An A to Z of American Cities - M

 

We start this week in Montgomery the state capital of Alabama with a population of just over 200K. It played a prominent part in the Civil Rights Movement with the Montgomery Bus Boycott following the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her seat for a white person. The US Supreme Court subsequently ruled that laws on segregated buses were unconstitutional.

The song is Montgomery in the Rain, not by Hank Williams Jr  who made it famous, but by its writer Steve Young who I once saw in King Tuts playing to an audience of around30.

I said that I wouldn't be including Memphis this week given my previous Memphis v Nashville series. If you are therefore wondering why I am including the Bob Dylan song Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again wonder no more. It is Mobile we are focussing on, another Alabama city slightly smaller than Montgomery with a population in the region of 187K and which was the birthplace of the Mardi Gras.

We now venture further north to Minnesota and to Minneapolis (425K) one of the Twin Cities with St Paul bisected by the Mississippi River .It is a week of long titles. Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis is a Tom Waits song but I have gone for the cover version by Neko Case. Apologies for posting a Christmas song in July.

Finally we head just about as far north as you can go in the United States to the state of Wisconsin and  the city of Milwaukee with a population of 577K making it this week's largest city. Situated on the shore of Lake Michigan at the confluence of three rivers it is a port city primarily for wheat. However it is not wheat but beer  which is the subject of the song What Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me) written by Glen Sutton.. Another long title. Originally a hit for Jerry Lee Lewis it enjoyed a second wind in the UK courtesy of Rod Stewart.

It is the letter N next week and as hinted at above Nashville will be excluded.

Steve Young - Montgomery in the Rain

Bob Dylan - Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again

Neko Case - Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis

Rod Stewart - What Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)