Looking for songs describing mappable journeys

August 8, 2008 3:13 AM

I am looking for songs that describe a mappable journey (ideally together with the map). For example here is a map of the destinations mentioned in "Route 66" and here is the wild journey described at the end of Tom Waits' "Don't Go into that Barn!".
posted by rongorongo to media & arts (20 comments total)

Terra Naomi's "Vicodin Song"?

Lyrics:

You can drive, you can drive, you can drive
Down the 405
To the 101 to my house
And these highways are in so many songs
I couldn't count them all
I tried
So much sad history described in a ride
And when I told you I was happy I lied
I lied, I lied, I lied...

Routes 405 and 101 in California are near her house... in Los Angeles. See routes here:
I know it's a long drive from Malibu.
posted by potatopeople at 4:28 AM on August 8

Lucinda Williams, "Jackson."

"All the way to Jackson
I don't think I'll miss you much
All the way to Jackson
I don't think I'll miss you much
Once I get to Lafayette
I'm not gonna mind one bit
Once I get to Lafayette
I'm not gonna mind one little bit
Once I get to Baton Rouge
I won't cry a tear for you..."
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:29 AM on August 8

"I've Been Everywhere," natch.
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:37 AM on August 8

Chuck Berry, "Promised Land"

Left my home in Norfolk Virginia,
California on my mind.
I traddled that Greyhound, rode him past Raleigh,
On across Caroline.

Stopped in Charlotte and bypassed Rock Hill,
And we never was a minute late.
We was ninety miles out of Atlanta by sundown,
Rollin' 'cross the Georgia state.

We had motor trouble it turned into a struggle,
Half way 'cross Alabam,
And that 'hound broke down and left us all stranded
In downtown Birmingham.

Right away, I bought me a through train ticket,
Ridin' cross Mississippi clean
And I was on that midnight flyer out of Birmingham
Smoking into New Orleans.

Somebody help me get out of Louisiana
Just help me get to Houston town.
There are people there who care a little 'bout me
And they won't let the poor boy down.

Sure as you're born, they bought me a silk suit,
Put luggage in my hands,
And I woke up high over Albuquerque
On a jet to the promised land.

Workin' on a T-bone steak a la carte
Flying over to the Golden State;
When the pilot told us in thirteen minutes
he would set us at the terminal gate.

Swing low sweet chariot, come down easy
Taxi to the terminal zone;
Cut your engines and cool your wings,
And let me make it to the telephone.

Los Angeles give me Norfolk Virginia,
Tidewater four ten O nine
Tell the folks back home this is the promised land callin'
And the poor boy's on the line.
posted by wabbittwax at 5:14 AM on August 8

*that should be I *Straddled" that Greyhound... not traddled. dagnabbit.
posted by wabbittwax at 5:15 AM on August 8

Gallio Del Cielo, which I've heard performed by Joe Ely, but which was apparently written by Tom Russell.
posted by jon1270 at 5:17 AM on August 8

Chattanooga Choo-Choo lists places the train passes through.
posted by cadge at 6:52 AM on August 8

Chattanooga Choo-Choo
posted by Pallas Athena at 6:52 AM on August 8

goddammit cadge! :P
posted by Pallas Athena at 6:53 AM on August 8

The entire Tori Amos album Scarlet's Walk is about a journey across America that mentions specific destinations. I believe if you purchase the special edition CD it comes with a map of the United States that tracks where each of the songs takes place.
posted by Palmcorder Yajna at 7:16 AM on August 8

The Wreck of Old 97

Some (but not all!) versions of The Ballad of Casey Jones are more or less accurate

Probably a number of railroad songs are mappable in some sense.
posted by dhartung at 7:16 AM on August 8

Willin' by Little Feat:
Tucson to Tucumcari, Tehachapi to Tonopah.
wabbitwax -- Thanks! I'd never seen the lyrics to Promised Land written out, and I was mis-hearing a lot of it.
posted by Killick at 8:01 AM on August 8

Not necessarily a single song, but interesting and partially relevant to the question:

The Hold Steady guide to the Twin Cities, pinpointing lots of the Minneapolis/St. Paul locales Craig Finn mentions in Hold Steady songs.
posted by anthom at 8:17 AM on August 8 [1 favorite]

Check out the Mountain Goat's "Going To..." series.
posted by grateful at 8:21 AM on August 8

Bruce Springsteen, "Nebraska:"

I saw her standin on her front lawn just twirlin her baton
Me and her went for a ride sir and ten innocent people died

From the town of Lincoln, Nebraska with a sawed-off .410 on my lap
Through to the badlands of Wyoming I killed everything in my path
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:39 AM on August 8

Check out the Mountain Goat's "Going To..." series.

Also check out See America Right by The Mountain Goats.

And America by Simon and Garfunkel.
posted by ludwig_van at 8:43 AM on August 8

The Rheostatics, We Went West
posted by arto at 8:53 AM on August 8

Billy Bragg's A13, Trunk Road to the Sea is a takeoff of "Route 66."
posted by scody at 9:09 AM on August 8

Hopefully this is a map of the route in Sir Mix-a-Lot's "My Posse's on Broadway".

Also, "City of New Orleans" follows the route of the City of New Orleans.
posted by five toed sloth at 9:34 AM on August 8

Big River
posted by Knappster at 9:59 AM on August 8