Songs About Memphis
Wednesday April 23, 2008
I recently learned an interesting bit of trivia that I thought I would share with you here. It turns out that Memphis has the distinction of being mentioned in the lyrics of more songs than any other city in the world. And these are recorded and distributed songs, not just the creations of wannabe songwriters. So just how many songs have "Memphis" somewhere in the lyrics? A whopping 899! When I first read this statistic, I was dubious. Could there possibly be that many? And if there were, surely they were all really obscure songs sung by unknown artists. But then I saw the list and discovered that I knew far more of them that I would have guessed. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to see how many you could come up with before I post a link to the complete list. So if you can think of a song with "Memphis" anywhere in the lyrics, post it in a comment below. I'll give you the link to all 899 next week. In the meantime, I'll get us started:
1. City of New Orleans by Arlo Guthrie (one of my all time favorite songs)
2. Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn
3. Maybe It Was Memphis by Pam Tillis
Comments
What about Black Velvet by Alanna Myles?
I’m not a huge Beatles fan, but I remember they had a song titled ‘Memphis, Tennessee’. And then Lee Ann Womack sang ‘Montgomery to Memphis’. We cant forget ‘Memphis Pearl’ by Lucinda Williams, love that song. However the song that best describes Memphis today was done by Three 6 Mafia called ‘M.E.M.P.H.I.S’ (Makin Easy Money, Pimpin H*** Is Serious) because we are all just King Willies h**s.
Mike
I am from Memphis, TN and the song Walking in Memphis. And I have to say that song is one of my favorite songs. But I have another comment why does the city of Memphis have to tear Libertyland down? I don’t know why either but I grew up riding on the roller coasters. That’s just my question.
Teresa,”One Last Bridge,” written by native Memphian, composer and pianist David Saks, was adopted and proclaimed in unanimous resolution (11-0) by the Memphis City Council as Memphis’s Official Song of 1990. His composition, “In Memphis” , was adopted as an Official Song of Memphis, the following year in City Council session, in 1991. These are the only two musical compositions ever adopted as Official Songs of Memphis. An argument in Wikipedia ensued over it by supporters of Mr. Saks and a disgruntled power crazed admin that calls himself Jersyko, who strangely enough also says he’s a law student, embarked upon a personal crusade to prevent anything about Mr.Saks from appearing in Wikipedia. It’s an interesting story which proves how stupid Wikipedians can be. Mr.Saks website,
Http://DavidSaks.Com, has a great deal of history behind his music. The Memphis City Council secretary verified for Wikipedia that Mr.Saks was a native Memphian and the only composer ever bestowed such an honor by the local government. This fine gentleman was needlessly, and in vandals fashion, deleted from the history of the City of Memphis by crony trash in Wikipedia.
Thank you Teresa. Perhaps you could do a nice story about David Saks one day.
By the way, ‘Walking In Memphis’ is actually ‘Heart and Soul” if you listen to it carefully. Marc Cohen stole the melody from that simple four handed piano duet that we all played when we were kids. His song was turned down by the Memphis City Council as a candidate as an official song because of a questionable lyric about his evening in a brothel with a lady of the night that inquires as to whether or not he was a ‘christian’. Interesting and true story. Thanks, Teresa
Colyar,
Thanks so much for your insight. I have heard multiple stories over the years regarding the “truth” behind Walking in Memphis but have failed to uncover anything definitivly. Do you have any good resources that tell the whole story? I’d love to read more about it. Thanks!
Lisa Marie Presley recorded (and I think wrote) “Lights Out,” which mentions Memphis several times in 2003.