Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

As we embark on the fifth stage of our musical road trip through the USA we are leaving California behind us, and begin our journey back west in Las Vegas to end up in St Louis.

The Hall & Oates song gives a profession to the eponymous character of their hit Sara Smile; here Sara is an air stewardess who is “flying gambling fools to the holy land, Las Vegas”. So, unlike Elvis, they are not fans of Vegas, and clearly neither is Sheryl Crow who is leaving the city with its gaudy neon streets.

We’ll turn north to Salt Lake City and then go east. It has to be said, there is no superfluity of songs about the Mid-West, so we are travelling some mighty distances between tracks:  838km (514 miles) between Denver and Wichita; 678km (421 miles) between Vega and Salt Lake City; 629km (390 miles) between Salt Lake City and Laramie; 528km (328 miles) between St Cloud and Madison. In fact, the only distances between destinations under 100km (62 miles) were Chicago to Gary (50km or 32 miles), and Laramie to Cheyenne (82km or 51 miles).

Altogether, the route from Vegas to St Louis, with all its funny twists and turns, comes to 4708km, or 2925 miles — more than the distance from Iceland to Istanbul. That’s 4708km of good, or at least interesting, music. One diversion I made at the request of my old friend Whiteray from the Echoes in the Wind blog, who suggested I visit St Cloud in Minnesota with Trisha Yearwood, who is much more wholesome than the subject of the song about Whiteray’s hometown.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and includes covers and a route-map (more detailed than the one above). PW in comments.

1. Elvis Presley – Viva Las Vegas (1963 – Las Vegas, NV)
2. Hall & Oates – Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song) (1974  – Las Vegas, NV)
3. Sheryl Crow – Leaving Las Vegas (1994 – Las Vegas, NV)
4. Peggy Lee – I Lost My Sugar (In Salt Lake City) (1961 – Salt Lake City, UT)
5. Jimmy Young – The Man From Laramie (1955 – Laramie, WY)
6. George Strait – I Can Still Make Cheyenne (1996 – Cheyenne, WY)
7. Willie Nelson – Denver (1975 – Denver, CO)
8. Warren Zevon – Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead (1991 – Denver, CO)
9. Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman (1968 – Wichita, KS)
10. Phil Ochs – Kansas City Bomber (1972 – Kansas City, MO)
11. Counting Crows – Omaha (live) (2006 – Omaha, NE)
12. Jeffrey Foucault – Des Moines (2015 – Des Moines, IA)
13. Growly-voiced singer – Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis (1978 – Minneapolis, MN)
14. Trisha Yearwood – On A Bus To St. Cloud (1995 – St Cloud, MN)
15. George Thorogood and The Destroyers – Madison Blues (1977 – Madison, WI)
16. Al Jarreau – Milwaukee (1976 – Milwaukee, WI)
17. The Doobie Brothers – Chicago (1971 – Chicago, IL)
18. The Blues Brothers – Sweet Home Chicago (1980  – Chicago, IL)
19. Frank Sinatra – Chicago (1957 – Chicago, IL)
20. The Jesters – Night Train From Chicago (1950s  – Chicago, IL)
21. The Jacksons – 2300 Jackson Street (1989 – Gary, IN)
22. WC Handy – St Louis Blues (1923 – St Louis, MO)
23. Steely Dan – East St Louis Toodle-oo (1974 – St Louis, MO)

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Previously on American Road Trip

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