A Rainy Night in Clacton

Sunday 20th October

Why is it that American town names always sound so glamorous.  A Rainy Night in Georgia conjures up all sorts of images of warm summer storms in the Deep South and romance steamy and sultry.  Yet change the name to Clacton, and just like last night it is dreary cold and miserable; the name Clacton is laughable – who would ever write a song about it.  Imagine ‘Only Twenty-Four Hours from Tulse Hill’ and it makes you smile maybe, but when Gene Pitney sang about Tulsa we were bewitched by the image.  When Chuck Berry sang about Memphis Tennessee, or Norfolk Virginia we were overawed  – just by the magic of those names.  Or even Earlier Oklahoma, New York, New York etc:   Only London comes close and even then it sounds slightly ridiculous.

Can you imagine an ode to an electricity repair man called ‘The Winchester Linesman?’  No, and for the very good reason that there is no romance in Winchester, but Wichita just brims with the stuff.  Even the states themselves have evocative names you can sing about, Texas, Idaho, Kansas, Utah, Ohio, Mississippi, and even Pennsylvania,  Rhode Island, Maine – all of them sound romantic.  What do we have  – Essex, Kent, Cornwall and Cheshire or even worse – Greater Manchester.   If you want to find romance in towns head for Delacroix or Nashville instead; I am afraid when it comes to towns in song, America wins every time.