixteen

And the next time he sings the chorus, he mixes it up just slightly, like this:

'Cause they'll be rockin' on Bandstand
in Philadelphia, P.A.
deep in the heart of Texas
and round the 'Frisco Bay
All over St. Louis
Way down in New Orleans
All the cats wanna dance with
Sweet Little Sixteen

So the cities and places we have so far are

New Orleans
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
San Francisco
St. Louis
(heart of) Texas

What I'm Reading: The Race Underground

The Race Underground by Doug Most is an account of the race at the end of the 19th century between Boston and New York to build America's first subway. Actually, the title is somewhat of an exaggeration--it wasn't much of a race, as Boston won it by 7 years (1897 vs. 1904). The real rivalry was between two brothers from Massachusetts who ended becoming the "transit kings" of Boston and New York in the 1870s and 80s and both had visions of building an underground railway. The Boston brother was named Henry Whitney and the New York brother was William Whitney. The NY Whitney is a little better-remembered today, as he gave the money to found New York's Whitney Museum and served as secretary of the navy under President Cleveland.

I am something of a city buff and especially enjoy learning about their histories and their mass transit, so this book really hit a sweet spot with me. (See here for the last city book I reviewed, City of Scoundrels, about Chicago in the 1919.) However, I think most other readers might not get the same enjoyment out of it, unless they have a special interest in the topic area. The main flaw of the book is that there are simply too many people, and they are too hard to tell apart. Both cities had numerous subway boosters, engineers, and financiers who played a critical role in getting their cities' first subway lines built, and Most doesn't want to leave anyone out. He is admirably thorough, but by halfway through the book the sheer number of people to keep track of is quite large. It might have benefited by cutting out a couple of the less important figures.

A second flaw is a lack of maps. I felt this lack again and again, as various figures in the book discussed routing options for subways, or where the surface streets were most crowded, or where the soil was conducive for underground tunneling. Now I have a pretty good mental map of New York, much less so for Boston, and more than once during reading this I took to the internet to figure out just where these people were talking about. The simple addition of a historical map for each city would have made reading far easier--something for Most to consider if there is ever a second edition!

Having said that, I must repeat that I personally really liked the book, and for those who like to learn about subways or urban history this book will likely be up your alley as well. In fact, Most points out that there is a paucity of good sources concerning the early days of the Boston subway, so if you are interested in that, this book is pretty much your only option for a popular history on the subject.

What I'm Reading: City of Scoundrels

City of Scoundrels by Gary Krist is historical non-fiction covering the story of a particularly horrific week-and-a-half in the history of Chicago, specifically, July 21st to July 31st 1919.  The experimental flight of an airship kicked the eleven days off when it caught fire above the Loop and crashed through the atrium of a bank building, killing airship riders and bank employees alike.  The next day, a six-year old girl was kidnapped, the prime suspect a pedophile living next door, kicking off a media feeding frenzy. An incident on the border between a white beach and black beach a couple days later sparked one of the worst race riots in American history, exacerbated by a transit strike that forced thousands of city workers onto the dangerous streets and nearly shut the city down.

It's a dramatic period to cover, and Krist does a good job of giving each of the events its due, but without crowding anything out.  He provides context and background, bringing readers up to speed on how and why each development occurred, and to what extent they were inter-related.  He also does an excellent job of bringing interesting little details to light, helped by his use not only of newspapers and official reports from the period, but also diaries from contemporary Chicago residents, particularly that of Emily Frankenstein, a nineteen-year-old with an interest in current events.

That Krist was able to assemble such a complete picture of the period is largely due to the existence of eight daily newspapers in Chicago at the time.  The different newspapers served Chicago's left, right, and centrist readers, its labor sympathizers and big business, its blacks, Germans, and Poles, assuring that any major event, and lots of smaller ones, would receive coverage from several viewpoints.  Should an American city now experience such an eventful week, I wonder if historians decades from now will be able to research it as thoroughly.  That even major cities now rarely support more than two, and often only one, daily makes me doubt it.  The typical response to that would be that of course blogs and micro-newssites on the Web cover cities with a wealth of detail not possible in earlier times--but will these blogs and sites still be accessible in fifty, eighty, or a hundred years?

Rather less successful was Krist's attempt to show that this sequence of events had far-reaching consequences in Chicago.  In fact, the whole point of the book is that this eleven-day period somehow forged modern Chicago, but I just don't see it.  The airship disaster was a freak accident, the kidnapping of the six-year old was regrettable but not especially important (except to her family, of course!), and the transit strike was only one in a long line of labor unrest incidents in Chicago, not the first and far from the last.  The only one of the incidents that really had a long-lasting impact, from what I can tell, was the race riot.  Up until then, in Krist's telling, Chicago had been relatively welcoming to blacks migrating from the South, but the riot seemed to have ignited a period of racial animosity that smoldered for decades.

In fact, I'd say the very facts Krist present show that Chicago went on pretty much as it always had, despite its hellish summer in 1919.  The same Republican-machine mayor, Big Bill Thompson, was re-elected that fall.  No important businesses began or failed, no social movements or major reforms had their seeds in the events.  Big Bill did manage to pass his Chicago Plan a few months later, a framework for vastly expanding and modernizing Chicago's roads, bridges, parks, and civic institutions.  While the events in the book perhaps gave fresh impetus to the Chicago plan, it had been in the making for almost ten years and very likely would have passed in any case.

No, the real event of 1919 that impacted Chicago was the passage of the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution on 16 January, with entered force a year later.  This amendment, prohibiting alcohol, was the prime cause of the rise of organized crime in Chicago, which really defined the city in the 1920s.  Except for the race riot, the events related in City of Scoundrels, as fun and satisfying as it is to read, are little more than historical footnotes, notable only for their close temporal proximity.

If this sounds interesting to you, by all means read this book--you won't be disappointed. I highly recommend it for the armchair historian.  But if you're hoping to find out what really made the city tick in the 1920s, you should instead read Daniel Okrent's Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, the definitive history of Prohibition, and one in which Chicago plays no small role.