#746 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Friday September 8)
Good morning,
Happy birthday, Jake! His birthday is not until Sunday but I no longer publish Musings on weekends. So I’m a couple of days early!
After noting in an earlier Musing songs about cities, such as “Viva Las Vegas,” “Last Train to Clarksville” and (among my favorites) “El Paso,” there have been a good deal of response to this theme. Here are a few randomly selected and randomly categorized, with help from Greg Hickey and Mark DiMaria. Enjoy!:
TEXAS
Galveston, Glen Campbell
Streets of Laredo, Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash and many others
CALIFORNIA
Do You Know the Way to San Jose, David Bacharach, Hal David and Dionne Warwick
San Francisco, Scott McKenzie
I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Tony Bennett
Hollywood Nights, Bob Seger
I Love LA, Randy Newman
Los Angeles, by Xi
Save Me San Francisco, by Train
ALL THOSE OTHER PLACES IN THE U.S.
Kansas City, Fats Domino
Chicago, Frank Sinatra
Okie From Muskogee, Merle Haggard
Rocky Mountain High, John Denver (okay, so it’s really about a state and not a city)
Midnight Train to Georgia, Gladys Knight and the Pips
Please Come to Boston, Dave Loggins
Jackson, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash
Cleveland Rocks, The Presidents of the United States
NON-U.S.
Marrakesh Express, Crosby, Stills, and Nash
Katmandu, Bob Seger
Vienna, Billy Joel
One Night in Bangkok, Murray Head
Free Man in Paris, Joni Mitchell
Havana, Camila Cabello (with this outrageously great video: https://www.musicgrotto.com/songs-about-cities/
POETRY FOR THE WEEKEND
Boats Sail on the Rivers
By Christina Rossetti
Boats sail on the rivers,
And ships sail on the seas;
But clouds that sail across the sky
Are prettier far than these.
There are bridges on the rivers,
As pretty as you please;
But the bow that bridges heaven,
And overtops the trees,
And builds a road from earth to sky,
Is prettier far than these.
[Traveler, Your Footprints]
By Antonio Machado
Traveler, your footprints
are the only road, nothing else.
Traveler, there is no road;
you make your own path as you walk.
As you walk, you make your own road,
and when you look back
you see the path
you will never travel again.
Traveler, there is no road;
only a ship’s wake on the sea.
Have a great day,
Glenn