Miriam Wasser
Audio By Carbonatix
Last week, we brought you 20 songs about Arizona, or with some reference to it in the verses. This week, we bring you the top 20 songs with lyrics about our state.
20. ‘Phony Rappers’ (A Tribe Called Quest)
“His rhyme style is older than a Chrysler Cordoba / I’m wilder than the cats in Arizona.”
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19. ‘June on the West Coast’ (Bright Eyes)
“I spent a day dreaming of dying in Mesa, Arizona / Where all the green of life had turned to ash.”
18. ‘2 Minutes of Death’ (Stuck Mojo)
“Fowler warned ya, then he had to storm ya / On that ass like heat in Arizona.”
17. ‘The Painted Desert’ (10,000 Maniacs)
“In a Flagstaff trailer court, you wrote the line / He kicked a tumbleweed and his mother called him home / Where the Arizona moon met the Arizona sun.”
16. ‘In the Springtime of His Voodoo’ (Tori Amos)
“Standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona / And I’m quite sure I’m in the wrong song.”
“Maybe it’s my ape drape, or hippes in my band / But now we only tour in Arizona or Japan.” “Her lamp, slippers in her bedroom / She must feel it’s awkward / Oh, I said it’s Arizona.” “There is no Arizona / No painted desert, no Sedona / If there was a Grand Canyon / She could fill it up with the lies he’s told her.” Once met a girl in Yuma, Arizona / Whose mother was dyslexic like mine / Grandpa owned a ranch, was where she learned to dance / I hear she goes out dancing all the time.” “Arizona really feels alright / Girls swing here and they treat you right / Have so many special ways, you know/And that’s alright.”
“Did I dream you were a tourist in the Arizona sun? / I can see you there with luna moths and watermelon gum.” “I’m going to Arizona / Sex on the rocks, all warm and red.” “We land in barren fields / On the Arizona plains / The insemination of little girls / In the middle of wet dreams.”
“Hey Willie, let’s pack up and catch us a slow train / And go back to Phoenix to a far brighter day / Where stars were for shining in the Arizona sky / And music meant more than fortune or fame.” “I’m on the one mission / To get a politician / To honor or he’s a goner / By the time I get to Arizona.” “Just dip ’em in glaze, paint ’em orange and green / For the Arizona roadside stands / To sell alongside plaster burros and birdbaths.” “Here in this hopeless fucking hole we call L.A. / The only way to fix it is to flush it all away / Any fucking time, any fucking day / Learn to swim, I’ll see you down in Arizona bay.” “Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner / But he knew it couldn’t last / Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona / For some California grass.”
“By the time I get to Phoenix, she’ll be rising / She’ll find the note I left hangin’ on her door / She’ll laugh when she reads the part that says I’m leavin’ / ‘Cause I’ve left that girl so many times before.” “Well, I’m a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona / And such a fine sight to see / It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford / Slowin’ down to take a look at me.” “I went from Phoenix, Arizona all the way to Tacoma / Philadelphia, Atlanta, L.A. / Northern California where the girls are warm / So I could be with my sweet baby, yeah.” “Hotel in Arizona made us all wanna feel like stars / Rental cars and tinted windows, leave another number for me.”
15. ‘Aging Orange’ (Vandals)
14. ‘Arizona’ (Kings of Leon)
13. ‘There Is No Arizona’ (Jamie O’Neal)
12. ‘Yuma, AZ’ (Damien Jurado)
11. ‘Arizona’ (Scorpions)
10. ‘You’ (R.E.M.)
9. ‘Trucker’s Atlas’ (Modest Mouse)
8. ‘Teenagers from Mars’ (Misfits)
7. ‘Hey Willie’ (Waylon Jennings)
6. ‘By the Time I Get to Arizona’ (Public Enemy)
5. ‘A Growing Boy Needs His Lunch’ (Dead Kennedys)
4. ‘Á†nema’ (Tool)
3. ‘Get Back’ (The Beatles)
2. ‘By the Time I Get to Phoenix’ (Glen Campbell)
1. ‘Take It Easy’ (The Eagles)
Honorable Mentions
‘Rock’n Me’ (Steve Miller Band)
‘Hotel Arizona’ (Wilco)
Editor’s note: A version of this article originally ran in 2011.
