360DigitalInfluence

Perhaps it’s just because it’s summer, but I seem to be noticing many more “destination” songs on the radio and got to thinking if there’s ever been one that’s actually encouraged me to travel somewhere.  

There are many I can think of that have encouraged me *not* to travel to a location - Bruce Springsteen alone has made Nebraska and Atlantic City drop notches lower on my list of “must sees.”  Certainly Duran Duran’s “Rio” did that city no favors and “One Night in Bankok” from Chess was just too scary of a song to make me jump a flight to Thailand.  “No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn” is great, but not a provocative sell of the borough. 

However, location songs have played a role in many of my road trips - especially while driving through Tennessee singing both “Last Train to Clarksville” and “Rocky Top.”  

Does the last train lead here?

Springsteen’s “Fourth of July - Asbury Park” and the mystique around Bruce’s early career playing in Asbury Park bars actually led a colleague and me to drive through half of New Jersey to check out the Stone Pony while in New Jersey on business.  So, in that case, I was inspired to travel (albeit a New Jersey road trip) because of a song.

The blogosphere has many people weighing in on this: Travel Guide John Kremer has created a blog listing of all the songs he knows of that include state or city names.   There have also been articles  that chronicle top 10 cities in song.   Some blogs actually use songs as reasons why people should check out locations, but there’s little I could find showing songs have encouraged people to go places.  We’d love to hear from you - have you traveled anywhere because of a song?