And we’re back! The United States of Songs continues barreling through the alphabet of states to find the perfect song to describe each. I know I go through it pretty much every time I write one of these, but people seem to forget that the rules specify the song title has to have the state name, and the song must be about the entire state. Which means songs like the great country march “Let ‘Er Go,” while great recommendations, just don’t apply to today’s state:
The state: North Dakota
The song: “North Dakota” by Chris Knight
Hoo boy, it’s tough to find a good tune about North Dakota. That’s not to say it’s a particularly BAD song; it’s not. But it’s really stretching my “song about the state” rule to the breaking point, I know. And honestly, I probably would’ve gone with the current state song, “North Dakota Hymn,” had I been able to find a version of it online that isn’t absolute crap.
It’s particularly tough to find a good song for North Dakota because the whole state’s a mystery to me. I’ve never been there, and all I know is the winters are cold and there’s currently a modern day gold rush going on in the oil fields; they can’t find enough bodies to fill the jobs up there. Apparently. Like I said, it’s never really been on my radar. So at least this tune covers the cold winter part.
The entire state has roughly a third the population the Seattle metro area does, so it sounds like the kind of place where you could carve out your own little kingdom on a piece of land and not have too many people bother you. I could get behind that, if it weren’t for the whole, y’know, desolation thing. The problem with the lonesome prairie is there aren’t a lot of opportunities for sarcastic internet copywriters. I think, though, that the general vibe of this song captures what I think the vibe would be in North Dakota.
North Dakota, I did the best I could. Hopefully a few of you guys can show up and suggest some other options I may have missed!
Runner-Up: ”North Dakota“ by Lyle Lovett
Most Laughable Suggestion: This monstrosity.
What do you think? Got a better pick for North Dakota? Want to make a suggestion for next week’s state, Ohio? Let us know in the comments!
Flickr photo Brocket, North Dakota by Andrew Filer used under a Creative Commons License.