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.

the leaving of liverpool ? :D

Well done, Steve - now that definitely works.
"My kind of town, Birkenhead, my kind of town..."
Saludos,
Bob.

...and between Birkenhead and Liverpool, "Ferry Across The Mersey".
Saludos,
Bob.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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Originally Posted by handrawn

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

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Thanks for the heads up on sid kipper - made up name!
By the way, whilst I'm sure I understand the meaning of "heads up"
anyone have the etymology on it?

I actually knew the provenance of "Scarborough Fair"...and I don't believe that I said than Paul Simon wrote it. :)

Here's a link you might enjoy, Steve.http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/your/extra/fond1.shtml :D

Steve, I just did a google search after my last post,
guess what? you're nearly famous. Top of the listings!
I had a strange feeling of deja vu!
Saludos,
Bob.

Ha :D

yep - I was just making the point re Scarborough fair - words have been exchanged that are not appropriate here as you will know then - I felt certain you would :eek:

nice link - sid's pastiche 'jack onion' is a classic - especially the version with the lead-in patter

always thought 'heads up' would be as in what animals do when they catch sight/wind/scent of something, but no evidence for this :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iamtheblues

By the way, whilst I'm sure I understand the meaning of "heads up"
anyone have the etymology on it?

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I've always understood it as an 'early/advanced warning/information '

Wiki says
heads up
(idiomatic) Used as an informal warning, caution, or call for attention; pay attention!

But SteveJ's understanding makes sense to me too.

I thought meerkats when I first came across the expression.
Saludos,
Bob.

yes good example :)

Steve, I nearly missed your links further up the page.
I wouldn't say Wetwang was cool, it has smutty connotations,
so I'm told. :rolleyes:
I was disappointed reading about Thwing that it wasn't pronounced
as written ie: "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that thwing".
Nice links.
Saludos,
Bob.

guess that rules out Hampton Court then? :D

Hampton Court?.....
Hampton Court?.....
.....oh, yes, I get it now. :o :rolleyes:
It's a bit like The Goon's roving reporter Hugh Jampton.
How the BBC let that one slip through the net is a mystery.
Saludos,
Bob.

Round the Horne ;)

Yep, your right, good old Ken.
I've just PM'd you by the way.
Saludos,
Bob.

on to it ;)

" Get your kicks ... on the M25" " Sweet Home Melton Mowbray" "Slough ... my kinda town, Slough is" "On the Jubilee, Victoria and the Central lines" . Yeah, you might have a point :p

24 hours from Tunbridge Wells....

Re Slough. Not a song but a poem:

Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough
It isn't fit for humans now
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, death!

John Betjeman

There's far more songs that are regional without mentioning the town/city
Fog on the Tyne
Steel River (Chris Rea)
Ferry across the Mersey (already mentioned)

Quote:

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... on the M25

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The road to hell

And such a lovely warm poem it is.....

This is kind of funny, I've lived in Missouri USA all of my life (52 years of it) and I've always thought UK had the coolest names and that our names were dopey; your town names are classy, whereas we are graced with the likes of Toadsuck Arkansas and Intercourse Pennsylvania. And yes, those are really places.

I guess many are familiar with the Johnny Cash version of "I've been everywhere" - but did you know that this was originally an Australian song written by Aussie Geoff Mack in 1959 and listed Australian towns.

Not only was it adapted to North America, but New Zealand too.
There was even a version listing Beers !

I guess it depends on which one you hear first and become familair with. The others would just sound wrong afterwards.
I suspect this is applying to all those other songs discussed...

"Give Me a Home Among The Oak Trees" wouldn't seem right though.. :(

Steve I knew about Geoff Mack writing the original song. Hank Snow recorded a version a few years before Johnny Cash. I like all the versions that I have heard.

The lyrics that Hank recorded:
http://www.cowboylyrics.com/tabs/sno...here-1964.html

Here's Hank Snow performing the song. Well worth watching! (Great suit! I've got to get me one like that!) Hank Snow was from Nova Scotia (near where I live) and long before he became a country music star he and his band toured all the little dance halls of Nova Scotia. My father remembers seeing him at a dance -- the cover charge was 25 cents!

Here is the Australian version performed by Lucky Starr who had a hit with it in 1962. And here's the original by Geoff Mack.

It seems to me Boxcar Willie also had a version after Hank Snow and Johnnie Cash.

Regards, Ross

Here's a listing of some wacky town names in the USA: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/wackytowns.html They aren't anywhere as wacky as the Newfoundland ones I linked to near the beginning of this thread.

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Originally Posted by sledger

... "I've been everywhere" - but did you know that this was originally an Australian song ... :(

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If Johnny Cash had sung the original in San Quentin - "Well, I was humpin' my bluey on the dusty Oodnadatta road." - there might have been a riot!:eek: :p

Gms9810:I've often wondered about that. Mind you, in the UK (everwhere I suppose) our perception of the world is obviously filtered through TV and films - the real Casablanca is not a romantic place believe me!;)