“In the small town of Hannibal, Missouri, when I was a boy, everybody was poor, but didn't know it; and everybody was comfortable and did know it.”
- Mark Twain
Recently my friend, Chris, pointed out that the Turnpike Troubadours mention the small town of Beardstown, Illinois (Pop 5,691) in their song, Long Hot Summer Day. I'm a Troubadours fan but that one had gotten past me. Beardstown is not all that far from where we were all raised in Northeast Missouri, and it got me to thinking about small towns in general, and of course, songs.
When I was a young boy, my dad and I would have fun laughing at some of the odd names of Missouri towns. One would come up in conversation from time to time, “Oh,” Dad would say, “he comes from down there around Knob Noster, I believe.” “Knob Noster!?” I'd say, and we'd have a chuckle and wonder how in the world it got that name. Some little towns around our Northeast Missouri area had curious names, but I grew up hearing them so often that they didn't seem so at the time. They were just part of the landscape. Ten Mile, Novelty, Clarence, Elmer, Ethel, Lingo, Blackbird, Lemonville, Bible Grove.
Now that I'm back in state and have driven around a good bit, I'm reminded of how many of those quirky little town names there are: Peculiar, Tightwad, Sleeper, Blue Eye, Halfway, Competition, Braggadoccio, Bacon Township, Devil's Elbow, Coney Island, Success, Licking, Romance, Humansville, Windyvill, Liberal, Monkey Run, Number Eight, Koshkonong, Vulcan, Cave, Tea, Possum Trot, Holstein, Fairdealing, Olympian Village, And then there are Cooter, Butts, Uranus and Climax Springs. The jokes write themselves for those. Kendra and I live only about three miles from the town of Clever. The puns abound about that. Out of all of those names, surely there's a song somewhere, wouldn't you think? Well, maybe there will be.
We all know the places that get the majority of love when it comes to showing up in song titles: Memphis, New York, Nashville, San Fran, L.A, St. Louis, Kansas City, London, New Orleans, Paris. But what about less sexy places? Dayton, Ohio? Carbondale, Illinois? Orlando, Florida? Probably the only compelling reason for those to be in a song title is if someone's stuck there. We live just outside of Springfield, Missouri. 41 of the 50 U.S. states have a Springfield. It's where the Simpsons live. The creators of the show chose that name because it is the embodiment of indistinction. It's the every town U.S.A. I think your song better be pretty captivating if you put Springfield in the title.
Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes, songs that have cities and towns in their titles that aren't known for their pizazz - ordinary places. What are some? Here's a few of my favorites. And, hey, what do you know, The Old 97s squeezed a Springfield into their lyrics at least.
What places have I missed?