Cool sounding place names
I have just finished wreaking havoc with Mollucca's (Rich) Slicing thread and I was talking about how
romantic the names of US Railroad companies sound to someone from the UK.
Burlington Northern sounds like a cool name, whereas Virgin First Great Western just doesn't cut it.
It is the same with place names, Rialto, La Cienega, Alberquerque,
Laredo and Baton Rouge all sound much cooler than Radstock, Burnley and Basingstoke. I can think of one small english town that sounds romantic, Midsomer-Norton, which conjures up visions of a Constable painting, all cottages with roses around the door.
I apologise in advance for anyone who hails from here, or is associated with the place, but it's a dump.
A severe disappointment if it evokes the aforementioned visions for you. A mining town near Bath,
in Somerset it is quite probably one of the ugliest towns on earth, or even in the known and unknown
universe, with the possible exception of Trowbridge, (Wiltshire) where even the locals are proud to be
referred to as inhabitants of "The Arsehole of the Universe".
Anyway, preamble over, the main thrust of this post is why is it that songs from the States often refer to place names;
"I Left My Heart In San Francisco", "Wichita Lineman", "New York, New York" and "Madison Blues".
the names don't sound out of place in song, but why?
"I Left My Heart In Bognor Regis"? - Nah. Same number of syllables, although as it's virtually at sea level I dont think it has anywhere that is "high on a hill".
The Electric Light Orchestra's "Birmingham Blues" has a ring of fidelity about it, it actually seems to work, but can you think of any song featuring an English village, town or city that doesn't sound vaguely silly?
Saludos,
Bob.
Re: Cool sounding place names
the leaving of liverpool ? :D
Re: Cool sounding place names
Well done, Steve - now that definitely works.
"My kind of town, Birkenhead, my kind of town..."
Saludos,
Bob.
Re: Cool sounding place names
...and between Birkenhead and Liverpool, "Ferry Across The Mersey".
Saludos,
Bob.
Re: Cool sounding place names
not strictly a town but waterloo sunset ?
I have watched a few whilst waiting for trains - but not for a long time, in the days of the old hungerford bridge
Re: Cool sounding place names
I don't see a problem with Waterloo, as long as I can have
"Fog On The Tyne". Oh, and there's "Sunderland Boys", also
by Lindisfarne.
Saludos,
Bob.
Re: Cool sounding place names
Not too far from me in Nova Scotia is a place called 'Ecum Secum'. I think it is the place where the first transatlantic undersea cable comes ashore in North America.
Here's a site with some of the unusual place names in Newfoundland, a Canadian Province in my region. The one I like is 'Come-by-Chance'. She doesn't mention 'Dildo' which is a real place there.
Regards, Ross
Re: Cool sounding place names
scarborough fair
and two small places with unusual names nearby - also on my doorstep
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetwang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thwing
Re: Cool sounding place names
Paul Simon, who's name immediately sprang to mind when you mentioned Scarborough Fair,
also gave a name-check to The New Jersey Turnpike on "America" from
the "Bookends" album. Even road names in the States are cool compared to their English
counterparts. Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, and Nat King Cole's "Route 66" -
"Well it winds from Chicago to LA, more than 2,000 miles all the way"
which then lists the places through which it winds:
Well it goes from St Louis, down to Missouri
Oklahoma city looks oh so pretty
You'll see Amarillo and Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona don't forget Winona
Kingsman, Barstow, San Bernadino.
In the UK there's the A 46, which runs from Cleethorpes to Bath
more than 245 miles all the way passing through:
Lincoln, Coventry, Kenilworth, Warwick, Stratford Upon Avon, Alcester, Evesham,
Cheltenham, Painswick, Stroud and Chipping Sodbury.
Not a romantic name in the list. You can safely bet that Chipping Sodbury
isn't going to become immortalised in song!
I think Mike Harding tried to do a pastiche on Route 66, but my memory
is a bit sketchy on this.
Saludos,
Bob.
Re: Cool sounding place names
I have a route66 pastiche by sid kipper - may be the one you are thinking of?
Mr Simon aquired Scarborough Fair from Martin McCarthy, he did not write it himself ;)
http://www.answers.com/topic/martin-...=entertainment