Why is it that, even today, place names feature so prominently in American popular music while they have all but vanished from the British and French canon? This is a question which has intrigued me for a long time. These things don't happen by accident and there must be a reason for it.
Of course, there are "location" songs in British music. Here are a few which come, none too readily, to mind: Bladon Races, Ilkley Moor, Men of Harlech, The Lincolnshire Poacher, Scarboro' Fair and a little nearer our own time, London Pride, A Nightingale Sang in Berkelely Square, Te White Cliffs of Dover, Manchester, England, and as far as I know the last of the breed, London Calling. What immediately strikes us is how old these songs are for the most part. Where France is concerned, the only two songs in fairly recent times that I can think of off the top of my hat are Gilbert Becaud's Les Marchés de Provence and Francis Cabrel's La Dame de Haute-Savoie. No doubt you could add to the list but I think you will agree with me that the pickings are pretty slim.
Compare this to America where, even confining ourselves to the last 50 years or so, the list seems virtually endless: in no particular order: Wichita Lineman, By the Time I get to Phoenix, Philadelphia, (I left My Heart in) San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Jackson, San José, Georgia, etc. etc. And here's Texas alone: Houston, Amarillo, Galveston, Abilene, Yellow Rose of Texas, San Antonio Rose, El Paso, The Streets of Laredo, Dallas.
So why the difference? To put it another way, why is country music still such a potent force in the US? If you have an idea, I'd love to hear from you. My own tentative explanation is that America, the most advanced country in the world, is still in many ways a land in the making, and the different regions and towns have retained much of their freshness, at least in the minds of Americans. We in Europe have lost that sense of wonderment and awe which is still so much part of the American heritage. More's the pity, I think.
Barnaby, your blog is fascinating as well as eclectic. I will look forward to reading more of your posts soon. And thank you for your side link to my blog!
ReplyDeleteAs for place names in songs: As an American fan of country, doo-wop, oldies, and more, I remember reading somewhere that songwriters in the '50s and '60s inserted city names in the hope that loyalists of all those cities would be more inclined to buy the records. An outstanding example is "Dancing in the Street," of course, which went to the extreme.
Thanks for your kind words, Jonathan.
ReplyDeleteWhat you had to say about place names started me thinking. Now that you mention it, there was something of the same sort of local pride in England back in the sixties. Bands from Liverpool (the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers) vied with others from Manchester (the Hollies, Herman's Hermits), Newcastle (The Animals) and London (Rolling Stones, Dave Clark Five). But that was all a long time ago!