Somewhat naively I thought that this one was going to be slightly easier. I've plenty of songs about cities beginning with J but it seems that most of them are either about Jackson or Jacksonville.
Until now I was blissfully unaware that according to the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums ,Prefab Sprout's name was a mondegreen from the song "Jackson" ("We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout"), misheard by frontman Paddy McAloon. I was also blissfully unaware that there was a word called mondegreen.
Jackson is the most populous city in Mississippi with a population of 154K. We requested the Johnny and June version for the first song at our wedding party.We got Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison instead. Today you are not getting Johnny and June or indeed Lee and Nancy but rather Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings from their All the Good Times album. Lucinda Williams also has a song called Jackson. Don't worry Lucinda fans she has more songs which may yet appear in this series.
Jacksonville is the most populous city in Florida with a population of just under a million. Sufjan Stevens has a song called Jacksonville somewhat obtusely on his album Illinois. Good as it is you are not getting that one but rather Jacksonville Skyline by Whiskeytown.
I'm not sure whether the Johnson City that Wayne Hancock sings about is the Tennessee one (Pop 71K) or the Texan one (Pop 1756). Given that he is from Texas it could well be the latter.
And finally for Rol who had me looking up the Prefab Sprout mondegreen here is John Mellencamp with a song about Joilet the third largest city in Illinois with a population of 150K. Joilet Bound was written by the legendary Blues artist Memphis Minnie and as a bonus you are getting a crackly video which is obviously better that the Cougar.
K next which hopefully should be relatively straightforward. Famous last words
Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings - Jackson
Whiskeytown - Jacksonville Skyline
John Mellencamp - Joilet Bound
Where's Juneau?
ReplyDeleteAlaska
DeletePS If you need a song about the real Kokomo in Indiana (not the one the Beach Boys made up) I'm happy to oblige
DeleteIs it just me or does the term Joilet Bound sound a little too much like an unfortunate bowel condition?
ReplyDeleteNot as unfortunate as Joliet Unbound
DeleteI've just booked tickets to see Lucinda Williams, who is playing our local village next year. God knows why she wants to come to Holmfirth... maybe she's a Last of the Summer Wine fan. Anyway, I couldn't not, if she was turning up on my doorstep.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why you have to fact check me, and why you can't just take my gubbins as truth from the off. Like Ryan Adams named his band Whiskeytown after a particularly nice stay in Campbeltown, Argyll.
I presume you've got K sewn up, between Kansas City and Knoxville, but I'll give a special mention to Kalamazoo by Ben Folds if you want an alternative to Glenn. And I'm sure there's a song about KIssimmee, but it's eluding me.
Joliet is indeed a city in Illinois, but the song is specifically referring to the state prison that used to be located there. --Marc
ReplyDeleteWayne Hancock's Johnson City is great. I picked it up recently after I'm pretty certain first hearing it here on your blog.
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