Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Young Adult Author
For this feature we’ve previously done Sweet Little Sixteen, Dancing in the Streets, Night Train, Rock’n Me, Pop Muzik, Girls, Girls, Girls, Fire Down Below, Truckin’, and Everywhere That I’m Not, and Mess Around.
Tonight’s song is Back in the U.S.A., by Chuck Berry, the second song by Chuck Berry we’ve done. (The first was Sweet Little Sixteen.) I guess Chuck was big on places, maybe a result of his extensive touring. The song hit #37 for him in 1959 and Linda Ronstadt did a cover version that hit #16 in 1978. It’s also the first of several America-themed songs we’ll do.
Oh well, oh well, I feel so good today,
We touched ground on an international runway
Jet propelled back home, from over the seas to the U. S. A.
New York, Los Angeles, oh, how I yearned for you
Detroit, Chicago, Chattanooga, Baton Rouge
Let alone just to be at my home back in ol’ St. Lou.
Did I miss the skyscrapers, did I miss the long freeway?
From the coast of California to the shores of Delaware Bay
You can bet your life I did, till I got back to the U. S. A.
Looking hard for a drive-in, searching for a corner café
Where hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and day
Yeah, and a juke-box jumping with records like in the U.S.A.
I really like these lyrics. Very picturesque!
So the cities and places in this song are
Baton Rouge
(coast of) California
Chattanooga
Chicago
Delaware (Bay)
Detroit
Los Angeles
New York
St. Louis