Forum menu
Songs that namechec...
 

[Closed] Songs that namecheck your home town

Posts: 833
Free Member
 

@mrmoofo

I am not too sure anyone has written a song that includes Shoreham-by-Sea … nor my birth town.

I can get you closer than Brighton - The Magnetic Fields' Nothing Matters When We're Dancing

And nothing matters when we're dancing
In tat or tatters you're entrancing
Be we in Paris or in Lancing
Nothing matters when we're dancing


 
Posted : 12/05/2020 9:48 pm
Posts: 5185
Full Member
 

Namecheck? There's a whole song about it:


 
Posted : 12/05/2020 9:56 pm
Posts: 3323
Full Member
 

Another lemon jelly

https://open.spotify.com/track/2RutVE1bxmy90AeXrnq4Ov?si=cqqZYu-jSN--gFLZG8qCLg


 
Posted : 12/05/2020 10:11 pm
Posts: 9274
Full Member
 

Leningrad Cowboys - Machine Gun Blues

"We've been to Moscow and New York too, We've been in Glasgow, in the afternoon"


 
Posted : 12/05/2020 10:47 pm
Posts: 10538
Full Member
 

Streatham by Dave mentions Leicester, where I was born.

I live Leeds now though and that's mentioned in Panic and the queen is dead by the smiths, and obvs I predict a riot by the kiaser chiefs is about Leeds but doesnt quite mention Leeds just says Leodensian meaning someone from Leeds....


 
Posted : 12/05/2020 10:49 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Goldie lookin chain for me...Guns don't kill people, rappers do.
...From Bristol Zoo to B&Q, always make me smile.


 
Posted : 12/05/2020 11:03 pm
Posts: 18034
Full Member
 

New Boots and Panties is definitely one of the coolest album covers ever.


 
Posted : 12/05/2020 11:08 pm
Posts: 4892
Free Member
 

Coming from a small village int’ Dales

This is the only recorded I know that mentions it

(As well as every other place north of Sheffield)


 
Posted : 12/05/2020 11:12 pm
Posts: 2644
Free Member
 

Bob Dylan - Oxford Town

Oxford Town, Oxford Town
Everybody's got their heads bowed down
The sun don't shine above the ground
Ain't a-goin' down to Oxford Town

He went down to Oxford Town
Guns and clubs followed him down
All because his face was brown
Better get away from Oxford Town

Oxford Town around the bend
Come to the door, he couldn't get in
All because of the color of his skin
What do you think about that, my friend?

Me and my gal, my gal's son
We got met with a tear gas bomb
I don't even know why we come
Goin' back where we come from

Oxford Town in the afternoon
Everybody singin' a sorrowful tune
Two men died 'neath the Mississippi moon
Somebody better investigate soon

Loads for me to choose from.

I bet none of you guessed I was born on the Mississippi.


 
Posted : 12/05/2020 11:24 pm
Posts: 5787
Full Member
 

Born there, went to school there, still do all my shopping there as it is my nearest town.


 
Posted : 12/05/2020 11:40 pm
Posts: 23597
Full Member
Topic starter
 

I predict a riot by the kiaser chiefs is about Leeds but doesnt quite mention Leeds

'This is Crush Collision' by Age of Chance mentions Leeds quite a few times (but also mentions Deroit, Berlin and New York an equal number of times)


 
Posted : 12/05/2020 11:48 pm
Posts: 23597
Full Member
Topic starter
 

This is the only recorded I know that mentions it

Go straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect £200


 
Posted : 12/05/2020 11:50 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

New Model Army - Ambition:

[i]Heading out of Bradford
With a ticket on the train
With a faith as hard as steel
And as sharp as any pain[/i]


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 12:51 am
 igm
Posts: 11874
Full Member
 

Has anyone gone with ABBA who I believe “called you last night from GLASGOW” in Supertrooper?


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 1:02 am
 igm
Posts: 11874
Full Member
 

Actually Glasgow is as common as Manchester (or worse) in song lyrics.

And the CAPS on GLASGOW is for anyone who’s heard it live in the aforementioned conurbation.


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 1:13 am
Posts: 9112
Free Member
 

A good few of you must be covered by The Smiths’ ‘Hang the DJ’:

London; Birmingham; Leeds; Grasmere; Carlisle; Dublin; Dundee; Humberside

As for my hometown, Winnipeg, I got Neil Young twice:

‘Don’t be Denied’ (which he wrote and performed alone) and ‘Prairie Town’, which he performed with Randy Bachman from Bachman Turner Overdrive.


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 1:16 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Sweet in winter sweet in rain
Shake well before use she said
You never touch me anymore this way
Connector in
Receiver out
You let me in through the back door
Ride the sainted rhythms on the midnight train to romford
Ride the sainted rhythms

Another one from Romford here (actually I'm from Horchurch)

Shouting, "Lager, lager, lager, lager
Mega, mega white thing, mega, mega white thing"
So many things to see and do in the tube hole, true blonde
Going back to Romford, mega, mega, mega
Going back to Romford, hi mum, are you having fun?
And now are you on your way to a new tension and headache?


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 2:48 am
Posts: 859
Full Member
 

 
Posted : 13/05/2020 6:54 am
 iolo
Posts: 194
Free Member
 

 
Posted : 13/05/2020 7:07 am
Posts: 3106
Full Member
 

@nobbingsford beat me to it with Whitley Bay and Dire Straits, so without resorting to a Google search the best I could come up with is the 80s or 90s McEwans Best Scotch advert with the line: "Florida's horrider than Whitley Bay..."

Reply To: Songs that namecheck your home town


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 7:12 am
Posts: 389
Full Member
 

Though I don't live in Hartlepool I do go to work there. Electric Six Unnatural Beauty must be referring to Hartlepool with 'Monkey Hangers' and a 'little town in Teeside'


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 8:14 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

I live here!


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 8:15 am
Posts: 4736
Full Member
 

I'm not from Chatteris, but they mention St.Ives and Ely, which is close.


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 8:22 am
Posts: 20667
Full Member
 

Half Man Half Biscuit is a rich source of obscure place names.

References quite a few Peak District towns and villages including where I live with the immortal lyrics
"No frills, handy for the hills, that's the way you spell New Mills!"

Accurate description.


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 8:45 am
Posts: 23597
Full Member
Topic starter
 

I live here!

Bonus points for a rare example of a song with 'Hexacholorophene' in the lyrics


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 8:52 am
Posts: 3073
Free Member
 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Eijc2tGe-zM

Possibly our most famous moment, after the chartist riots. The song also has the rare accolade of being a parody, that ended up being parodied itself.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx8CZyFM4b4


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 9:05 am
Posts: 28593
Free Member
 

This one's quite handy for East London and sarf Essex.


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 9:11 am
Posts: 7128
Free Member
 

 
Posted : 13/05/2020 9:12 am
Posts: 4892
Free Member
 

maccruiskeen
Subscriber

This is the only recorded I know that mentions it

Go straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect £200

That was The Jams... 😂😂


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 9:33 am
Posts: 1305
Free Member
 

@pook
Plenty of steel city pickings here on this old pulp b side:


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 10:34 am
Posts: 17313
Free Member
 

There are loads.

Wishae'n I was lucky by Wet Wet Wet
Wishae'n Well by Free

I wish 'ae all could be California Girls


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 10:47 am
Posts: 211
Full Member
 

Dagenham Dave - Morrissey

Previously Romford and Hornchurch so was would have been Underworld previously


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 11:28 am
Posts: 578
Free Member
 

The Sex Pistols may very well have wanted anarchy across the whole sovereignty, so imagine my delight when the Dead Kennedys pin-pointed my home town for their overseas revolution. (I think we only appear properly in the KLF one...)


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 11:42 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

 
Posted : 13/05/2020 12:31 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

I am currently residing in the gloriously named Nempnett Thrubwell in Somerset. The Wurzels are locals, but I didn’t realise that Acker Bilk (also local) recorded a cover. That’s proper celebrity!

If you find life a race, you just can’t stand the pace,
Come with me to the West Country – the perfect hiding place:

Pack your bags, and make your way to Somerset, and I will lay
Ten to one you’ll wanna stay down in Nempnett Thrubwell.
There’s not a pub, there ain’t a shop, you never see a traffic cop
Drink up, and no-one says “stop”, down in Nempnett Thrubwell…

My old part of the world. My Dad grew up in Nempnett - Mary Paddock Farm if you know it?
Moved and now farms in Clutton.
I also used to deliver papers to Acker Bilk when I was a lad living in Pensford!


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 12:34 pm
Posts: 6940
Full Member
 

Turns out Iron Maiden have a song about a Sheriff from one of the north's premier regional hubs.

I just had a replay of Grim Up North and it's proper ace but appreciate I get -1000 points for directly referencing it. Soz.


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 1:32 pm
Posts: 7875
Free Member
 

I come from Liverpool, I probably have an advantage 🙂


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 1:49 pm
Posts: 597
Free Member
 

@trail_rat that song might be the only one about Arbroath but he’s done a fair job capturing its many charms


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 2:04 pm
Posts: 1252
Free Member
 

 
Posted : 13/05/2020 2:15 pm
Posts: 39735
Free Member
 

@trail_rat that song might be the only one about Arbroath but he’s done a fair job capturing its many charms

I certainly recollect most of it to be pretty accurate.

Your not an ex local are you or were you resident at 45 commando ?


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 2:43 pm
Posts: 734
Free Member
 

Not specifically name checked but Kayleigh by Marillion has the lines “Do you remember the Cherry blossom in the market square” and “Do you remember dancing in stiletto in the snow” are written about Galashiels. They’ve even inscribed the lyrics into the aforementioned market square!


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 3:04 pm
Posts: 2746
Full Member
 

 
Posted : 13/05/2020 3:48 pm
Posts: 3677
Full Member
 

In Birmingham they love the Governor, boo, boo, boo
Now we all did what we could do

Don't live there any more, but grew up there.

Although it may no be the same one......


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 4:05 pm
Posts: 3372
Full Member
 

Harry Connick Jr - Honestly Now...

(no, nor me)

Honestly now
Either you stand for something
Or you get knocked down for nothing
Sister don't ache too soon
I thought it was understood
By everyone in this room
Who'd ever come up short or won a race
Safety's just danger
Out of place

Truly now
People play tricks on your mind
Shadows only follow behind
Sister stay still
I thought it was the nature
Of all on Malvern's Hill
Who'd taken a lead off third base
Safety's just danger
Out of place


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 5:34 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

curto80
Member
The Ballad of John and Yoko by the Beatles

16 by Craig David

Pass Out by Tinie Tempah

Any guesses?

That's Southampton (Craig David being the giveaway), but I can also have Pass Out by Tinie Tempah, and Panic by The Smiths (if counties/unitary authorities are allowed).


 
Posted : 13/05/2020 5:45 pm
Page 2 / 3