VE 101 PRN Cities
Today on the VE:
There are so many songs about cities..but a very special subset of those specifically list cities…a whole bunch of
em…in each song..I’ll play a cool assortment, from swing to punk, all from the original LPs. I’m PC and this is the
VE
Talking Heads: Cities
Talking Heads from 1979’s Fear Of Music…a record recorded in Long Island City, long before the hipsters arrived.
David Byrne’s quest for the right city to live in is just one entry among many songs that compare the virtues of
various towns. But if you’re born a New Yorker, it all comes back to the big apple. Here’s jazz singer Chris Connor,
along with Maynard Ferguson’s band….
From the decade when New York really ruled…the 1950’s….Sammy Davis and Ray Charles also recorded “New
York’s My Home, written by composer and arranger Gordon Jenkins. The VE is traveling from city to city in
song…and Hank Snow’s been…everywhere…
Hank Snow: I’ve Been Everywhere
Rolling Stones: Route 66
The VE, with the Bobby Troup song that the Nat King Cole trio made famous..the Rolling Stones rocked it up on
their first album in 1964, and Depeche Mode revived it 25 years later. ‘Route 66.” Before that, Stones fave Hank
Snow with “I’ve Been Everywhere.”
The VE, spinning songs that list cities. Chuck Berry did that on a couple of very influential songs, “Back In The
USA, and this one, “Sweet Little SIxteen.”
Chuck Berry: Sweet Little Sixteen
Martha & The Vandellas: Dancing In The Streets
Don’t forget the motor city….the VE with city songs….and so Martha & The Vandellas “Dancin In The Streets” gets a
reference in this city-lister from 1983 by Los ANgeles’ own ….X
X: The New World
Steve Miller Band: Rock N Me
The VE…a couple of city songs that reference others…Stve Miller’s “Rock N Me” nods to The Beach Boy’s
California Girls, where the northern girls keep their boyfrinds warm at night…and X sings “don’t forget the motor
city,” just like Martha Reeves did, in their song “The New World.”
Songs not just about cities, but the movement froom city to city, as with ramblin’ boy Dave Loggins, and this wimp-
rock standard from the 70’s, on The VE…
Dave Loggins: Please Come To Boston
Little Feat: Willin’
Grateful Dead: Truckin’
The VE with the rare single version of The Grateful Dead’s “Truckin,”…despite all that was chopped out, all the
cities they mention remain intact. Little Feat took us through some dusty southwest towns in “Willin,” and Dave
Loggins wooed a gal from town to town in “Please Come To Boston.”
It’s City-List songs on ther VE. From pop to post-punk now, beginning with The Bloodhound Gang’s extreme take
on the rock-road song, “Going Nowhere Slow.”
Bloodhound Gang: Going Nowhere Slow
Smiths: Panic
The VE, songs that list cities…our first tour of Britian, with the Smiths and “Panic,”a and now a cosmopolitan take,
from Ian Dury and The Blockheads….
Ian Dury And The Blockheads: Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
James Brown: Night Train
Godfather- James Brown…and the ony way to travel…city to city, but Night Train…and so let’s make one more stop
by train of city-list songs tour, with the first great one…in fact, the first Gold Record award from 1941. The Glen
Miller Orchestra, and a rare Hi Fi recording of his hot swing band from the film soundtrack Orchestra Wives
Glen Miller: Chattanooga Choo Choo
And that’s the VE. Find this, and past shows in the Archives at PRN.LIVE
Please like and share on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter, I’m PC