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Songs About Places

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Placesongs

The aim of this page is to list songs played by Peel about real places, named in the titles, (including planets, continents, countries, regions, towns, villages and name of institutions).

List excludes:
- Songs relating to London or Liverpool, listed separately on Liverpool (city) and London pages (eg, 'Penny Lane' by the Beatles);
- Name of fictitious places (eg, "The Legend Of Xanadu" by the Fall);
- Name of institutions or natural locations without their given names (eg, "Roses In The Hospital" by the Manic Street Preachers and 'The River' by Bruce Springsteen);
- Name of nationalities (eg, "Body Of An American" by The Pogues);
- Name of our biggest star in the solar system (eg, "Here Comes The Sun" by The Beatles) (too many mentions);
- Name of Earth's natural satellite (eg, "Walking On The Moon" by The Police) (too many mentions);
- Name of those that are not related to places but have the same names (eg, "Aikea-Guinea" by the Cocteau Twins and "Voodoo Chile" by Jimi Hendrix);
- Name of places in the lyrics but not the title (eg, ‘Pop Muzik’ by M which nameschecks a list of places and others);
- Recordings of places, not songs about them (eg, Shrewsbury Pumping Station.)

Plays[]

(If name only given in part in title, please add further details as reference note.)

Performing Artist | Song | First Known Play

A[]

B[]

The_Barmy_Army-_England_2_Yugoslavia_0

The Barmy Army- England 2 Yugoslavia 0

C[]

D[]

California_Uber_Alles

California Uber Alles

- Dead Kennedys

E[]

F[]

G[]

H[]

I[]

J[]

K[]

L[]

M[]

N[]

O[]

P[]

Q[]

R[]

S[]

Anarchy_In_The_UK

Anarchy In The UK

T[]

U[]

V[]

W[]

X[]

Y[]

Z[]

0-9[]

See Also[]

References[]

  1. ↑ NYC = New York City.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Suburb of Berlin, Germany. The song refers to Spandau Prison, where seven top Nazi leaders convicted in the Nuremberg trials were held after WW II.
  3. ↑ Welsh for Wales Hotel.
  4. ↑ Welsh for Somewhere In Moscow.
  5. ↑ Refers to Newcastle club of the 1960s[1]
  6. ↑ German word for Germany.
  7. ↑ Heliopolis was a major city of ancient Egypt. It was the capital of the 13th or Heliopolite Nome of Lower Egypt and a major religious centre.
  8. ↑ The song was named after a street in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles where George Harrison stayed in August 1967, shortly before visiting the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.
  9. ↑ Booterstown is a coastal suburb of the city of Dublin in Ireland.
  10. ↑ Setting of poem by Rudyard Kipling. Refers to Brookland, a village in Kent in the middle of Romney Marsh.[2]
  11. ↑ Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece.
  12. ↑ Hastings Street was the center of Black culture in Detroit between the 1920s and 1950s...the street was the home of innumerable salons and entertainment venues[3].
  13. ↑ "Semi-autobiographical" John D. Loudermilk song, set in his home town, Durham, North Carolina. "Tobacco Road in fact was Marvin's Alley, a street in East Durham that's now called Morven Place. In the 1950s, the alley was a crime haven, dominated by prostitution and gambling."[4]
  14. ↑ Redpoint is a little village on the west of the Scottish mainland.[5]
  15. ↑ Small, seasonal lake located on Tenaya Creek in the Yosemite National Park.
  16. ↑ Alternative spelling of Warsaw, capital of Poland.
  17. ↑ Alternative name for Western Wall in Jerusalem.[6]
  18. ↑ Monterey is a city on California’s rugged central coast. It staged a famous pop festival in 1967, the topic of this song.
  19. ↑ The “Whiskey” in the title refers to the Whiskey A Go-Go, a night club on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.[7]
  20. ↑ Tupelo, Mississippi is the birthplace of Elvis Presley.
  21. ↑ Instrumental composed by Tom Rush, inspired by town in Massachusetts. Also name of Tom Rush's official website.[8]
  22. ↑ A tune collected in Winster, Derbyshire by Cecil Sharp in 1911.[9]
  23. ↑ Located nr. Oban, Scotland
  24. ↑ "The Lowlands could refer to a number of seafaring regions, including Holland, the Caribbean Lowlands or perhaps the ‘Virginia Lowlands’ made famous in other well-loved folk songs...."[10]
  25. ↑ Jazz composer Mike Gibbs' tribute to the Tanglewood, Massachusetts music festival, which has been running since 1934[11].
  26. ↑ Sodom and Gomorrah (note correct spelling) were biblical cities destroyed for their wickedness.[12]
  27. ↑ Jullandar is an alternate spelling of Jalandhar. A city in the state of Punjab in India.
  28. ↑ Club in New York City.
  29. ↑ A street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a significant location in the history of blues music.
  30. ↑ Presumably refers to women's correctional facility Fort Augusta (note spelling), on an isthmus near Kingston, Jamaica.[13]
  31. ↑ Hlanganani, Limpopo - an amalgamation of various large villages which are situated in the north western portion of the former Tsonga homeland of Gazankulu, South Africa
  32. ↑ The band have stated that 'Rio' is actually a metaphor for America, rather than a direct reference to the Brazilian city. (see songfacts.com)
  33. ↑ Assumed to refer to either 4th Street in Greenwich Village, New York City, or 4th Street S.E. on the campus of University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, where Dylan was a student.[14]
  34. ↑ The Sunflower River (also known as the Big Sunflower River) is one of the main tributaries of the Yazoo River in the U.S. state of Mississippi.
  35. ↑ From the album liner notes: "The "Lewisdale Blues" refers of course to that part of Prince George's County, known as "Lewisdale," where (Nancy) McLean lived with her mother and sister (father deceased) at the time. At least minor flirtation occurred between Fahey and McLean, which may explain some of their musical empathy..."[15].
  36. ↑ The Pawtuxet River, also known as the Pawtuxet River Main Stem and the Lower Pawtuxet, is a river in the U.S. state of Rhode Island.[16]
  37. ↑ ""Nottamun Town", also known under other titles such as "Nottingham Fair" and "Fair Nottamon Town" is an American folk song...".[17]
  38. ↑ Greek football club based in Sparta, Laconia, Greece.
  39. ↑ Shandon is a district on the north-side of Cork, Ireland, city from which the band hail.
  40. ↑ Describes the Battle at the Haughs o’ Cromdale, near Grantown-on-Spey, Morayshire, on 30 April and 1 May 1690.[18]
  41. ↑ The Battle of Sheriffmuir was an engagement in 1715 at the height of the Jacobite rising of 1715 in England and Scotland. The battlefield has been included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009.[19]
  42. ↑ A traditional Scottish folk song of the seventeenth century, telling the tale of the raid by Archibald Campbell]], Earl of Argyll, on Airlie Castle, the home of James Ogilvy, Earl of Airlie, in the summer of 1640.
  43. ↑ German spelling for Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia.
  44. ↑ The Odenwald is a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. It was also the name of a progressive boarding school which closed in 2015 after revelations of sexual abuse[20]
  45. ↑ Originally written for the soundtrack of a Yippie movie about Chicago police riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention)
  46. ↑ "A song from “the verdant plains o’ Buchan”.....Bethelnie lies north west of Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire."
  47. ↑ Salmacis was the name of a fountain or spring located in modern-day Bodrum, Turkey.
  48. ↑ Address of a theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, where black vaudeville singers performed in the 1920s and '30s.
  49. ↑ "NYC" = New York City.
  50. ↑ Ipanema is a neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  51. ↑ Eureka Springs is a city in Carroll County, Arkansas, United States. It is a tourist destination for its unique character as a Victorian resort, which first attracted visitors to use its then believed healing springs[21]
  52. ↑ Cover of Bruce Springsteen song that apparently refers to 10th Avenue, Belmar, New Jersey, which intersects with E Street (the name of Springsteen's band).[22]
  53. ↑ Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States.
  54. ↑ Olympia, the capital of Washington state.
  55. ↑ Refers to tunnel under Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey.[23]
  56. ↑ Translated from Estonian as 'Streets Of Tbilisi'.
  57. ↑ "The events occurred during the 1885 stoppage in the North West Durham coalfield when striking miners could be evicted from their mine-owned houses..."[24]
  58. ↑ Unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, now Zimbabwe.
  59. ↑ Also recorded by Martin Carthy, who wrote: "Rufford Park is not far from Mansfield, and in 1850 there was a showdown between local people and gamekeepers in the shape of a vicious and bitter fight, after which ringleaders were selected, tried and transported for up to 14 years...."[25]
  60. ↑ "The song is very likely based on a real incident and is said to be from around 1800 in the Enniskillen area...."[26]
  61. ↑ Isle of France (i.e. Mauritius) is a ballad about a convict being shipwrecked on the way back home from his transportation sentence[27]
  62. ↑ "There is a Fordie in Perthshire, between Comrie and Crieff, although it’s unlikely that’s the location of the ballad, not least since it’s often found as The Bonnie Banks o Airdrie,..."[28]
  63. ↑ A "story of an evening of misfortune en route to Windsor town for one young sailor..."[29]
  64. ↑ Title references Spanish Town, Jamaica.[30]
  65. ↑ References New York City landmark known for its famous guests, also subject of song by Leonard Cohen.
  66. ↑ Deep Ellum is a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, composed largely of arts and entertainment venues near downtown in East Dallas. Its name is based on a corruption of the area's principal thoroughfare, Elm Street.[31]. Peel mentions visiting the district in Margrave Of The Marshes. In November 1988, he also played a version of 'Deep Elem Blues' by Bill Black's Combo.
  67. ↑ Tells of a trip to Frankenstein Castle, near Darmstadt, Germany.[32]
  68. ↑ About a visit to the Boathouse at Laugharne in south Wales, where Dylan Thomas spent the final four years of his life[33]
  69. ↑ Subsequently also played as an album track.
  70. ↑ Stalag 274 was the designation for a German prisoner of war (POW) camp during World War II.[34]
  71. ↑ Refers to the prison in Joliet, Illinois
  72. ↑ Title refers to the town of Statesboro, Georgia.[35] As well as McTell's original, Peel also played Cover Versions by Allman Brothers Band, Taj Mahal, Velvet Opera, Youngbloods.
  73. ↑ Portuguese word for Mozambique.
  74. ↑ Trenchtown is an area of Kingston, Jamaica.[36]
  75. ↑ Peel's own home called Peel Acres, which was originally named 'Nan True's Hole'.
  76. ↑ "L&N" refers to the Louisiana and Nashville Railroad[37]
  77. ↑ "Spancil Hill is located in Muckinish townland, parish of Clooney, Bunratty Upper barony, County Clare, Ireland, just outside Ennis on the road to Tulla...."[38]
  78. ↑ Ballyhaunis is a town in County Mayo, Ireland.
  79. ↑ "White Lake"- Weißensee is a town in Carinthia, Austria, and also a borough of Pankow, Berlin.
  80. ↑ The Karelia Suite is a subset of pieces from the longer Karelia Music (named after the Finnish region of Karelia) written by Jean Sibelius in 1893
  81. ↑ From jazz pianist Oscar Peterson's Canadiana Suite[39]
  82. ↑ Named after one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the tune's composer Sonny Rollins's mother was born[40]
  83. ↑ Correct spelling, Orléans, city in north-central France, spiritual home of Joan of Arc "Pucelle d'Orléans".
  84. ↑ "FDR in Trinidad" (also known as "Roosevelt in Trinidad") is a calypso song written by Fritz McLean and popularized by Atilla the Hun (Raymond Quevedo) to commemorate U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1936 trip to Trinidad.[41]
  85. ↑ Saginaw is a city in and the seat of Saginaw County, Michigan, United States.
  86. ↑ Alamein Railway Line, Melbourne, Australia.
  87. ↑ The title refers to a specific type of kopanitsa dance style that is associated with the village of Dimovo, located in the northwest region of Bulgaria, near the border with Serbia.
  88. ↑ The Cimarron is a river that flows through much of Oklahoma. Rose Elizabeth Dunn (September 5, 1878 – June 11, 1955) also known as Rose of Cimarron and later Rose of the Cimarron, was best known for her good looks and for her romantic involvement with outlaw George "Bittercreek" Newcomb when she was a teenager during the closing years of the Old West. [42]
  89. ↑ A pun on the German name for the city of Munich.
  90. ↑ Olympus Mons (Latin for Mount Olympus) is a shield volcano on Mars. It is over 21.9 km (13.6 mi or 72,000 ft) high as measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA),and is about two and a half times Mount Everest's height above sea level. It is Mars's tallest volcano, its tallest planetary mountain, and is approximately tied with Rheasilvia on Vesta as the tallest mountain currently discovered in the Solar System.
  91. ↑ John Hartford song[43] about decline of Linebaugh's, "a popular restaurant among those in the Nashville music community"[44]
  92. ↑ Clare is the seventh largest of Ireland's 32 traditional counties in area and the 19th largest in terms of population.
  93. ↑ Refers to Orange Street, Kingston, Jamaica, once centre of the city's music.[45]
  94. ↑ Easington is a village in County Durham.[46]
  95. ↑ Burtonwood is a village in the civil parish of Burtonwood and Westbrook, in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England.
  96. ↑ The 1973 All African games took place in Lagos, Nigeria.
  97. ↑ Town in Germany and location of a German military cemetery, visited by Ronald Reagan in 1985. See Bitburg controversy (Wikipedia).
  98. ↑ Located in New Jersey.[47]
  99. ↑ The title refers to the Westport, Connecticut address where the band stayed while recording the album which included this track.
  100. ↑ ‘In 1830, a railroad was built to connect New Orleans to the lakefront at Milneburg....From the 1830's to the 1930's, Milneburg was a popular place for dances and parties every weekend during New Orleans' long hot summers....'[48]
  101. ↑ The Valley of Josaphat (variants: Valley of Jehoshaphat and Valley of Yehoshephat) is a Biblical place mentioned by name in the Book of Joel (Joel 3:2 and 3:12): "I will gather together all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Josaphat."[49]
  102. ↑ Refers to a cafe at 149 Bleecker St., New York City, the setting for this Joni Mitchell song[50]
  103. ↑ County in New Hampshire, U.S.A.[51]
  104. ↑ Bologna, city in N. Italy, strategic location for the Italian Communist Party, and Antonio Gramsci, whose political writings were entitled Scritti politici.
  105. ↑ 105.0 105.1 The Cumberland Gap is a pass in the eastern United States through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains and near the tripoint of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee.
  106. ↑ The song refers to the infamous youth prison, located near the eponymous town in the Medway area of Kent. (NB exact date of first play uncertain)
  107. ↑ A Bloodstone cover of the 1930s musical song may have been played by Peel on 23 July 1976.
  108. ↑ Appian Way, the first and most famous of the ancient Roman roads, running from Rome to Campania and southern Italy.[52]
  109. ↑ Peel also played the Yes cover version in 1972, according to Radio Luxembourg Tracklistings 2.
  110. ↑ Bleecker Street is an east–west street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which was once a major center for American bohemia.[53]
  111. ↑ Track also known as just 'Filming Africa'
  112. ↑ The most famous Cripple Creek is Cripple Creek, Colorado, where a mining town was formed after gold was discovered there in 1891. However most traditional Virginia musicians believe that the song refers to Cripple Creek, Virginia.[54]
  113. ↑ Title refers to a park in Ilford, Essex, according to band members Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane[55]
  114. ↑ The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name "Jonestown", was a remote settlement in Guyana established by the Peoples Temple, an American cult under the leadership of Jim Jones. Jonestown became internationally infamous when, on November 18, 1978, a total of 918 people died at the settlement.[56]
  115. ↑ State Route 1 (SR 1) is a major north–south state highway that runs along most of the Pacific coastline of the U.S. state of California. At 656 miles (1,056 km), it is the longest state route in California, and the second-longest in the US after Montana Highway 200. SR 1 has several portions designated as either Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), Cabrillo Highway, Shoreline Highway, or Coast Highway.
  116. ↑ Refers to river in California.[57]
  117. ↑ Refers to Cairo, Illinois
  118. ↑ Located in Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia USA (details here)
  119. ↑ A wassail song from Gower in Wales[58].
  120. ↑ Refers to Clifton, a suburb of Bristol[59]
  121. ↑ The song deals with an eviction order from the address, prior to demolition of the building and the whole street.
  122. ↑ Swedish language translation of 'Sweden'.
  123. ↑ "The Overgate was a street in Dundee, the “Reeperbahn” target for ploughmen on the lookout for a good night on the tiles...."[60]
  124. ↑ According to TD leader Edgar Froese, the title of the 1975 album (and its side-long tracks) came from the Rubicon river marking the ancient boundary between Gaul and Italy, which gave rise to the expression "crossing the Rubicon" (meaning "a decision which can’t be reversed"), from the writings of Julius Caesar.[61]
  125. ↑ Refers to the Deep Ellum area of Dallas where Peel would go in search of rare records when he lived there.[62]
  126. ↑ Pub/hotel in Manchester, owned by Phil Lynott's mother.[63]
  127. ↑ Possibly referring to Wicklow Mountains in County Wicklow, Ireland.
  128. ↑ Los Angeles street (actually Rosecrans Avenue), setting for this Jim Webb song and later "West Coast rap’s boulevard of dreams".[64]
  129. ↑ Lyrics are a list of French names of streets in the band's hometown of Detroit, Michigan.
  130. ↑ Google Maps suggests a location in Iowa.[65]
  131. ↑ Municipality in Cuba.
  132. ↑ "Claudy is in the north of Ireland, and the Australian version of the song refers also to Newry, not too far from Claudy. So we may reasonably conclude that this ballad began life in Ireland. But it has long been acclimatised in Britain, and some nineteenth century Scottish collectors indeed claimed that it originated in that country...."[66]
  133. ↑ "The Ratcliff Highway lies within what is today the area of Shadwell and is known simply as The Highway...."[67]
  134. ↑ EN: 'Somewhere in Moscow'
  135. ↑ A play on the name of Garganta Del Diablo, spectacular cataract on the Río Iguazú (Rio Iguaçu) at the border of Argentina and Brazil.
  136. ↑ The Llanberis Pass lies between the mountain massifs of Snowdon and the Glyderau in the county of Gwynedd, in northwestern Wales.
  137. ↑ The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica.[68]
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