Surprised?
You shouldn't be.
One of them happened to be playing over the XM on the way into the office this morning: Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again (above), this version by Dylan himself (although my favorite version is by The Grateful Dead). (Did Dylan ever write a song about Dallas??? I think not. . . . although, A and I did see him live at Willie Nelson's 4th of July Picnic one year . . . less than impressive.)
Being a firm believer in the theory that every interesting life deserves a good soundtrack, after I received my offer from the Judge, we went on iTunes to research "songs about [mentioning in the proper context] Mobile" and happily found some other goodies: Mobile (by one of my favorite "New Orleans" artist, Marcia Ball); On Mobile Bay (which appears to be a Roaring 20s ditty); Mobile Boogie (by Ol' Bocephus himself, Hank Jr.); Mobile Bay (allegedly covered by Johnny Cash -- just couldn't find his version on iTunes or in my collection of almost 300 Johnny Cash songs); and Thirty Nine Miles from Mobile (by The Charlie Daniels Band).
In addition, Mobile is at least mentioned in the followings classics: Stars Fell on Alabama (I prefer the version by Jimmy Buffett -- a native Mobilian); Stars on the Water (Rodney Crowell/Jimmy Buffett/King George [Strait]; and (last but not least) A Southern Thing (by Better Than Ezra -- with such moving lyrics as "Kelly was a blackjack dealer/Living on the Gulf of Mexico/Kelly had a taste for guns and pills/He was looking for a mark to roll . . . Sara was a Kappa from Tulane/She was looking for a little change of pace/When a cop pulled them over on the interstate/Kelly blew that car away" and "Now when they held up a bank in Mobile/They finally made it on the evening news/She's a Georgia Peach never within reach/He's a felon from Baton Rouge").
Yep, pretty excited about my new home.
But the topper has to be this. In the novel Forrest Gump, Forrest's home town is not Greenbow, Alabama, but Mobile! . . . Thank you, Wikipedia!
2 comments:
1) What exactly is 39 miles from Mobile?
2) Did not know that about Forrest Gump, but the big homes and oak trees make much more sense now!
Actually, Pecan, MS is exactly 39 miles from Mobile if you are on I-10 . . .
And I did leave out the various songs about Alabama generally (my favorite of course: "Ala-Freakin-Bama" . . . please assure us that there has not been a movement to make THAT the state song).
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