Part of the Songblimp future mission involves cataloging songs about places and presenting them in our special, execution-pending, Songblimpy way. Here’re some sites tackling the songs about places question in a variety of ways:
>Songs About Cities (Wikipedia). It’s a great, big, long list. That’s what Wikipedia does.
>Destination Soundtrack. Songs listed, prettied up with pictures, and categorized city-by-city (“Rock Songs About Rome,” “Pop Songs About Rome,” etc.). It says Tokyo is “Coming Soon!” but the whole thing’s dated 2012, so hold your breath at your own risk.
>Bob Dylan’s World (Slate). Cool. Every place mentioned in a Dylan song, mapped, annotated, Spotify-linked, and ready elicit Dylanologist drool.
>Spotimap. Takes the Wikipedia list above–at least some of it–maps it, links to Spotify. But surely there are more than six songs about Jamaica. Or could it be the Wailers are the only band ever to sing about Jamaica?
Also:
>TomWaitsMap.com. Like Bob Dylan’s World, but…Tom Waits.
>Songplaces.com. A site that would, you’d think, be the place for songs about places. Maybe some day…
Hungry for listening? Here’s someone’s shortish (6 hour) “Songs About Places” playlist from Spotify. If you’re in a hurry to hear “Philadelphia Freedom” again, hit play stat!
P.S. Is paradise in “Two Tickets to Paradise” really a place? Or is it a state of mind? As usual, Wikipedia provides:
Money wrote the song about his girlfriend at the time. His girlfriend’s mother wanted her to marry a doctor or a lawyer, not a musician. Money wrote the song in the hope of being allowed to take his girlfriend on holiday.
Answer: it’s both.
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