# Songs Inspired by Places...



## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*The title says it all...*









*Dougie MacLean - "Caledonia" *














*De Danann - "A Song for Ireland" *


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

"O Canada"

Pretty clever, eh? - :lol:


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*The Kinks - "Waterloo Sunset"*














*The Clash - "London Calling" *


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Jo Dee Messina - "Heads Carolina, Tails California" *


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Some of the best I can think of

Dorival Caymmi - Lenda do Abaeté





Lee Wiley - Manhattan (Richard Rodgers)





Willie Nelson - Moonlight in Vermont





(there's also Moonligh on Vermont written by Captain Beefheart, a VERY different song)

Sir Roland Hanna - Perugia





Hoagy Carmichael - Memphis in june





Van Morrison - Cyprus avenue (a street in Belfast)





Allan Holdsworth - Tokyo dream





Franco Battiato - I treni di Tozeur





Wendy Carlos - Poem for Bali

Freddie Redd - San Francisco Suite





Sathima Bea Benjamin - Africa




(and the Toto song too)


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

My seven top favourites:

Life on Mars? (David Bowie)
Baker Street (Gerry Rafferty)
San Jacinto - live (Peter Gabriel)
America (Simon and Garfunkel)
I can't see New York (Tori Amos)
China (Tori Amos)
Vienna (Ultravox)


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

A stab at an eclectic group:

The classic _Ferry Cross The Mersey_ - BTW, the middle section lyrics are really social commentary, snuck in a top 40 song:






_Karekare_, a serious surfer's spot outside of Auckland, NZ made famous by Crowded House:






Dream Academy's _Life In A Northern Town_. This song paints a picture of scenes of life in a northern town and someone leaving that town. And, if you think that's all there is to the story....you would be so wrong:






And a little _Statesboro Blues_ by the Allman Brothers to round out the set.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Zappa - Montana
John Denver - Rocky Mountain High
Gil Scott-Heron - New York City
Dr John - Going Back To New Orleans
Count Basie - April In Paris
Led Zeppelin - Going To California
Ray Charles - Georgia On My Mind


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Chuck Berry - "Back in the the USA" - *














*Linda Ronstadt with Chuck Berry and Keith Richards - "Back in the USA" - *














*The Beatles - "Back in the USSR" *














*The Beach Boys - "California Girls" *














*Katy Perry - "California Gurls"*


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Unnamed, or not specifically named places (though we know where they are):

Mountain: Theme From an Imaginary Western
Neil Young: Cortez the Killer
Al Stewart: The Year of the Cat
Cream: Tales of Brave Ulysses
Jefferson Starship: St. Charles

Places named, but that live, as sung, mostly in the imagination:

Led Zeppelin: Kashmir
Mother Love Bone: This is Shangrila, Stardog Champion
Cream: Those Were the Days

So many more. Often the best places exist most fully and completely in the imagination.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Orchestral Movements in the Dark - _Stanlow_ (1980). An eerie tribute to the oil refinery complex on the Wirral Peninsula near to where the duo were raised.

Traffic - _Berkshire Poppies_ (1967). Not long after their formation Traffic had moved from the Midlands to a remote cottage on the Berkshire Downs. Allegedly features the Small Faces on the raucous music hall-like chorus.

The Flying Burrito Brothers - _Colorado_ (1971). Lovely song from the self-titled third album, written by Rick Roberts (who had replaced Gram Parsons in 1970).

Pink Floyd - _Grantchester Meadows_ (1969). An acoustic song written by Roger Waters and named after the open land immediately south to his home town of Cambridge. The only track I actually enjoy from the _Ummagumma_ solo sides.

The Specials - _Ghost Town_ (1981). Brilliant depiction of urban decay and gang violence in inner-city Coventry.


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Small Faces - "Itchycoo Park"*














*Small Faces - "Up the Wooden Hills to Bedfordshire" *


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Genesis - "The Battle of Epping Forest"*


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*The Ultimate "Song Inspired By Places" - *


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*The Beatles - "Strawberry Fields Forever" *














*The Beatles - "Penny Lane"*


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*The Monkees - "Last Train to Clarksville" *














*The Monkees - "Pleasant Valley Sunday" *






"Pleasant Valley Sunday" is a song by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, most famous for the version recorded by the Monkees in 1967. Goffin's and King's inspiration for the name was a street named Pleasant Valley Way, in West Orange, New Jersey where they were living at the time. The road follows a valley through several communities among the Watchung Mountains. The lyrics were a social commentary on status symbols, creature comforts, life in suburbia and "keeping up with the Joneses".

"Keeping up with the (Davy) Joneses", eh?


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Alan Price - "England My England"*


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Billy Strayhorn - Chelsea bridge





Billy Strayhorn - Isfahan


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Pictures of a City - King Crimson
Islands - King Crimson
New York Dream's Suite - Happy the Man
Dunkirk - Camel
Malaga Virgin - Brand X
Earth Dance - Brand X
Spain - Return to Forever
Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy - Return to Forever
Dust Bowl - Camel
Tinsel Town Rebellion - Zappa
Milky Way - Weather Report
Gibraltar - Weather Report
Chocolate Kings - PFM (a somewhat derogatory phrase toward the USA)
Di Terra (of earth) - Banco


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Well, there's:

*New York, New York by Frank Sinatra* (originally from Scorsese's movie of the same name)

And then there's:

*New York, New York by Frank Sinatra* (and two other folks, from the film "On the Town")


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

On State Street that great street I just want to say
They do things that they don't do on Broadway
They have the time the time of their life
I saw a man who danced with his wife
In Chicago, Chicago, Chicago that's my hometown!


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Hate New York City
It's cold and it's damp
And all the people dressed like monkeys
Let's leave Chicago to the Eskimos
That town's a little bit too rugged
For you and me you bad girl

. . .

I love L.A. (we love it)
I love L.A. (we love it)
We love it


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Frank Sinatra - "My Kind of Town" *














*Frank Sinatra - "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" *


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Tony Bennett - "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"*


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Elvis Presley - "Blue Hawaii"*














*Elvis Presley - "Viva Las Vegas"*


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*The Rolling Stones - "Route 66"*


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Mott the Hoople - "All the Way From Memphis"*


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*The Pogues - "Fairy Tale of New York"*


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

In Los Ageless, the winter never comes
In Los Ageless, the mothers milk their young
But I can keep running
No, I can keep running
The Los Ageless hang out by the bar
Burn the pages of unwritten memoirs
But I can keep running
No, I can keep running
. . .

New York isn't New York
Without you, love
So far in a few blocks
To be so low
And if I call you from First Avenue
Where you're the only motherf****r in the city
Who can handle me
. . . 

Both from Masseducation by St. Vincent


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young - "Woodstock"*














*Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young - "Ohio"*














*Graham Nash - "Chicago"*


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Vera Lynn - "(There'll Be Blue Birds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover"*














*Vera Lynn- "There'll Always Be An England" *


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*UFO - "Lights Out (Lights Out in London)*


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Kate Bush - "Wuthering Heights"*


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Kate Smith - "God Bless America"*


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Ray Charles - "America the Beautiful"*


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Joni Mitchell - "Chelsea Morning" *


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Paul Simon - "Graceland" *


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

*Bob Dylan - "Highway 61 Revisited" *


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## Metairie Road (Apr 30, 2014)

First encountered this Bob Seeger song on the B-side of an Eddie and the Hot Rods single. So I'll go with Eddie's version.

Get Out Of Denver


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Scott Walker- Amsterdam


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Jacques Brel - Bruxelles.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

*JETHRO TULL* anyone?

*Beggar's Farm
Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square
Bungle in the Jungle
Far Alaska
*


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Billy Joel- Vienna (with lyrics)


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

*Oh, Atlanta - Little Feat.*






*Statesboro Blues - The Allman Brothers Band.*


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Rogerx said:


> Billy Joel- Vienna (with lyrics)


I just accompanied one of the high school kids at the year end Choir Concert who sang this. She nailed it.

A lot of Billy Joel's stuff is far more sophisticated musically than it sounds (Except for Piano Man), and sometimes a challenge to play.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

View attachment 159549


Americana by Ray Davis


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## Jay (Jul 21, 2014)

Revolutionary Ensemble- Vietnam
Max Roach - Tears For Johannesburg
The Move - Chinatown
Cressida - Munich
Affinity - Coconut Grove
Marty Robbins - El Paso


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

"That's How I Got to Memphis" - *Tom T. Hall*






"Greenville" - *Lucinda Williams*


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Dean Martin - Houston


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Tom Waits- Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis (Studio Version)


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Morrissey - I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Hildegard Knef - Berlin, dein Gesicht hat Sommersprossen (1963)


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Vera Lynn -The White cliffs of Dover


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Memphis Skyline · Rufus Wainwright


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Angkor Wat
Yes 
1991


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Dave Nachmanoff - Descartes in Amsterdam (Official Video)


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Rogerx said:


> Billy Joel- Vienna (with lyrics)


*Ultravox - Vienna*


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

From their 2003 album "The Music That Died Alone", prog band, The Tangent, do a nice tribute to the Canterbury sound (National Health, Hatfield and the North, Caravan, etc), with "The Canterbury Sequence".

In 3 short parts:

Cantermemorabilia
Chaos at the Greasy Spoon
Captain Manning's Mandolin


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

*Penny Lane
The Beatles*


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Mitch Miller - The Yellow Rose of Texas


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Someday I'll Move to *Mars* - Klaatu


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Lot's of good posts!

But, the best album at reflecting the feeling a place/city comes to us from an unlikely source, Lang Lang.










Lang Lang put together a program as good as any piece of art I have ever consumed. 
Totally masterful. 
If anyone wants to fully experience NYC in art, this albums allows for such.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Do imaginary places count?

Fusion band extraordinaire, wrote a song with about a made up planet.

Brand X - Algon (Where and an Ordinary Cup of Drinking Chocolate Costs £8,000,000,000)


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Mumford & Sons - Holland Road


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

*Atlantis
Donovan*


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

Tom Verlaine-Stalingrad

possibly about more than just 'place'......(fascism, propaganda etc) but an apparently remarkably 'upbeat little number' considering the geographical location involved!

Verlaine also-Postcard from Waterloo.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

My Home Town - Tom Lehrer






*MY HOME TOWN*

I really have a yen
To go back once again
Back to the place where no one wears a frown
To see once more those super-special just plain folks
In my home town

No fellow could ignore
The little girl next door
She sure looked sweet in her first evening gown
Now there's a charge for what she used to give for free
In my home town

I remember Dan
The druggist on the corner,
He was never mean or ornery
He was swell
He killed his mother-in-law and ground her up real well
And sprinkled just a bit
Over each banana split

The guy that taught us math
Who never took a bath
Acquired a certain measure of renown
And after school he sold the most amazing pictures
In my home town

That fellow was no fool
Who taught our Sunday School
And neither was our kindly Parson Brown
We're recording tonight so I have to leave this line out
In my home town

I remember Sam
He was the village idiot
And though it seems a pity, it was so
He loved to burn down houses just to watch the glow
And nothing could be done
Because he was the mayor's son

The guy that took a knife
And monogrammed his wife
Then dropped her in the pond and watched her drown
Oh, yes indeed, the people there are just plain folks
In my home town


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Toto - Africa (Official HD Video)


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

*Wonderful Copenhagen
Danny Kaye and the cast of Hans Christian Andersen*


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Beautiful song from a stunning album. Cypress Avenue is a middle class street in East Belfast not far from the more working-class district in which Sir Ivan grew up.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Jacques Dutronc - Il Est Cinq Heures Paris S'eveille (HD)
( At 05.00am Paris awakes)


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Lyrics

Franklin, Kansas .


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

The News from Spain · Al Stewart


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## Metairie Road (Apr 30, 2014)

Just drove from San Antonio to Shreveport so I got to play some Texas songs.
I love driving across America.

Ernest Tubb - Waltz across Texas
Jimmie Dale Gillmore - Santa Fe thief
Marty Robbins - El Paso
George Strait - Amarillo by morning
Glen Campbell - Galveston
ZZ Top - La Grange
Bob Dylan - Brownsville Girl
Alan Jackson - Dallas


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

The Lovin' Spoonful - Nashville Cats (Audio)


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Mexico - Neil Young


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Max Bygraves - Tulips From Amsterdam


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Shawn Mullins - Talkin' Goin' To Alaska Blues


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Rogerx said:


> Max Bygraves - Tulips From Amsterdam


He does, indeed, have two lips, but I sincerely doubt that he's from Amsterdam.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

*Give Ireland Back To the Irish
Paul McCartney and Wings*


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## Metairie Road (Apr 30, 2014)

Great version of a great song.

I wish the quality was better. Damn video-tape.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

The Coffee Song (They've Got an Awful Lot of Coffee in Brazil .


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Johnny Wakelin - In Zaire (Full Song)


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Up The Wooden Hills To Bedfordshire - Small Faces


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Talkin' Goin To Alaska Blues

Shawn Mullins - 9th Ward Picking Parlor


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

Gil Scott Heron - Johannesburg
Leonard Cohen - Chelsea Hotel


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Bruce Springsteen - New York City Serenade (Rome 7/11/13)


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Tom Petty - Louisiana Rain


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Toni Braxton feat. Shaggy - Christmas in Jamaica


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Coldplay - Lovers In Japan is taken from the album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends released in 2008 (


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Tango cafetín de Buenos Aires por Roberto Goyeneche


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

The Associates - White Car In Germany


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Il pleut sur Bruxelles Dalida (Paroles)


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Harry Belafonte - Jamaica Farewell


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

Just as there have been many wonderful classical music tributes to America's landscape (Knoxville: Summer of 1915 by Barber, Appalachian Spring by Copland, Florida Suite by Delius, Grand Canyon Suite by Grofe, Three Places in New England by Ives, New England Triptych by William Schuman, and Hymn to New England by John Williams); so too have there been great popular songs that celebrate America's natural beauty. Among my favorites are:

Roll On Mississippi (Charlie Pride)
Georgia On My Mind (Ray Charles)
Midnight Train to Georgia (Gladys Knight & the Pips)
Blue Bayou (Linda Ronstadt)
City of New Orleans (Arlo Guthrie)
Houston (Dean Martin)
Viva Las Vegas (Elvis Presley)
Blue Hawaii (Elvis Presley)
Kentucky Rain (Elvis Presley)
I Left My Heart in San Francisco (Tony Bennett)
Seattle (Perry Como)
Chicago; Toddlin' Town (Frank Sinatra)
Chicago; My Kind of Town (Frank Sinatra)
New York, New York (Frank Sinatra)
New York State of Mind (Billy Joel)
Massachusetts (The Bee Gees) 
America (Neil Diamond)


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Radio Baghdad · Patti Smith


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Do You Come From the Land Down Under?
Men At Work


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

From a Closet in Norway (Oslo Blues) · You+Me


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Lou Sern - Swiss Boy


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Les Humphries Singers - Mexico


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

The Beautiful South - Rotterdam


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

The Newcastle song~Bob Hudson


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

John Paul Young - Spain


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Emmylou Harris - Boulder to Birmingham


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

As I Sit Down To Play the Organ At The Notre Dam Cathedral · Sparks


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