The Leaning Tower of Trees-uh
Actually, Sacramento has an official song……it just doesn’t know it yet. But it will. If I have anything to say about it.
My resident music encyclopedia (aka “Ron”), introduced it to me as part of an email conversation amongst our friends.
It’s a pop tune from 1972 called “Sacramento (A Wonderful Town)” by Middle of the Road. It was a number one hit in four countries. It’s credited with being the reason Europe had such an affinity for Americans.
And nobody’s heard of it.
What??????
I want everyone in Sacramento to know this song. To sing this song. To be played at Rivercats games for everyone to sing along like how everyone sang along to “Sweet Home Alabama” in that movie …what was that movie called? You know, the one with Reese Witherspoon of “Don’t you know who I am?” fame? What WAS that movie? Oh nevermind, I’m sure it will come to me.
Anyway, they play the song and everyone just KNOWS it. The whole country actually knows that song. And I want the whole country to know “Sacramento (What a Wonderful Town)”. I mean, if an entire continent across the pond can know it, why on earth can’t one lousy little town (ABOUT WHICH THE SONG SINGS BY THE WAY) know it?
I know. We’re a city, but in 1972, we were just a town, apparently.
And Sacramento is trying to embrace rather than run away from our little nickname of “Cow Town”. Did you know that we are the Farm to Fork Capital of America? We even have a logo and a festival and a website and everything to prove it.
Speaking of which, the Farm to Fork Festival starts next week. With a cattle drive! Yee-haw! And food things. And wine things. And dinner on the Tower Bridge, which may or may not be going for some kind of Longest Dining Table record or something.
And they should play “Sacramento” for everyone to hear and learn and love and sing and adopt as our official song.
So anyway, why is this not our song? After all, it’s a tribute to Sacramento, and gosh, nobody ever sings about us. There are songs about Chicago, New York, San Francisco,… even frickin’ Lodi! Why on earth is “Sacramento” not in our collective vernacular?
We should be teaching it to school children. It should be played at River Cats games where everyone sings along because it’s as ubiquitous as “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”.
It should be piped in at the State Fair, shopping malls and everywhere people are having fun, creating an insidiously subliminal association with it until it inevitably becomes our city’s official song.
And even if they refuse that song, they (whoever “they” are) should have a contest for someone to “write” the official song and have people vote on it.
I will even run this campaign to get Sacramento to adopt a song, only I don’t know how you go about doing that, so I’m forming an exploratory committee to see what it takes to bring this to the forefront and make it happen. We will call it the SOS Campaign Committee, or something like that. Because we need a song NOW! And because SOS stands for Sacramento’s Official Song. Cool, right?
If you think this is a good idea, leave a comment. If you want to join the SOS exploratory committee (because I can’t do all this by myself), leave a comment. Enough with the “we should, we should”. Let’s do this.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60WTVLMyGdI
And if you can’t get enough of them singing it on a train, here is one of them singing it on a boat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKYudIGMoTA
And the standard, singing on stage version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtAZ8jXYL-w
Here are the words to the first verse:
There’s something about the weather that everybody loves
They call it the Indian Spring of Sacramento
And when the sun is up in the sky
The wind is blowing by the riverside, most every day
You’re in Sacramento, a wonderful town
Sing, sing, sing, din-di-din
If you know what an “Indian Spring” or a “din-di-din” is, let me know.
And if you don’t like this song and prefer the idea of a contest, there is one more song out there about Sacramento. Have you heard the one by local discount jazz band, the FreeBadge Serenaders?
Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjbOtCjtiC0
I love the way you promote Sacramento but maybe you can write a song yourself or maybe just neglect to play those two again.
Being an unnecessarily curious person I wondered if the group on the train were entering or exiting Sacramento. They might have been asked to leave by irate citizens with shovels, hoes, rakes and pitchforks. In the same vein of sarcastic thoughtlessness, I wonder if the Freebadge Serenaders were on the next train out.
I know from personal experience if you break into song and you are not good at it, seriously offended bystanders will assume you are suicidal and will attack and try to kill you.
Lastly, I really liked the city logo. It reminds me of the sixties when I tried to convince my pothead friends that it would be better to eat their weed than to smoke it. The plant and fork fit right in with my crusade. I could have used that logo. I was trying to get them to cook it in brownies and you can eat a brownie with a fork. It was a lost cause and there is only one old hacker still living. He subsists on the quarter of one lung he has left.
OK, maybe I need to rethink this official song thing and start again from scratch and get some sort of contest going where we come up with a new and improved song. I’m not sure Middle of the Road has ever been to Sacramento and I’m sure the video was probably shot in Scotland, where they are from. Although, they must have passed through once, or else how would they even know about our little burg?
Sorry, I am so late to the party. I hope to get some blog reading done today.
Well….Margaret, I agree that Sacramento deserves a great song for it’s very own. Why should Chicago, New York, New York, and even the left behind heart in San Francisco have all the fun. Oh and in my own “cow town” of Kansas City, do I need to remind people that “there’s a lot of pretty women here and some guy is going to get him one.”
Still let’s just nix the Middle of the Road song. I am not at all sure they know where Sacramento is. They have another version of that song with the video taken as they go down a canal in what appears to be Amsterdam. (there for some hashish brownies, I suspect…I bet they are into baked goods or being baked…you decide)
Oh and there is also the fact… Who names a band as being “middle of the road”?…didn’t they aspire for at least being better than middle?
I much prefer the Freebadge Serenader’s song.
Oh, but before I forget…I think Indian Spring must be the precursor to Indian Summer….but aren’t we supposed to now call that Native American Summer. I just did a post on that and clearly the world is still not PC compliant on the seasons.
Ha! Cheryl, you crack me up! Well, judging by the feedback I’m getting here, it’s no wonder the song hasn’t taken hold or else I would have heard about it long before. Maybe I should have been pushing the Freebadge Serenader’s song. Hmmmm…
I’ll sing, but I’m in India so it has no impact…
Braja!! (HUG-HUG-HUG-HUG-HUG)
hahaha :)) every time i see goats, baby…every time….xoxo
Memorizing the lyrics now for when we take over the PA system at the next River Cats game.
Woo hoo! Well, that’s makes two of us anyway. 🙂
Sacramento does need a theme song. Slow the train down on this one and you might have something!
It’s true. If not this one, maybe someone can write another one.
“So anyway, why is this not our song? After all, it’s a tribute to Sacramento, and gosh, nobody ever sings about us. There are songs about Chicago, New York, San Francisco,… even frickin’ Lodi! Why on earth is “Sacramento” not in our collective vernacular?”
You’re totally right, Margaret!
“If you know what an “Indian Spring” or a “din-di-din” is, let me know.”
Sadly, I can’t help you out with that!!
Dang. I mean, I’ve heard of Indian Summer, but not Spring.
What a dreadful little Ditty! I thought there was a song about Sacra-Tomato, but maybe I’m just making that up.
Dang, now I’m getting a complex. OK, this is good to know, if everyone doesn’t even like the song, maybe I shouldn’t be pushing for it? Perhaps a remake/cover would help?
I hope your campaign is successful…..
Hugs
SueAnn
Thank you, SueAnn!!
Are you sure that is not Alvin and the Chipmunks dressed up in human form?
Ha! It was the 70s, man. AND they’re Scottish. As if that helps explain anything. 🙂
OMG…. please tell me that video is playing double time…. she has a … um…. interesting vocal quality.
If you mean by double-time, she sounds like Abba, then yes, it’s playing at double time. 🙂