If you love music, travel on - songs associated with cities; UK, Europe, USA

Cities are associated with songs. When we used to show slide shows on returning from overseas, we would pick a song to set the atmosphere as we started and ended. Now you can do the same with a slideshow on Powerpoint or the Apple version, Keynote.

England
Why do I think songs are associated with cities? Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner, the popular song says. As I leave for Europe on the ferry I hope 'there'll be blue skies over the white cliffs of Dover', as Vera Lynn sang to raise morale in World War II.
A few more:
The Eton boating song.

Here's a list I'm compiling:

UK
Ireland
When Irish eyes are smiling. (Great song to accompany a picture of family, friend, or character met on your travels. Or a picture of your favourite singer or group.)
If you're Irish come into the parlour!
Molly Malone.

Scotland
You take the high road ... great song to accompany a picture, a vista, of a road through the Scottish hillsides and valleys.

Europe
Many more songs are associated with France, Italy, Spain.
France - The Marseillaise; Sur le pont (D'avignon - music to accompany any bridge - you say, 'Well of course this isn't Avignon, this is such and such a bridge,' or, "This is the bridge at Avignon, so many miles north of where we travelled to  .... where we saw this bridge across the river ... )
Italy - All over Italy ...
Spain - Que Viva Espagna!

USA
Bridge over troubled water - 'this is the Golden Gate Bridge ... and the prison of Alcatraz is  open to visitors ... from here you can look down on ..."
I left my heart in San Francisco
Galveston, oh Galveston ...
... that's why I hang my hat in Tennessee

Many states and cities have songs or musicals associated with their names: Chicago; Oklahoma; Miss Saigon.

You could also research through history, finding the top ten records of the year to match your photos, either of the year of your birth, your trip, or of buildings which you have photographed, or a historic photo from Wikipedia of the same main street years ago, such as a Wild West town.

Angela Lansbury, author, travel writer, speaker.

PS If you are making a public presentation you will have to find works which are old enough to be out of copyright, unless you invest in paying for a performing right license. (Some venues will already have this.)

Pub names - what do they mean?

I ordered The Dictionary of Pub Names. I like dictionary format. You can find what you want quickly. The book is not only a handy explanation of pub names, it gives you amusing myths and local history and national and international history. I just got distracted by reading about Ypres and how the French and British pronounce it.


I also bought:
The Old Dog and Duck The secret meanings of Pub Names by Albert Jack (best selling author of Pop Goes The Weasel).

Interesting to read about Captain Kidd who according to this account was not really a pirate but preying on ships from enemy states in wartime. It's more complicated than that.

I also enjoyed reading about Henry VIII and his first wife Anne - whose divorce led to the founding of the Church of England. Next I read about Nelson who suffered from seasickness.

Then on to The Royal Oak, where Charles II hid from Cromwell's men, as Charles later told diarist Samuel Pepys.

The book about pub names also deals with Molly Malone of the Irish song. I was impressed with the song's connection to Dublin (mentioned in the song). She died of a fever - what kind? I have always been too naive to suspect.

If you go to Dublin you can see the statue to Molly Malone, whose day is June 13, commemorating a girl of that name (one of many) who died on June 13.

See pictures in Wikipedia.

Both books are an entertaining read.