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Following this morning’s post about D.C. songs relevant to the Census data released last week, we’ve come up with a few more, thanks in part to suggestions by commenters. Add your own in the comments below!
Song: “Welcome to D.C.”
Artist: Mambo Sauce
Year: 2007
Relevance: High. The Census found 20,000 new residents had moved to the District between 2000 and 2010, so the title alone is right on point. Lyrics like, “We gonna be right here/We gonna be right here/We ain’t goin’ nowhere,” though, could speak for the longer-time residents who—despite demographic changes—still make up most of the population.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vQaHrc1o8Y
Song: “Swann Street”
Artist: 3
Year: 1989
Relevance: Medium. The song harkens back to an earlier era of D.C. gentrification—though thanks to the ease of Internet-based music research these days, every myopic little twit moving here since the 2000 Census probably had it on a D.C.-inspired playlist before they arrived. Might there be a hidden message about the source of new municipal policies in this line: “Sometimes it seems/these hopes and dreams/all came from somewhere else”?
Song: “You’re My Miss Washington D.C.”
Artist: Nation of Ulysses
Year: 1991
Relevance: Low. The song blends vaguely political calls to action with vaguely sexual ones; the narrator is either trying to lead a revolution or get laid (or, knowing the Nation of Ulysses, both). But the chorus, “So many things that I’m dying to show you,” could be addressed to newcomers to the District.
Song: “Mt. Pleasant”
Artist: Tuscadero
Year: 1994
Relevance: Medium. Some lyrics are a bit outdated now—”All liquor and lace/Drunk guys in your face/Broken 40s in the street/Losing lottery tickets at your feet,” for instance, doesn’t take the modern ban on single sales of alcohol into account. But the line, “It’s my Beaver Cleaver neighborhood/Might not be clean but it sure smells good/Everybody’s living like they should/I wouldn’t leave it even if I could,” still speaks to people who can’t afford to move elsewhere in the District—even though, 17 years after the song came out, Mt. Pleasant isn’t really affordable anymore, either.
Song: “Banned in D.C.”
Artist: Bad Brains
Year: 1983
Relevance: Low. “Banned in D.C. with a thousand more places to go,” the song opens, in what could be an anthem of the displaced. But it’s really an anthem of D.C. hardcore fans banned from clubs—people who, 18 years later, are probably gathering to drink old-fashioned cocktails in the neighborhoods they used to run around in as straight-edge teenagers. Still, any excuse to shout, “You, you can’t hurt me/Why? I’m banned in D.C.” is a good one—especially on a Friday afternoon—so we’re including it anyway.
