Geography and Song

The latest issue of the Clipper discusses about meme(s), especially those that are trending in the Internet. So, what’s meme, you ask.

Basically, it is the idea that goes viral. The easiest example to think of is your friend hums a song and you start singing that song or the song plays in your mind for at least the next 30 minutes and you hate yourself of not being able to stop singing.

Personally, songs have been a powerful tool to pass a message or ideas. Long before I came to the U.S., I have learned about its geography (or at least names of cities and states) through songs.

Everytime I hear the word Long Beach, the song “Sway” plays in my mind as the advertisement of Long Beach cigarette used it as jingle.

The same thing goes to Georgia. Since I know the song (Michael Bolton version), originally popularized by Ray Charles, it’s very difficult for me to mention the word Georgia without singing “Georgia….”

“So, if we go up north, where would we end up to?” I asked my friend when we were driving to Orlando during my winter break vacation.

“Oh, Florida’s northern border is Georgia,” he said.

“I said Georgia… “ I started singing.

He laughed.

Alabama follows suit. Who doesn’t know “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd? (well, if you don’t know, start asking Uncle Google). Or try listen to “Oh Susanna” written by Stephen Foster.

Bee Gees also helped me learning about Massachusetts. Everytime I heard that word, I started singing “Feel I’m going back… to Massachusetts. Something’s telling me, I must go home…” (I’m still singing while typing this).

As for California, it came to me as a song when I watched a film by Wong Kar Wai titled “Chungking Express”. The woman character played by Faye Wong like listening to “California Dreaming” everytime she was doing her job cleaning up an apartment.

On top of all, stood Frank Sinatra with his New York, New York. When I first arrived New York, this song kept playing in my mind. I couldn’t stop singing “Start spreading the news…” for the first 30 minutes since I first step foot on the train station.

Thinking back to my origin, Indonesian songs taught me about cities, too. Kla Project expressed their admiration to Yogyakarta in a song. For sure, if you have ever visited the city, you might be fascinated by the people as described in the song.

Rita Effendi told me about Dili, a capital of Timor Leste, in her song “Januari di Kota Dili.” However, the song was made long before the country separated from Indonesia.

Kuta and Bali were already popular without needing any help from musician. But still, Andre Hehanusa’s Kuta-Bali was a great song to listen to.

So, I said Georgia… (with the hope that you will sing a part of the song).