50 Songs That mention Intersections

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(OK, we're at #17, approximately)

18.Beastie Boys, "She's Crafty" mentions "8th and 40-Deuce"
19.Rush, "Danforth and Pape" (instrumental, and really only a short section of "La Villa Strangiato", but still an intersection in Teronna)

Myonga Vön Bontee, Friday, 13 April 2007 18:03 (seventeen years ago) link

I could have sworn there's a song on Gold that mentions an East Village intersection that doesn't exist, but I can't remember what it is...

-- Ben Boyerrr, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:37 (1 hour ago)

yeah he says something about taking the train to "houston and third."

also: mekons, "i love apple"

'saw you on the corner of mott/ selling fake watches and hand-me-down gowns'

i've always envisioned her standing on houston and mott, but i suppose she must be closer to canal if she's hawking watches ...

edb, Friday, 13 April 2007 18:15 (seventeen years ago) link

Umm zowee, apparently the intersection of Bleeker and McDougal has SHRUNK since that album cover?

nabisco, Friday, 13 April 2007 19:04 (seventeen years ago) link

"Bourbon and Division," Firewater.

OK, OK, so it's not a real intersection, but still . . .

J, Friday, 13 April 2007 19:07 (seventeen years ago) link

I know what you mean. Maybe it's a trick of the lens?
http://blog.durdle.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/phil.jpg

sexyDancer, Friday, 13 April 2007 19:08 (seventeen years ago) link

Not to nitpick, but technically those are the parallel streets on each side of the Whisky-a-Go-Go, which is on Sunset Boulevard - if memory serves!

That's it. I remember seeing the Whiskey years ago and wonder why he got it wrong. I think there's a Clark in the Valley that runs parallel like that too.

Cunga, Friday, 13 April 2007 19:25 (seventeen years ago) link

also: mekons, "i love apple"

'saw you on the corner of mott/ selling fake watches and hand-me-down gowns'

i've always envisioned her standing on houston and mott, but i suppose she must be closer to canal if she's hawking watches ...

I always imagined this was at Prince and Mott because that's so glam.

dad a, Friday, 13 April 2007 19:36 (seventeen years ago) link

22. Elliott Smith - "Needle in the Hey"

now on the bus
nearly touching this dirty retreat
falling out 6th and powell a dead sweat in my teeth

darin, Friday, 13 April 2007 19:44 (seventeen years ago) link

I meant "Needle in the HAY". Christ, I can't spell today.

darin, Friday, 13 April 2007 19:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh, how could I forget: MX-80 Sound's "Man In A Box" mentions a woman listening to the radio on Market and 5th. (Dunno if that's an actual Detroit intersection, despite my oft-proclaimed "honourary Michigander" status.)

Myonga Vön Bontee, Friday, 13 April 2007 19:53 (seventeen years ago) link

How about band names that are intersections? There's a Beechwood and a Sparks in LA that cross, somewhere in North Hollywood or Burbank, I think.

nickn, Friday, 13 April 2007 20:50 (seventeen years ago) link

24. Matchbook Romance - "Hollywood And Vine"

NYCNative, Friday, 13 April 2007 22:00 (seventeen years ago) link

25. Hilary Duff - "Wake Up"

"Wake Up Wake Up
On a Saturday night
Could be New York
Maybe Hollywood and Vine"

26. Christina Aguilera - "Candyman"

"He took me to the Spider Club at Hollywood and Vine
We drank champagne and we danced all night"

Thank you Google...

NYCNative, Friday, 13 April 2007 22:06 (seventeen years ago) link

is vine the most intersected street in pop song history?

fact checking cuz, Friday, 13 April 2007 22:27 (seventeen years ago) link

27 - Pretenders, 'Precious' (East 55th and Euclid Ave., Cleveland)

Jeff Wright, Saturday, 14 April 2007 02:51 (seventeen years ago) link

28. Pet Shop Boys - "New York City Boy"

"Where 7th Avenue meets Broadway"

LeRooLeRoo, Saturday, 14 April 2007 04:28 (seventeen years ago) link

29. charlie rich, "love waits for me" ("love waits for me at the corner of 7th and broadway...")

(pet shop boys and charlie rich on same wavelength!)

(or was charlie singing about 7th and broadway in nashville? or maybe west memphis? he's singing about a place full of buses and taxis. but maybe all broadways everywhere are full of buses and taxis.)

fact checking cuz, Saturday, 14 April 2007 06:24 (seventeen years ago) link

Actually I checked and Beechwood and Sparks don't cross (they're parallel adjacent streets), so I'll remove #23 and replace it with Hollywood and Argyle, for the band the Hollywood Argyles, who scored with "Alley Oop." And in Googling them to check I discovered that they were put together by Kim Fowley!

nickn, Saturday, 14 April 2007 06:35 (seventeen years ago) link

And #30 - Felix Figueroa's "Pico and Sepulveda." Novelty songs count!

nickn, Saturday, 14 April 2007 06:45 (seventeen years ago) link

If you mean Lieber & Stoller (and about a BILLION artists that recorded it) than yes, 12 Street & Vine is about the gold standard.

Speaking of Vine, all you P-Funk poseurs can eat my shit on the line "Gettin' My Ass Fat On Hollywood & Vine" (Bootsy's Rubber Band "Hollywood Squares")

If you ain't gonna get it on, take your dead ass home...

"O.K. Bye"

Saxby D. Elder, Sunday, 15 April 2007 05:59 (seventeen years ago) link

31. Ryan Adams - Tonight

"Meet me on the corner -- 44th and Broadway"

Adams likes his intersections.

MRZBW, Sunday, 15 April 2007 16:20 (seventeen years ago) link

32. Ace Frehley - New York Groove

"Stop at third and forty-three, exit to the night
Its gonna be ecstacy, this place was meant for me"

Dougie Chimes, Sunday, 15 April 2007 16:46 (seventeen years ago) link

33. whatever the fuck that Gastr Del Sol song is with the lyrics "Fullerton And California" -- an intersection in Chicago.

Formerly Painful Dentistry, Sunday, 15 April 2007 17:19 (seventeen years ago) link

34. Bootsy's Rubber Band "Hollywood Squares"

Sorry, forgot to number mine.

Saxby D. Elder, Sunday, 15 April 2007 22:00 (seventeen years ago) link

35. The new Stooges disc has a song that mentions "Hollywood & Vine."

NYCNative, Friday, 20 April 2007 00:16 (seventeen years ago) link

And #30 - Felix Figueroa's "Pico and Sepulveda." Novelty songs count!


is "felix figueroa" a reference to the felix chevrolet on figueroa st?

get bent, Friday, 20 April 2007 00:30 (seventeen years ago) link

i don't feel like looking this up, but i'd bet the farm that the fiery furnaces' lyrics are littered with intersection names.

get bent, Friday, 20 April 2007 00:33 (seventeen years ago) link

And how can Steely Dan name so many streets and never cross them?

eater, Friday, 20 April 2007 02:02 (seventeen years ago) link

The Hold Steady:
"It was midnight down by Selby and Griggs" - You Gotta Dance
"We were living up at Nicolet and 66th" - Hornets! Hornets!

...and quite possibly many more.

kingkongvsgodzilla, Friday, 20 April 2007 02:44 (seventeen years ago) link

is "felix figueroa" a reference to the felix chevrolet on figueroa st?

I don't know, but Wiki told me his real name was Freddy Martin, so maybe (he prolly just liked the alliteration).

nickn, Friday, 20 April 2007 02:51 (seventeen years ago) link

36. Urge Overkill "What Is Artane"

63rd and Cottage Grove, about 5 blocks from where I was born.

Reppin teh southside again...

BPSN/BSR, ya know it.

(officially #36 til some people number they shit)

Saxby D. Elder, Friday, 20 April 2007 03:57 (seventeen years ago) link

37. Robert Johnson - Cross Road Blues

StanM, Friday, 20 April 2007 06:02 (seventeen years ago) link

(or am I not getting the question? crossroads are intersections, no?)

StanM, Friday, 20 April 2007 06:03 (seventeen years ago) link

That is the seminal reference actually. Well-played!

Didn't he say what them roads were? I can't be arsed to look it up...

Saxby D. Elder, Friday, 20 April 2007 06:05 (seventeen years ago) link

three years pass...

Now with Google Maps:

1) 53rd & 3rd

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/130/l_5a3d750072824e49887cd1fe6f86dc55.jpg

Dee Dee wouldn't recognize the place now...

NYCNative, Thursday, 27 January 2011 15:05 (thirteen years ago) link

2) Slauson & Crenshaw from NWA's 8-Ball

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/139/l_780cc0cc1240400ba8dd57b3408110f8.jpg

NYCNative, Thursday, 27 January 2011 15:10 (thirteen years ago) link

Move, every script's like Miramax
Smash the big boy totalled it, Wilshire and Fairfax

Ghostface Killah – Mighty Healthy

A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, 27 January 2011 15:18 (thirteen years ago) link

"we moved together out to Philly after college
took a two bedroom at South & 9th"

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone -- I Love Creedence

St3ve Go1db3rg, Thursday, 27 January 2011 16:09 (thirteen years ago) link

I mentioned this in an old Song ID thread that never got figured out, but I had this mix CD about 10 years ago that had a song by some Knapsack-esque emo band with a lyric that said "Stand around at Goldfinch and Washington" - an intersection in San Diego in Mission Hills.
Never figured out what the song was, though...

She Got the Shakes, Thursday, 27 January 2011 16:09 (thirteen years ago) link

Dismemberment Plan - "13th and Euclid"

bing, Thursday, 27 January 2011 18:04 (thirteen years ago) link

new sub-category: band name plus song name = intersection.

e street (band) plus 10th avenue (freezeout), belmar, nj:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/159/363098080_227bc496b9.jpg

fact checking cuz, Thursday, 27 January 2011 18:43 (thirteen years ago) link

it took me about 20 listens to pick up on the Hollywood & Vine reference in John Cale's "Dying on the Vine".

the loneliness of the dexys midnight runner (unregistered), Thursday, 27 January 2011 18:48 (thirteen years ago) link

Cant imagine Haight Asbury hasnt been mentioned somewherre.

The Curse of Dennis Stratton (Bill Magill), Thursday, 27 January 2011 18:49 (thirteen years ago) link


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