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| A musical map of most popular genres of music by state. Image courtesy of Digital Music News. |
As Damon Albarn once wrote “music is my radar” and with the
sheer size of the United States, I feel I may need some kinds of guidance
system to negotiate the highways and byways, Amtrak and Greyhound buses that
will whisk me across this enormous country. However, I’m swerving the practical
and sticking with the artistic and I’ve made a playlist of one or two songs foreach of my stops, which hopefully you’ll enjoy!
First stop: New York. Home of the greatest band ever – The Ramones,
who I’ve been more than a little obsessed with since I got a tape of their
first three albums for my birthday and played it religiously every day. I’ve
gone for the classic Rockaway Beach – about a strip of sand in New York’s Queen’s
district – which has to be one of their most popular and best songs. 53rd
and 3rd came a close second here.
Washington DC’s musical pedigree is fairly small and I
struggled to find anything I actually liked until I stumbled across this
Pavement track about governmental corruption in the capital. Gotta love a bit
of Steven Malkmus and this great verse: "Embassy row, the fumes they lay
low / On lanes that are wide where the limousines glide / On the wrought-iron
gates and the bone china plates / And don't forget your manners where the
anthems play."
I’m combining my time in DC with a trip to Baltimore for
which I’ve got Nina Simone’s 1970 hit named after the town. Listen to that bass
line and Nina’s voice is as fantastic as ever. There’s also a very enjoyable
guitar and violin duet at the end. Thanks Bradley for the recommendation…
Whilst Martha Reeves was “dancin’ in Chicago”, I’ve gone for
the fairly obvious choice of Chicago by Sufjan Stevens from his Illinois album.
This was a record I loved in my second year at university and still is very,
very special. Plus, you can’t talk about Chicago without Robert Johnson’s Sweet
Home…
Then we get to Iowa City, and I start to struggle. Whilst
the Hawkeye State has produced bands like Slipknot (not my cup of tea) I haven’t
found many songs about Iowa, so thanks to my friend Adam for this suggestion “Joni
Mitchell-Dry Cleaner from Des Moines is one of my very fave Joni tunes. Awesome
Pastorius bass and brass arrangement. V funky.” See for yourself…
At this point I’m off to the West Coast – San Diego,
California to be exact. And I’ve found this grainy recording of The Mountain
Goats and their track Going to San Diego and no discussion of music and the great
Golden State without the haunting vocals of the Mamas and the Papas…
Next stop: Tucson, Arizona. And there’s only one choice,
right? Wrong! There’s also Rory Gallagher’s cover of the Link Wray song named
after the city from the rerelease of Tattoo. And, The Beatles – obviously…
After this I’m off to New Mexico and thanks to Jon, Adam
and Rob for suggesting Prefab Sprout’s King of Rock’n’Roll (a song indelibly
stuck in the ear of anyone who has watched Spaced) and it’s Albuquerque chorus!
Also, what a video!!! Second pick, Paul Simon’s beautiful Hearts and Bones,
about journeying through NM’s mountain passes. Thanks, Keeno for suggesting
this one!
Last stop is Texas and I had loads of great suggestions
here – Rick suggested Ry Cooder’s Paris, Texas soundtrack and Phil went for
Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Texas Flood, but I’ve gone for Elton John’s All the Way
Down to El Paso. What a Watford lad was doing in South Texas is anyone’s guess
but it’s classic EJ. And I’ve also plumped for The Flamin’ Groovies’ Heading to
the Texas Border for some classic 1970s garage rock.
A huge and heart-felt thanks to Matthew, Clare, Loreto,
Adam, Adrian, Rick, Paul, Jon, Phil, Barbara, Di & Steve, Julian, Beccy,
Keeno, Rob, Kol, Bradley, Helly, Parisa, Neal and Andy for their suggestions! If you want to listen to the songs together as a playlist, click here, for them to play seamlessly together on YouTube! That’s my musical map of my trip – now to find a real one *click into Amazon and searches maps!