The United States of Songs: Idaho
Friday, July 29, 2011
Hoo boy. Time once again for my weekly pet project in which I try to find the perfect song for a state in the union. You guys know the drill by now: the song has to have the state in the title, and it has to be about the state, not just one feature or a woman with the same name or something weird.
Which is what makes this week so ridiculously hard.
Sometimes, as with California or Texas or New York, the only trouble you’ll have is narrowing it down. This week, it’s tough going just finding some songs to consider. But let’s get down to it:
The state: Idaho
The song: “Idaho” by Jeffrey Foucault
Okay, B-52s advocates, I hear you. “Private Idaho” is a much better song. You’ll get no argument from me. But it’s not really a song ABOUT Idaho. In fact, if you read the lyrics it’s kind of insulting to the state: Idaho is a metaphor for a paranoid, isolated state of mind that they’re trying to coax a person out of. So while you’re rocking out thinking you’re celebrating potatoes, you’re kind of being a jerk.
I don’t know much about Idaho; it’s a state I’ve always wanted to visit since I was a kid. I think it’s a combination of the funny name, funny shape, and the fact that it might as well have been in another solar system from my tiny town in Illinois. But it seems like anyone writing a song about Idaho follows one of two themes: “I live in Idaho. It’s fine, as far as places go, but I’m stuck here. I crave more. But I know I’ll never leave. Such is my lot in life,” or “Holy crap the world is too much for me to take. This heartbreak/unemployment/police search is really driving me nuts, so I’m fleeing to Idaho, where no one will ever find me because apparently it is a wasteland no one bothers to visit.”
So with the Foucault tune, the whole song seems to lament that wherever he is now, it’s not Idaho. I know you could argue that’s probably not a state-centric ballad, but hear me out. You could just as easily be sitting on the porch of a ranch nestled in the mountains, debating with a native Ida…what do you call those people, anyway? Idahoans? Idahoites? Idahokies? Anyway, whatever big city or far away land you’d visited and could tell tales of, they would simply respond with the refrain, “I know it isn’t Idaho.” And if you’ve seen pictures, you know what they’re talking about. It’s BEAUTIFUL out there.
So here’s your song, Idaho. It may not be perfect, but it could be a lot worse. That Josh Ritter tune just makes me want to kill myself.
Runner up: “Idaho” by Nerina Pallot
Most Laughable Suggestion: “Idaho” by Afroman
How’d I do? Let me know in the comments below, and feel free to suggest ideas for next week’s song, an ode to Illinois!
Flickr photo Idaho Potato Museum by rayb777 used under a Creative Commons License.
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