Hometown Musical

Last weekend, my roommate and I were discussing 4th of July celebrations nearby and she mentioned that her hometown of Waynesboro always did their celebration a week later because they didn't want to compete with Staunton and the Statler Brothers.

I looked up the Statler Brothers and found out they were a band that started in the 50's and have been a pretty big deal for a long time.  And bonus!  They even wrote a song about their dear hometown Staunton, VA.

Source: www.virginia.org

"We've got a bumper crop of happiness."  I just don't know if anything could get better than such fabulous lyrics.  With some amount of pride, I smiled to think that I knew where Staunton, VA (this magical place of happiness and smiles) was located and in fact, I had been there.

A few days later, I remembered another fabulous song about a random place that I had visited and I shared this classic with my roommate.  I present here for you, Wir sind das Ruhrgebiet.   Sadly, I don't know any of the lyrics.  But definitely a fabulous song that should go into anyone's music library.

Iconic symbol of the Ruhrgebiet: the Zollverein

Sorry, it's blurry but it says Ruhr

I started to wonder how many other random places have songs named about them.

Well, last night, I was discussing with a friend about my Illinois roots and mentioned the years I spent in Jacksonville.  She was curious, "Like the song?"  Baffled, I gave no response.   She went on to explain further.  "There's an artist named Sufjan Stevens who made an album all about Illinois and one of the songs in it is named Jacksonville."

I went and did a little research.  And sure enough!  There's a song about one of my hometowns - Jacksonville,IL!  They mention Andrew Jackson (our namesake) and Nichols Park and lots of other things that brought back a flood of memories about my childhood.

Any other small town songs that you know of?