port songs: I cover the waterfront

Billie Holiday: I Cover the Waterfront 

(this could be the new port halifax gateway anthem)

away from the city that hurts and knocks

I'm standing alone by the desolate docks

in the still and chill of the night

I see the horizon, the great unknown

my heart has an ache

it's heavy as stone

with the dawn coming on make it last

I cover the waterfront

I'm watching the sea

google earth as bragadoccio

old cribs I sold, y'all drive by like monuments

Google Earth Nas, I got flats in other continents

- Nas, success, American Gangster soundtrack

drought songs: the seed song

living in North Carolina is a bit like the opposite of living in Macondo of 100 Years of Solitude, when Ursula is waiting for the rains to stop so that she can die. According to the highly reputable source www.gradesaver.com it rains in Macondo for four years, eleven months and two days. I did some research and found out that in September we received no rain that wasn't directly a result of a tropical storm. so, here's a classic fable of drought - the Seed Song, Atom and His Package

the rain didn't come for one calendar year
so when the man with the sunflower seeds in his hand came near
we sent him away, we sent him away, we sent him away

the rain didn't come for twelve months more
so when the man with the seed catalogue darkened our door
we sent him away, we sent him away, we sent him away

I know you're waiting for the ironic ending
I know you're waiting for the punch line
I know you're waiting for the rain to come by
well - so am I, so am I, so am I

the prescience of fall

It is an impressive feat to write a song or collection of songs that captures or expresses the emotions of a particular time. Bruce Springsteen's The Rising is a tremendous creation following in the wake of 11 September 2007. It is an entirely different accomplishment to write a song before an event occurs that comes to be inextricably connected to the subsequent event.

One that comes to mind is Green Day's Wake Me Up When September Ends. Spike Lee's documentary When the Levees Broke and Kanye West's declaration "George Bush doesn't care about black people" televised live on NBC captured in many and varied ways the frustration, horror, and tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. I associate Green Day's song very closely with Hurricane Katrina. Wake Me Up When September Ends was released in Summer 2005 with a video depicting the horror of war and was still on the radio when Katrina hit, and while Katrina made landfall on August 29 it was the month of September that seemed to last forever.

summer has come and passed
the innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends

like my fathers come to pass
seven years has gone so fast
wake me up when september ends

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are

as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when september ends

Wilco's album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was released for free on the band's website in November 2001 and all of the songs had been written before September 11. For me the song Ashes of American Flags epitomizes the emotions of that time.

I would like to salute
the ashes of american flags
and all the fallen leaves
filling up shopping bags

maritime songs: calm

if the band Maritime wrote more songs about shipping, then they would probably be the official band of phg. as it is, they are still really good. this is from the song calm

shortened by the blasphemy
when the sun would warm the sea
and the Canary Islands are chasing me
we are powerful despite our injuries

water transportation songs: big river

there aren't many songs (at least that I know of) that provide nautical directions. The Johnny Cash song Big River is one of them. This is truly a classic, documenting a trip south along the great Mississippi

big river - johnny cash

i met her accidentally in st. paul (minnesota)
and it tore me up every time I heard her drawl, southern drawl
then I heard my dream was back downstream cavortin' in davenport,
and I followed you, big river, when you called

then you took me to st. louis later on (down the river)
a freighter said she's been here but she's gone, boy, she's gone
i found her trail in memphis, but she just walked up the bluff
she raised a few eyebrows and then she went on down alone

now, won't you batter down by baton rouge, river queen, roll it on
take that woman on down to new orleans, new orleans
go on, i've had enough; dump my blues down in the gulf
she loves you, big river, more than me

the best cartography song ever written

upside down from here by Atom and His Package

from Antartica to the polar cap
try to fit a big orb on a little flat map
I'm not going to drive this time
I love Greenland when it's Africa's size
north is not up and east is not right
except for Milwaukee, Wisconsin that night
so take a look at a map and learn where you live at
learn where you live at, learn where you live at

I know what feels like to be upside down from here

the wreck of the old '97

One astute reader mentioned the song ‘Wreck of the Old 97’ so I must talk about it at some length. This is perhaps the finest song train song ever written. Why is it great? A) it’s about trains b) it’s about Virginia c) it’s about freight transportation d) it’s about transportation history e) it’s about supply chains. Okay, it’s not really about supply chains but I digress.

The Wreck of the Old 97 is a real deal historical event. Back in 1903, a mail train derailed off a 75 -foot trestle near Danville, Virginia killing 9 people. The reports from the scene were grisly, such as the person scalded to death by the steam. The train in question was a very recent model, the Old 97 (a name derived from the year 1897 I presume), which was known for its high speed. The train was late and was trying to make up time when it derailed. There was a centennial four years ago in Danville and it would have been really cool to go to.

The song based on the event is folk song legend. It was the first song in the United States to sell 1 million copies. Many artists have covered it including the legendary version by Johnny Cash from his Live at San Quentin album. On a side note, if anyone can think of a better opening to any musical set than Big River – Wreck of the Old 97 – I Still Miss Someone – I Walk the Line I would like to know because that four song lineup is almost incomprehensible to believe.

The Johnny Cash version of the song is great because the song actually sounds like a freight train. Now that is the height of thematic excellence. Listening to Live at San Quentin is the closest thing many of us Americans get to riding a train on a regular basis.

The song has been so successful that there is even a band named for it - the Old 97s. From their song Northern Line:

I'm dreaming on a night train 

It's only been a light rain, and a darkened sky and a starry night
I'm humming on a cold train 

I'm singing about the wreck of the Old 97

transportation songs: i want my city back

I am on a never ending search for songs with directions in them and a (re)acquaintance informed me of a Mighty Mighty Bosstones song with such directions. I remember seeing the Bosstones play in the Capitol Ballroom in DC back in 1996. That's over a decade ago! Wow. And now the area where the Capitol Ballroom used to is slated to become yuppie heaven, as I blogged about recently, as it was just north of the new DC baseball stadium.

To get around NIMBY'ism and zoning ordinances clubs like the Capitol Ballroom located in near SE as did many gay clubs. Now that they're on the way out, these establishments are having a difficult time finding new locations.

the song: I Want My City Back

Up around 95, sailing down Storrow Drive
Left exit into Kenmore Square
Slowed down when I got there
And that's when it was crystal clear
It wasn't there, it wasn't where
I left it, when I left it
I want my city back

diagonal conveyence as supreme insult

'I address the haters
and under estimators
and ride up on em like they escalators'

breathe - Fabolous


I wonder if this is more or less of an insult if he is referring to the much maligned escalators of the Washington Metro

train songs (vol 1)

'I still hear trains at night, when the wind is right'

this is a firedoor never leave open - the Weakerthans

'slept all night in the cedar grove
I was born to ramble, born to rove
some men are searchin for the holy grail
but there ain't nothin sweeter
than riding the rails'

cold water - Tom Waits

'this same goddamm train
glides soft through the rain
and I sit and dizzily wait'

minute - the Lawrence Arms

transportation songs: sad but true

The other day I advocated for including directions in songs. Today, I'm highlighting a second song that includes detailed directions, and this completes my anthology of songs with directions in them. If you are aware of other songs with directions, please let me know of them.

The song is Sad But True by the Transplants, whose singer Tim Armstrong's primary band Rancid is one of the Great Transit Bands (post forthcoming). Sad But True, like the other song I profiled, gives directions starting in Berkeley. Berkeley it seems, even in the realm of punk songs, is the center of transportation planning. The route offered by Armstrong is a circuitous one but it eventually takes you to Harmon Street in South Berkeley. Anyone familiar with Berkeley know what's on Harmon St?

In a dream we take a trip
down Shattuck to Durant
up the hill, to the steps, Sproul Plaza and Telegraph
we pass Channing, we pass Derby
we go to Ashby, down to Adeline
take MLK to 54th and go down to Genoa
yeah and follow the BART tracks
to Harmon street, ahhhh Harmon street,
Harmon Street, Harmon Street
it's reoccurring, it's like a dream
I live a thousand times, yeah
and it's always like the very first time

the fhwa and transportation songs

andrew has pointed me in the direction of the fhwa's list of transportation songs. To be fair, the federal highway administration's list is called 'some road songs' but it is non multi-modal, incomplete, and lacks any sort of analysis of the songs presented. They should be given credit for selecting such classics as AC/DC 'Highway to Hell' and Kenny Loggins 'Danger Zone'. Much more questionable is the reference to Limp Bizkit's 'My Way or the Highway.'

we here at port halifax are going to share and analyze transportation songs that cover any mode of transportation, that describe transportation infrastructure, and especially songs that deal with issues in transportation planning.

but for the folks at the fhwa, here's a shout out to good old highway transportation with the song South Bound 95 (plus introduction) off of the Avail album Live at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. The song delves into the existential dilemma that is being a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia

"all right we're avail from richmond, virginia and this song was requested by some people from richmond, virginia so this is going to be our first song:

boredom in this mobile home in nowhere USA
somehow gotta make it home to Richmond V. A.
when I'm there I want to go
but when I'm gone I don't
i'll make it anywhere but here
but here is where I got to be
i'll make it anywhere but here
gotta make it to dixie

transportation songs: carry on

Are you a band or singer looking to better incorporate transportation planning into your songs? I bet we all are to some extent. Here's one easy suggestion: add directions to your lyrics! Take for example, the song Carry On by Common Rider which features directions to get from Berkeley to the place where my brother got married in addition to other locations along route 1 south of SF.

There ain't no dream like the one that's real
Ashby to Eighty
Eighty to the Bridge
Bridge down to One
Route One carry on
We ate the night up and we shot the big coast
'cause the shoreline makes a heart open like a rose