An A-Z of American Cities - D

 

I was beginning to regret not having included Dallas and Denver in my deliberations as D proved to be more tricky than I originally thought. Worry not, however, I've still managed to come up with four.

Downey is a blue collar city 13 miles south of downtown Los Angeles with a population of 115K. For a Scottish equivalent think Paisley and Glasgow. It is the hometown of Dave Alvin  and indeed his brother and fellow Blaster Phil . Downey to Lubbock (another twofer) is the title track of an album by Dave and Jimmie Dale Gilmore namechecking their respective home towns (nb - file Lubbock away for future reference). More impressively Downey is the home of the world's oldest operating McDonalds.

Hard to follow I know but on the Atlantic as opposed to Pacific coast we have the City of Daytona Beach, also known simply as Daytona. Daytona Beach is famous as the home of the NASCAR stock car track. This was probably what Suzi Quatro had in mind when she sang Daytona Demon.

Down from Dover is a song penned by the great Dolly Parton. This version is from Sally Timms from her EP with Jon Langford  called Songs of False Hope and High Values. The capital and the second most populous city in Delaware (c40K) Dover, named after it's Kent counterpart, is the home of a large Air Force Base where the cad in the song was based.

I thought I had a song about Duluth but it seems that I don't. Therefore we are off to Des Moines  the capital of the state of Iowa (214K).From her jazzy album Mingus (.. nice) it seems that Joni Mitchell was familiar with The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines.

E next week which thankfully wasn't as hard as I first thought.

Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore - Downey to Lubbock

Suzi Quatro -Daytona Demon

Sally Timms & Jon Langford - Down From Dover

Joni Mitchell -The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines