Season 479 - Destination Known

Visited the US and convex computers who were based in Dallas Texas.
then went to Houston Texas and also New Orleans.

here is a jack pepper song about New Orleans

Visited Amsterdam about 20 years ago but still remember it well.One of the first eco towns in Europe with Bicycles in common usage .Whacky baccy was freely available with busking musicians every where.

Liz gave me a stern look when I suggested I might not get around to any of the Half Man Half Biscuit songs I had in mind, so here's one of my favourites from their 2005 album Achtung Bono. It's a love song, sort of, which sings the praises of the Cambridgeshire market town Chatteris.



I've never actually been to Chatteris. However, the song also mentions nearby Ely, where I have been a couple of times. Ely is a cathedral city, beloved of cryptic crossword setters. I stayed there once at a friend's place while going to an event in Cambridge. My other visit was when some railway related mishap had me stuck there for a couple of hours, but fortunately it turned out there was a nice pub by the river near the station where I could sit while I waited for them to remove the tree from the line, or whatever it was.

Incidentally, this is the only song I can think of that includes the word "bonce".

Someone had to do it. I have been to Chicago, L.A., and several points in-between; so it might as well be me.

Standing up, clapping! You people are all so entertaining. There was overnight action on this thread! In fact, Kurt slipped one in AS I was writing my daily wrap up last night. Sneaky, Kurt. Here's an update: Since last I wrote, Kurt gave us one video with two songs/two places, Scotland and Hawaii, Kevin and his friend Richard sing about the Lake Pontchartrain area in Louisiana, Joko takes us to sweet home Chicago, Rob sings about New Orleans, and possibly...bigamy, Stanley shows us the beauty of Amsterdam at this very moment (watch out for the wacky baccy...), Edwin sings a song by my new favorite band about the market town of Chatteris, the lyrics of which swept me off my feet, and Christopher gives us an east to west tour of the US on Route 66. I am in heaven over here. My tray table's up, my seatback's in its full, upright position. Now, who will take me to Albuquerque? (Weird Al reference... a girl can dream)

I grew up in Northern Virginia but I have family in East Virginia so I visited there often. I have also "roamed" through North Carolina.

lizbrinker said:

Edwin sings a song by my new favorite band about the market town of Chatteris, the lyrics of which swept me off my feet

Click to expand...

Since you asked, here's "All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmGsDD9vXZk
(Just linking rather than embedding since it's from Ylle's recent toys and games season rather than a new recording.)

There is an associated travel story though... when I was in Prague a couple of years ago, I spent a disturbing amount of time looking in sports shops for an actual Dukla Prague away kit, but I could only find Sparta Prague kits. I suppose I was in the wrong part of town! Maybe next Christmas...

When I was a kid, my parents took me and my three brothers to Madame Tussaud’s waxworks museum in Marylebone Road, London - which is just around the corner from Baker Street tube (underground) station in, you guessed it, Baker Street! (Edit: just to say we used the tube to travel there!) A few years later Gerry Rafferty had a big hit with this one. I’m doing some singing, some keyboard bass and organ, and some Casio Digital Horn for the ‘saxophone’ riff - our glorious host Liz is playing uke and singing a whole host of wonderful vocal harmonies - listen with headphones to fully appreciate them!
Thanks so much for hosting and collaborating with me here Liz!

Blimey, how did it get to be Friday so quickly.

Between 1969 and 1974 I passed through the city this tune is named after 30 times on my way to school on the Isle of Wight. Starting from Waterloo station and passing through Woking ,Godalming,Guilford,Haslemere, Liss ,Liphook,Havant, Portsmouth and Southsea and finally Portsmouth Harbour. To be fair that might not be the exact order but it was a while ago. Then again when I lived there from 1980 to 1986 working at HMP Albany....and many times returning to visit friends.....I give you "Portsmouth".

An original. I've been to all the places mentioned in this song.



Headin' down through Alberta
Comin' out of Edmonton
Got a good load behind me
'Bout seventeen tons
Got a good ways to go
Before that Montana line
Lord, hear that big Freightliner whine

But before I cross the border
There's someone I want to see
She's workin' in a diner
Just outside of Calgary
I'm try'n' to calculate the distance
From kilometers to miles
But all I can think of is her smile

Marjorie from Calgary
With a menu in her apron
And somethin' extra up her sleeve
She knows what I like, and she knows what I need
Marjorie from Calgary

The enchiladas in Sweetwater
Are the best I ever had
And the pizza in Chicago
Well I guess it ain't too bad
But the best darn hamburgers
Made of real Angus beef
Are served up by Marjorie in Calgary

Marjorie from Calgary
With a menu in her apron
And somethin' extra just for me
She knows what I like, and she knows what I need
Marjorie from Calgary

Inspired by our trip last year to South Africa. Thanks, Liz! -Kevin

Fanny In The Ganny by Paul Caldwell & The Back Forty Boys

I live in Port Hope, Ontario. Port Hope is a small town (population 16700) at about the halfway point on the north shore of Lake Ontario. It is photogenic enough that several movies have been shot here, the latest being the two IT movies.

The Ganaraska River (The Ganny) bisects the town and on Friday, March 21, 1980, an ice jam caused The Ganny to flood the downtown of Port Hope. This flood was so severe that several buildings on the banks of the river, including the Sears store and the Firehall museum were completely destroyed. A number of cars were washed out into Lake Ontario and the town was left in a shambles.

Every year since that time, there is a river race to commemorate The Great Port Hope Flood called Float Your Fanny Down The Ganny.


A local doctor, Paul Caldwell, wrote a song about the flood called Fanny In The Ganny to the tune of Turkey In The Straw. Here's my interpretation.

Port Hope has a wonderful Waterfront Trail and I try to take a walk down there most days. I used to run into Port Hope's most famous resident the late Farley Mowatt with his wife Claire and their big Newfoundland dog.

besides the hands on legs the vocal cords also need exercising

Happy Friday night, folks! Oops, already Saturday morning here, just barely. We have two days to finish traveling the world. Show me around! Since last I wrote, there have been six covers and one original added to the thread. A recap: Liz (E San) sings a lovelorn song about East Virginia, Edwin posted a link to a song he did for Ylle’s recent season, upon my request, (Half Man Half Biscuit and Prague figure in...not Prague, Oklahoma, but the other one), Del does a bang-up rendition of Baker Street, the Baker Street in London, not the one in Baltimore near the Senator Troy Brailey Easterwood Park, just in case you were confused, Jarvo gives us a traditional hornpipe with color commentary called Portsmouth, Alan sings us a tune he wrote about love on the road through Canada, don't miss it, Kevin and Carole H beautifully bring us one inspired by a recent trip to South Africa, no place name in the lyrics, but I'm allowing it, because I'm tickled he's back posting on seasons and because, well, I'm in charge this week, and, finally, Jim Y gives us one about the flood of his town, Port Hope, Ontario, by the Ganaraska River (The Ganny) Whew! I'm off to dream of Marjorie From Calgary and the enchiladas in Sweetwater...

HOLD EVERYTHING!!! We have a late submission by Rob! From today! Apparently, he belongs to Glasgow, but please check to see if I'm right about that. Thanks, Rob! Thanks, all! See you tomorrow.

During the spring of 2002 or 2003 I was a graduate student in the geology department of a medium-sized mid-western state university and was a teaching assistant for a 10 or 11 day Spring Break field course that looped through Albuquerque (sorry Liz, not even "Weird" Al can get me to play an 11 minute song), south through the Rio Grande rift valley and to Big Bend National Park in west Texas. At the end of the trip there were no stops to get home, we left in the morning and drove straight through until we got back to campus. Myself and the other grad TA were responsible for driving the truck with all of the group gear - everyone's bags, tents, stoves, etc., while the faculty drove the vans loaded with students. Returning home from Terlingua was something like a 20 hour drive, and we did it straight, only stopping for gas and other necessities. At some point black coffee can only get you so far so, stopped at some ungodly hour at a gas station in Texarkana, I bought a copy of the Weekly World News and we kept each other awake until the sun came up by reading the articles out loud for the laughs. When we got back my sleep deprived brain thought it was a good idea to subscribe to said publication and I had it delivered to my university mailbox at the department until I finished my degree work and moved on to a different school. We thought we'd get in trouble, but when it started showing up a day or two late because the office staff were reading it before putting it in my mailbox I figured we were in the clear. The stack of back issues that piled up on the grad student cubicle farm coffee table were also pretty popular with the other grad students.

I kept that subscription going until they stopped printing it in 2006 or 2007. The other grad student I was trapped in that truck with are still good friends to this day - when we are both going to be at the same conference we will split a hotel room, and he was the best man in our wedding. Probably the biggest return I've ever had on an outlay of 2 or 3 bucks. And spent on an impulse! Long Live Bat Boy.

I grew up on the Thames, and spent more than a quarter of my life living on a tiny narrowboat, travelling around the rivers and canals of England.

I looked for songs to do with the Thames, and found this little oddity by Peter Dawson. He was from Adelaide, and from the lyrics I'm not really sure he ever visited the Thames. But I thought I'd do a copy for posterity.

Apologies for the sound and any rough edges. Trying not to wake up my partner, so playing quietly.

So for anyone who has been to Albuquerque (I haven’t - I’m very boring, remember?), you might want to try this one:

Kadriorg (Catherine's Valley) is an area and a park in Tallinn, Estonia. The park was commissioned by the Russian Czar Peter the Great, to honor his wife Catherine. Nowadays there are several museums, a swan pond and the Presidential Palace in the park. I've visited many times over the years.

Raimond Valgre's song "Sunday in Kadriorg" is from year 1946 and the photos are from 2008.

Hello, for the last time, Liz ... thanks so much for the week! This is a song from France, where we now live, written by Charles Trenet, that most quintessential of Frenchmen, in which he relates a dream he has had of a Paris full of wonders. (Although I've been to Paris many times, we actually live a long way below it and haven't visited for several years.) I would have done this yesterday if it weren't so damned difficult to learn and if I hadn't had to spend most of the day trying to find a plumber to come and replace our leaking kitchen tap (er ... faucet.)