Drowned in Sound Festivals

Search


Drowned in Sound Event sponsored tours and events.

bands that talk about their hometowns

no votes
?
by jamesdenial

So, Johnny Foreigner have got a fair few mentions of Birmingham in on their first few records. Can anyone think of any others, old or new? Specifics?

jamesdenial | 09 May '08, 09:51 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Obvious ones

Pulp ('Sheffield Sex City')
Arctic Monkeys (pretty much their entire first album)
Model Morning ('This Town')
The Zutons ('Dirty Dancehall')


Leonard Skinner

He always brags about Alabama and having intercourse with his sister and how much of a gaywad Neil Young is.

Oh, and Boston. They were always on about how awesome Boston is but, oddly, made no mention of Neil Young being a gaywad.

BAY CITY ROLLERS always braggin about Bay City and how awesome the roller skate rinks were.


i'm thinking about it

and almost every band I think about has mentioned their hometown/home state at some point.

e.g. Wilco - Via Chicago
Jimmy Eat World - Goodbye Sky Harbor/Anderson Mesa
The Wrens - tonnes of New Jersey references
Get Up Kids - Campfire Kansas
Every Hold Steady song ever
Loads of Weakerthans songs, especially One Great City
etc.


come to think of it:

most rap is very referential to the hood


elliott smith

yo la tengo


JoFo live:

This next one's about our home town Birmingham and how rubbish it is...

This song is about the place we grew up, Birmingham, we didn't much like it...

Yeah, so this song is about this city.........

You get the point.


Atmosphere

'Always Coming Back Home To You'


Elbow

do in Asleep in the back and in Leaders of the Free World, don't they?
eg. Station Approach


Elbow

do in Asleep in the back and in Leaders of the Free World, don't they?
eg. Station Approach


The Beatles

did it quite a lot.

Morrissey/The Smiths.

Richard Hawley is rarely not talking about Sheffield.


Six by Seven

100 and something foxhall road, slab square, peveril hotel.......


It's a myth The Beatles did it alot

there are about 3 references in about 180 songs. Penny Lane & Strawberry Fields are the only songs that make explicit references and In My Life implies.

The truth is they left Liverpool at the first opportunity and never went back.


I think that qualifies

as quite a lot in the grand scheme of stuff you could have referred to in a song. There's Maggie May off Let It Be as well.


Of course

I just wanted to point out that although we consider The Beatles to be so strongly tied to Liverpool through there music, the references are fewer than you would think. Also Maggie May is a traditional song


Yeah

Plus, Ringo was an Arsenal fan, so fuck him.


Yes he was a bit of a twat on the Jonathan Ross show

Representing Liverpool as the City of Culture saying he does not miss the place at all.

Still my favorite drummer though


True

The shit he pulls on She Said She Said gives the lie to the common perception that he wan't any good. However, If I read another interview where he says;

a) We were just 4 guys who really loved each other

or

b) Well, the thing about touring was that we couldn't hear ourselves play, so we weren't getting any better as musicians

or

c) Pepper was a great album, but I did learn to play chess on it

I will stick a fork in my eye.


Most Stephin Merrit songs are about New York

... even the songs about other places (Come Back From San Francisco) are about leaving those place to go back to New York.


erm...

Jens Lekman - Do You Remember the Riots?
The Hidden Cameras - Mississauga Goddam
Patrick Wolf - London
The Smiths - Suffer Little Children


ryan adams/whiskeytown!

my hometown
onslow county
jacksonville skyline
the end

and probably loads more that i've forgotten.


then

Strokes - NYC Cops
Clash - London Calling
Smiths - Rusholme Ruffians
Doves - M62 Song, Black and White Town, Northenden

the funniest I've heard is a Broadcast song that goes "Michael! Wake up, time to go back to Chelmsley Wood!" Don't know why but it always makes me laugh...


gotta lose your mind...

...in DETRIOT ROCK CITY!

that's assuming Kiss actually are from detriot, i have no idea.

I resent johnny foreigner saying that about birmingham. it's wicked.


Disappointingly...

I'm From Barcelona, who sing "We're From Barcelona", aren't from Barcelona. *head explodes*

How about 'Morden' by Good Shoes?


LCD Soundsystem

New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down.


quite a few

london - patrick wolf
latchmere - maccabbees
london town - laura marling
london calling - the clash
london halflife - the metric
the ladies of london town - frank turner
the guns of brixton - the clash
hymns to london - bishi
piazza, new york catcher - belle & sebastien
Girl from New York - Of Montreal
What New York Used to be - the Kills
New York City Cops - the strokes
leaving new york - REM
New York City - T-Rex


That's just songs with placenames in the title

unless there's something Stuart Murdoch isn't telling us.


Springsteen has loads

he's even got a song called My Hometown for christ sake


Isn't the entire enemy album about coventry?

and them moaning about having to work.