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Ok, maybe this is a bit odd, but I have always enjoyed (good) songs about obscure places, especially if they are west of the Mississippi. There are quite a few out there and referencing places is a complete sub-genre when it comes to Texas locales. However, as far as I can think, a song taking place in Jackpot, Nevada is about as obscure as one can get (and you get an Ely mention as a bonus!):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzOtuLBvXJI[/youtube]

Of course, there is are Ely and Jackpot references in this song, but there is a certain family pedigree at play here.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

I enjoy the same kind of stuff, Bubba. Though there are certainly plenty of others, I'd say Tom Russell is your man. Offhand, I can think of mentions of Tonopah, NV (in The Basque); Hachita, NM (Next Thing Smokin'); the San Carlos Apache res (Crosses of San Carlos); Jolon, CA (South Coast); The Banks of the Mussellshell. Ian Tyson is a rich vein too: the song M.C. Horses refers to Adel, OR, and I don't think it gets much more obscure in the U.S. than Adel. Bill Staines maybe? The Lost Mine of the Chisos comes to mind.

But one of the ultimate songs for mentions of obscure backcountry has to be Russell's Claude Dallas: "in the wild Owyhee Range.... in the Bloody Runs near Paradise, in the Monitors down south...."

Marmaduke, there's another Jimmy Buffett song in Rancho Deluxe that refers to the Crazy Mountains.

Somewhat apropos, here's a proportional map of North America based on frequency of mentions in country lyrics.

jfrishmanIII wrote:Marmaduke, there's another Jimmy Buffett song in Rancho Deluxe that refers to the Crazy Mountains.

I like that one a lot. I mentioned it a few years back, after I put two and two together.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7ZGEF3SpSw[/youtube]

Jack Benny had a long-running gag about a fictional train called the "Anaheim, Azusa and Cucamonga" line. The town names (all of which are real places in SoCal) were chosen presumably for their amusement factor, especially when Cucamonga was pronounced "Coo-ca-monnnnn-ga". I guess it's not a song but close enough.

So anyway, I was a kid in the mid 1970s, living in Azusa. The Warner-Brothers cartoons (Bugs Bunny et al) would occasionally use this line in its own cartoons. I was so impressed that my little hometown got mentioned in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Back then, I had no idea who Jack Benny was, and that the cartoons had been made back in the 1940s and 1950s. I just assumed they drew them one week, then showed them the following week, and that the artist must live in Azusa.

The mountain angle? We lived at the base of the Sierra Madre. There was our housing tract, a municipal golf course, a fence, then bam, the hills started. Back then, I wasn't interested in the peaks, but moreso in finding lizards, frogs and the stray errant golf ball.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSt0NEESrUA[/youtube]

Also, pretty much any song by CW McCall.

Marmaduke wrote:Livingston, Montana?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLTNKnkYIvA

Do you know "Ringling, Ringling" from Living and Dying in 3/4 Time?

Ringling is a tiny Montana community. The song mentions the Musselshell River as well.

Great lines:

"And across from the bar there's a pile of beer cans
Been there twenty-seven years
Imagine all the heartaches and tears
In twenty-seven years of beer"

Gundagai is probably obscure enough for merkins, but this song contains place names that even Australians would find obscure..............................

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aV9xr7GTic[/youtube]

The lyrics:

http://ntwebhost2.pacific.net.au/~lock-dsl/coves/SongPDF/Flash%20Jack%20From%20Gundagai.pdf

I always liked the Alan Parsons Project song "Return to Tunguska." It is pretty out there, but so is Tunguska, in remote Siberia.

I always enjoy listening to Jethro Tull's "Cold Wind to Valhalla" and never get tired of it ..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic1Eh7YoZuQ[/youtube]

lcarreau wrote:I always enjoy listening to Jethro Tull's "Cold Wind to Valhalla" and never get tired of it ..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic1Eh7YoZuQ[/youtube]

That's nice Larry. Tull really rocks but where exactly IS Valhalla on the map, huh?

Noondueler wrote:That's nice Larry. Tull really rocks but where exactly IS Valhalla on the map, huh?

Good point.

Marmaduke, there's another Jimmy Buffett song in Rancho Deluxe that refers to the Crazy Mountains

Hadn't heard that one, Rancho Deluxe was a rather obscure movie and album of his. Wait......obscure fits this thread

Do you know "Ringling, Ringling" from Living and Dying in 3/4 Time?

Absolutely, forgot about that one.

Understandably, given its mythological significance, Valhalla is a popular place name. Many obscure towns go by that name. Just checking SP, there is a range in British Columbia along with peaks in Washington and Colorado named Valhalla. The Valhalla I'm familiar with is a gem of the Sierra along Sequoia's High Sierra Trail.


Link

Musically speaking, the name reminds me of a well known song from my favorite musical. Admittedly, while that particular classic is probably an obscure reference to that film, it is far from an obscure reference to other well known films and operas.

This song is also far from obscure, but mentions Valhalla and really rocks:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1lzfz_TjWI[/youtube]