Monday, June 30, 2008

Eric's List of Geography Songs:
Natural Features, Islands & Points of Interest

26 Miles (Santa Catalina) - Four Preps
A Walk in the Black Forest - Horst Jankowski
Across the Great Divide - The Band
Bali Ha'I - South Pacific
Banks of the Ohio - Doc Watson
Banks of the Old Bandera - Jerry Jeff Walker
Back Mountain Rag - Doc Watson
Bay of Fundy - Cache Valley Drifters
Bitter Creek - The Eagles
Blue Ridge Mountain Sky - Marshall Tucker Band
Blue River - Eric Anderson
Blueberry Hill - Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino
Botany Bay
Boulevard - Jackson Browne
Bright Side of the Road - Van Morrison
Burn On - Randy Newman (about the Cuyahoga River)
Canteloupe Island - Puncho and the Latin Soul Brothers
Cuyahoga - REM
Chattahoochee - Alan Jackson
Christmas Island - Leon Redbone
Christmas Island - Jimmy Buffet
Cripple Creek - Buffy Sainte Marie
Crippled Creek Ferry - Neil Young
Cumberland Mountain Number Nine - Charlie Daniels Band
Dark End of the Street - Linda Ronstadt, The Commitments
Dirty Water (about the Charles River) - Standells
Dog River Blues - Alan Jackson
Down on the Rio Grande - Johnny Rodriguez
Echo Beach - Martha & the Muffins
Erie Canal - The Weavers
Ferry 'cross the Mersey - Gerry & the Pacemakers
Fire Lake - Bob Seger
Fog on the Tyne - Lindisfarne
Galveston Bay - Bruce Springsteen
Green River - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Indian Lake - The Cowsills
Island of Love (about Hawaii) - Elvis Presley
Itchycoo Park - Small Faces
Kern River - Merle Haggard
Last Train from Poor Valley - Norman Blake

"I am a rock, I am an island"

Let's Go to Tahiti - J. J.Cale
Loch Lomond - Benny Goodman
MacArthur Park - Richard Harris, Donna Summer
Man on the Silver Mountain - Rainbow
Miss the Mississippi and You - Doc Watson
Mission Beach - Kate Schrock
Mississippi Mud - Al Hirt
Montego Bay - Bobby Bloom
Moon River - Andy Williams
Moonlight on the Ganges - Frank Sinatra
My Kind of Day on Padre - Gary P. Nunn
My Little Town - Simon & Garfunkel
On the Banks of the Old Ponchartrain - Hank Williams
Orinoco Flow (Sail Away) - Enya
Ozark Mountain Jubilee - Oak Ridge Boys
Palisades Park - Freddy Cannon
Pleasant Valley Sunday - Monkees
Proud Mary - Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ike & Tina Turner
Red River - Guy Clark
Red River Rock - Johnny & the Hurricanes
Red River Valley
Rio Grande - Brian Wilson
River of Jordan - Ricky Scaggs
Rockaway Beach - The Ramones
Rocky Mountain Music - Eddie Rabbitt
Roll on Columbia - Woody Guthrie
Russian River Song - Cache Valley Drifters
Salisbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
Salt River - Norman Blake
Serengeti - World Beat
Seven Island Suite - Gordon Lightfoot
Singing Sands of Alamosa, The
Smoky Mountain Memories - Mel Street
Smoky Mountain Rain - Ronnie Milsap
Snake Mountain Blues - Townes van Zandt
Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
Sourwood Mountain - Allen Shelton
South Sea Song - Charlie Daniels Band
Strawberry Fields Forever - Beatles
Sugar Mountain - Neil Young
Sutter's Mill - Dan Fogelberg
Swamp River Days - John Fogerty
Tecumseh Valley - Bobby Bare
The Town Where You Live - Mel Street
Thunder Island - Jay Fergusen
(Sittin' On) The Dock of The Bay - Otis Redding
The Legend of Wooley Swamp - Charlie Daniels Band
The Painted Desert - 10,000 Maniacs
Thunder Island - Jay Ferguson
Up on Cripple Creek - The Band
Valley Girl - Frank Zappa
Voodoo Lake - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Way Down Upon the Swanee River - Stephen Foster
We Built This City - Starship
Where the Streets Have No Name - U2
Whiskey River - Willie Nelson
Widow's Creek - Norman Blake
Wolverton Mountain - Hank Williams Jr.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Eric! I'm in the process of finding a "hook" to get my Grade 3 kiddos interested in the idea of geographical features. I think your songlist might be the way to do it! I'm going to find mp3 versions of some of the songs on the list and get my kids to listen and do some art. That'll get 'em hooked!
Thanks for this list!

Anonymous said...

How about "This Land is Your Land?"

Anonymous said...

How about "The Rock," from Quadrophenia (the title refers to the geographical kind of rock, not the kind of rock you can pick up and throw at people).

Anonymous said...

gosh-i think of a title, and its on your list. Enjoy this-thanks.

don't know if the traditional "oh Shanandoah" fits this list or not. Many have covered it-Dylan, Jerry Garcia...
Don

Anonymous said...

I believe Claude King sang Wolverton Mountain

skinnywhiteboy said...

Right (deep breath), John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats (great band, check them out) produced a load of songs about going to places. Here's the full list - bumps your up by quite a bit!

•Alpha Double Negative: Going to Catalina
•Flight 717: Going to Denmark
•Going to Alaska
•Going to Bangor
•Going to Bogota
•Going to Bolivia
•Going to Bridlington
•Going to Bristol
•Going to Buffalo
•Going to Chino
•Going to Cleveland
•Going to Dade County
•Going to East Rutherford
•Going to France
•Going to Georgia
•Going to Hungary
•Going to Jamaica
•Going to Japan
•Going to Kansas
•Going to Kirby Sigston
•Going to Lebanon
•Going to Lubbock
•Going to Maine
•Going to Malibu
•Going to Marrakesh
•Going to Maryland
•Going to Mexico
•Going to Michigan
•Going to Monaco
•Going to Morocco
•Going to Norwalk
•Going to Palestine
•Going to Pomona (Or: Going Through Pomona)
•Going to Port Washington
•Going to Queens
•Going to Reykjavik
•Going to San Diego
•Going to Santiago
•Going to Scotland
•Going to Some Damned English City
•Going to Spain
•Going to Spirit Lake
•Going to Tennessee
•Going to Utrecht
•Going to Wisconsin

I especially like the Going to some damned English city (I live in an English city called Brighton).

Cheers,
skinny

http://skinnywhiteboy.blog.com

Steve said...

A few more:

Blame it on the Tetons - Modest Mouse
Blue Canadian Rockies - The Byrds (originally by Gene Autry)
Brecon Beacons - Supergrass
Rock of Gibraltar - Nick Cave

jt1120 said...

How can you list Last Train from Poor Valley by Norman Blake and forget about Last Train to Clarksville by the Monkees? I would think it would be a more obvious choice.

Eric Riback said...

Of course I have that, but Clarksville is a town so it's on the Cities & Towns list.