After I finished researching the two songs co-written by Bob Dylan about Champaign, I decided to spend time uncovering other major acts that have namechecked C-U on their songs. So I asked local music “scholars” about all the relevant references and then I did some Googling. And, much to my chagrin, I discovered that the cities on the bountiful shores of the Boneyard haven’t gotten much lyrical attention from national acts. Of course, there are dozens of local acts that have mentioned the area in their songs, but I’ll save the groundbreaking discussion about “Clock Street” refering to Clock Street for another day. Instead, here’s the feeble list of non-Dylan C-U references I could find.
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“Sweat” -The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Getting a shout out from Jon Spencer on the album Orange is not a huge accomplishment. By my count, he gives one to 24 different North American cities in two different songs. But given what limited exposure we get elsewhere it’s still exciting. Especially because the Champaign reference comes in the song “Sweat” which arrives early in the album and contains many fewer location namechecks than the later track “Flavor.” And this reference holds a special place in my heart since this album originally came out at almost the exact same time as I made my final decision to attend U of I for college. Listen for Spencer to bellow “Champaign, Illinaw” about 1 minute and 30 seconds into the song.
(FYI – Orange just got reissued. If you do not have this album, now’s your chance to acquaint yourself with an album that was ahead of it’s time in mixing hip hop beats with blues and dirty rock. Beck ripped it off a bunch on Odelay. It is no exaggeration to say that when I heard the first two notes of this album hit — and they HIT — everything changed. )
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“Close to Champaign” – Los Straightjackets
This song is an instrumental, so there’s no juicy lyrical references to a love affair dissappearing as the sun sets along 57 North. And it’s probably a good thing, because the origin tale is very mundane. Apparently, the band was on their tour bus on the way to a concert at the Highdive while writing the song. Sometimes it’s just as obvious it seems. And to be honest leaving the song instrumental is downright complimentary compared to the lyrics on that Old 97’s song I discussed last week. So thanks to the kind people in Los Straightjackets for not suggesting they were getting close to Hell. The song appears on the 1999 album, The Velvet Touch of . . .
UPDATE: Not sure how I missed this, but Los Straightjackets play the Highdive at 9:30 p.m. TONIGHT (Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m. $15)
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“The Illinois Enema Bandit” – Frank Zappa
The less said about this one the better. The story’s main character, Michael Kenyon, was also known as the Champaign Enema Bandit and his crime was pretty much exactly what it sounds like. He first committed the deed while in Champaign, then moved around the country robbing and enemaing in other places until he moved back here and got caught. His story, which you can read more about here, obviously drew enough national attention that Mr. Zappa decided to write a song about it. Like many things Zappa did, the lyrics are pretty divisive and not incredibly insightful:
Then they’ll put out a call for the jury folks
And the judge would say, “No poo-poo jokesl”
Then they’ll drag in the bandit for all to see,
Saying “Don’t nobody have no sympathy . . .
HOT SOAPY WATER in the FIRST DEGREE!”
More lyrics here
Frank was a prolific musician to say the least, so there are probably less towns in America that don’t have a Zappa song about them than do.
In addition to Zappa, a slightly obscure jazz musician named Henry Threadgill released a song called in the 80s called “Salute to the Enema Bandit.”
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“Dear Mr. Supercomputer” – Sufjan Stevens
For anyone paying attention four or five years ago, this one is probably not a surprise. Stevens released two different Illinois-themed albums and it was probably inevitable that there would be some reference to us somewhere. The most obvious local connection comes on “Dear Mr. Supercomputer” which appears on the second album, the Avalanche. There is little doubt that this song is referring to one of the many supercomputers that have been housed on the University of Illinois campus over the last forty years. FYI, the next one, the Blue Waters project, is scheduled to begin operation next year. It will have a peak performance of 10 petaflops.
“Decatur” – Sufjan Stevens
This track comes off of the first Illinois-themed album, Come on Feel the Illinoise.The lyrics seem to involve a step-mom and a kangaroo catching a wild alligator on the banks of the Sangamon river. Go Decatur.
Stevens band also famously dressed up in U of I-themed cheerleader gear for the Illinoise tours. And on the cover of the Avalanche, Stevens is wearing a shirt with the Block-type Serif letter I, an unmistakable reference to the outfits and, of course, our little university.
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“The City of New Orleans” – written by Steve Goodman
Probably the most famous non-Chicago reference to an Illinois town is in the song “The City of New Orleans” which mentions leaving Kankakee early on. And this one also counts for us because The City of New Orleans stops at the Champaign train station every day. Though the song was written by Steve Goodman, others made it more famous, including Arlo Guthrie, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.
Kankakee, possibly because of the way it sounds, has been featured in a lot of songs by national acts. I recently discovered this gem while watching YouTube videos with my daughter. The Kankakee references is about one minute in, but the whole thing is definitely worth watching.
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“Wherever I May Roam” – Metallica
Okay so Champaign is not actually in the lyrics or title, but it is in the video in the form of the sign outside of the Assembly Hall. It’s not much, but at the time of this video, Metallica was pretty much the biggest band on the planet. There are a lot of locals who remember this show very well, and even the smallest snippet means a lot to them. The shot appears about 55 seconds into the video.
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A couple of years ago William Gillespie and Cristy Scoggins wrote an article discussing Ben Folds’ reference to Normal, IL, and how he mistakenly referred to Effingham as Effington on his album Way to Normal. You can read it here.
And that’s about all I could find — poor Urbana gets nary a mention. I’m sure I’ve missed some big ones, especially in the non-rock genres. So if you’ve got any additions, let me know in the comments section and I will add them. Just remember we’re looking for songs from national, non-local acts that specifically reference the local area. For example Dan Fogelberg wrote a lot of songs when he was here, but I couldn’t find any that specifically mention our towns by name.
Special thanks to all of the locals who responded to my inquiries about songs.