♫ Seattlest Ain't Bullshittin' ♫

A post in Tuesday's DCist mentioned a campaign in the other Washington to adopt a bland song named "Come to Washington" as an official "city anthem." Then, in a follow-up post, DCist nominated nine other, better songs. Readers voted for their favorites and suggested a few more. The current fave seems to be the Magnetic Fields' awesomely evocative "Washington, D.C."
Naturally, this has us pondering songs about Seattle -- not songs by artists from Seattle, but songs about Seattle itself. No, we have nothing as indelible as Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York," Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," "Detroit Rock City" by KISS or "Los Angeles" by X. Still, these are the seven best tunes that come to mind:
"Seattle" by Perry Como (1969). The upbeat title track to the crooner's Seattle album was also the theme song to ABC's Seattle-based sitcom Here Come the Brides (1968-70). The show starred teen idol Bobby Sherman, who recorded his own version of the tune. Sample lyric: "The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle/ And the hills the greenest green in Seattle."
"The Last One to Leave Seattle" by Waylon Jennings (1973). The country outlaw cites a local historic reference as he laments his wife being seduced away from him by the "honky-tonkin' bright Seattle lights": "Will the last one to leave Seattle please turn out the lights/ Those lights are the reason why she ain’t here tonight."
"Seattle" by PiL (1987). When this came out we thought it was cool that a Sex Pistol actually knew our town even existed. Johnny Rotten sings "Don't like the look of this town/ What goes up must come down."
"Sub Pop Rock City" by Soundgarden (1989). This hometown band's ditty appears on the Sub Pop 200 compilation, and samples phone conversations with label co-founders Jonathan Poneman and Bruce Pavitt... "Going to Seattle where the rock's so heavy/ With all them sex dogs in my Chevy."
"Seattle Ain’t Bullshittin'" by Sir Mix-A-Lot (1992). Seattle gets frequent shout-outs in Mix's raps; here he mentions Seward Park, "Rainier Ave," "a freak in front of Garfield" and "rollin' through the C.D."
"Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle" by Nirvana (1993). The song is more about the local icon than the city, though there is a reference to "disease-covered Puget Sound."
"Viva! Sea-Tac" by Robyn Hitchcock (1999). Not as cool as "Viva Las Vegas," but we dig it: "Viva viva viva viva viva Sea-Tac/ They've got the best computers and coffee and smack!"
Certainly there are more... Readers?
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Troy Morris
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jordancda
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Belltowner
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Jake of 8bitjoystick.com
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Donovan Credence
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James Callan
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Jake of 8bitjoystick.com
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Seth
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jessica


