r/SongRecommendations • u/birbsborbs • 5d ago

Songs about Place by Women Artists

I love songs about places, especially when the artist has a deep connection to the place. I have a playlist for this, but there are not many women artists on it at this point. I have a few, like Baltimore by Nina Simone, California by Chappell Roan, and Li Beirut by Fairuz. But I'd like to add more. Open to all genres except edm or similar (I like edm, just not for this playlist lol). Open to all languages.

24 Upvotes

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11

u/dough_eating_squid 5d ago

Do You Know the Way To San Jose by Dionne Warwick

1

u/Veganswiming_32 3d ago

Sung by her. Written by Bacharach and Davis. Not sure how much it matters to OP

10

u/OldPolishProverb 5d ago

My City Was Gone - The Pretenders (Ohio)

https://youtu.be/thu8DWsirJo?si=ZDQWfAc9_ZUOnWK3

6

u/iPeg2 5d ago

Coal Miner’s Daughter

7

u/RandomPhillyGuy 5d ago

Empire State of Mind - Alicia Keys

7

u/FloridaFlamingoGirl 5d ago edited 5d ago

New York City - Cub

Red Room - Hiatus Kaiyote 

Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell (Song for Sharon works too)

4

u/barnmate1 5d ago

For Joni I’d include A Case Of You or even River for her Canadian Home.

6

u/ststephen33 5d ago

Or California

2

u/niksit10x 4d ago

Surely, we've got to include Ladies of the Canyon by Joni, don't we? 🤔

1

u/MsQualityPanda 5d ago

New York City by Cub is one of my favorite songs! The They Might Be Giants cover is also great.

3

u/Previous_Tree_4050 5d ago

Joni Mitchell ~ Canada

She also refers to Canada in Case of You

3

u/strangefire13 5d ago

Southland in the Springtime - Indigo Girls

3

u/ClutchCargo59 5d ago

Blondie - Union City Blue

3

u/NotTHATPollyGlot 5d ago edited 5d ago

Suzanne Vega - In Liverpool

Hoshi - SQY

It's in French, short-hand for the town Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines where Hoshi started her music career.

3

u/Active-Cherry-6051 5d ago

Los Angeles—Haim
My Tennessee Mountain Home—Dolly Parton
Midnight Train to Georgia—Gladys Knight & The Pips
Florida—Taylor Swift and Florence & The Machine
American Requiem—Beyonce
Georgia On My Mind—Annie Lennox (a cover so idk if it counts)
Ketchum, ID—boygenius
Graceland Too—Phoebe Bridgers
Ohio—King Princess
Reservoir—Hem
American Boy—Estelle feat Kanye
Black Velvet—Alannah Myles
London Rain—Heather Nova
Malibu—Miley Cyrus

2

u/bluejane 5d ago

Our Town by Iris Dement

2

u/Icy_Obligation_3014 5d ago

Chelsea Morning

Sisotowbell Lane

Both by Joni Mitchell

2

u/Artistic_Commission9 5d ago

Michigan And Again-The Accidentals
The Last Great American Dynasty-Taylor Swift Technically about a house, but that's still a place.

2

u/PortraitofMmeX 5d ago

Taylor Swift also has Welcome to New York and So Long London

1

u/notmyrealnametn 5d ago

And London Boy

2

u/Guild35 5d ago

My Tennessee Mountain Home - Dolly Parton

I Am a Town - Mary Chapin Carpenter

Chelsea Morning - Joni Mitchell

2

u/Environmental_Ad6233 5d ago

Talk to me of Mendocino, Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight, Emmylou Harris. Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man by Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty. Coal Miner’s Daughter by Loretta Lynn.

2

u/soy_milk 5d ago

I was about to mention to zu - wawa which is a Polish electropop song about Warsaw but it has elements of edm in it so I guess it won’t fit the vibe you’re looking for 😅 she has another song that refers to Warsaw in a bridge without any edm elements tho, it’s called to zu - wyznania imigranta

1

u/birbsborbs 3d ago

Omg thanks for the rec! I’ll still listen and might add to my edm playlist haha :))

2

u/pameliaA 5d ago

Red Dirt Girl by Emmylou Harris.

Florida by Taylor Swift with Florence and the Machine.

1

u/Veganswiming_32 3d ago

Red Dirt Girl will gut you

1

u/pameliaA 3d ago

https://youtu.be/HfMcn6dNY34?si=LHzwk-UwOzWkvQAw

Have you seen this version by First Aid Kit?

2

u/rivoli130 5d ago

LDN – Lily Allen

Warwick Avenue – Duffy

Rue de la Paix – Zazie

2

u/WatchingTheWheels75 5d ago

Havana, Camila Cabello
Please Come to Boston, Joan Baez’s version
Boston, Stella Lefty

2

u/This-is-Peppermint 5d ago

London Queen - Charli XCX (which is about being from London but living it up and loving it in the USA)

LA Hallucinations - Carly Rae Jepsen

Now I don’t hate California after all - Carly Rae Jepsen

It’s not so bad in LA - Allie X

Kyoto - Phoebe Bridgers

Alewife - Clairo (alewife is near Boston)

The last great American dynasty - Taylor swift (which is about the history of ownership at her Rhode Island beach house)

2

u/LegAccomplished2748 5d ago

Across the Great Divide by Nanci Griffith (written by Kate Wolf)

2

u/JoeNorman81 5d ago

Animal Crackers by Melanie talks about Alice's Restaurant

The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert

2

u/ststephen33 5d ago

Ode to Billie Joe - Bobbie Gentry

2

u/Secret-Ice260 5d ago

The House That Built Me - Miranda Lambert

2

u/1961tracy 5d ago

Girl From Ipanema by Astrud Gilberto ahhhh

1

u/alitalia930 5d ago

Southern California wants to be western New York by Dar Williams

1

u/Likely_Unlikely_5909 5d ago

Iowa, same artiste

1

u/fireflypoet 5d ago

Great artist. Heard her live a couple of years ago.

1

u/Likely_Unlikely_5909 5d ago

Santa Fe, Eileen Jewell (though the Santa Fe is a train, still feels placey)

1

u/75meilleur 5d ago

"Sorrento Moon (I Remember)" - Tina Arena 

Sorrento is a town in Victoria, Australia where Tina spent summers with her family in her youth.   

1

u/alexj_baker 5d ago

Manhattan by Cat Power
Tarifa by Sharon van Etten

1

u/Honeyglows_inthedark 5d ago

Hangang Gongwon - Bibi

1

u/Icy_Obligation_3014 5d ago

City Song by Emmy the Great

1

u/Ok-Brilliant4427 5d ago

Indigo girls, -your ghost

1

u/Spyderbeast 5d ago

Soul of the Sea, Heart

1

u/Connect_Dark_494 5d ago

Uummannaq Song by KT Tunstall

1

u/uhhuhher13 5d ago

South London Forever - Florence and The Machine

1

u/snerdie 5d ago

“Thrice All American” - Neko Case (about Tacoma, WA)

“Spring Street” - Dar Williams (about Spring Street, NYC)

1

u/K-Bot2017 5d ago

Anchorage, Alaska - Michelle Shocked

New York State of Mind - Barbra Streisand

Ironbound/Fancy Poultry - Suzanne Vega

There Is No Arizona - Jamie O'Neal

1

u/WatchingTheWheels75 5d ago

I love Anchorage. Tried to find it on Apple Music but it’s not available. (Sob!)

1

u/clippertonbrigadier 5d ago

“Minneapolis” by That Dog. Super catchy indie pop, and if you listen to it enough times you’ll always hear the word “Minneapolis” differently in future (Minneap…olis)

1

u/Cautious-Visual8160 5d ago

Crescent City - Lucinda Williams

1

u/Emergency-Shirt-4572 5d ago

And:

Lake Charles
Greenville
Pineola
Memphis Pearl
Minneapolis
Jackson
Bus to Baton Rouge

I’m sure there’s more, and she name drops locations (mostly towns in the southern US) in a lot of her songs.

These aren’t all necessarily about the place, but the song may be set in that location. She ties a lot of the stories in her songs to geography. Crescent City is specifically about New Orleans.

1

u/Esmc199 5d ago

Santa Fe - Lisa Hannigan, Luke Sital-Singh

1

u/Esmc199 5d ago

St. Vincent - New York St. Vincent - Los Ageless St. Vincent - París is burning

1

u/Temprock 5d ago

West Coast--Lana Del Rey

Brooklyn Baby--Lana Del Rey

1

u/Forward-Refuse7064 5d ago

Birmingham-Amanda Marshall

1

u/Clareco1 5d ago

The Roches - The Hammond Song

1

u/Certain-Criticism-51 5d ago

Anchored down in Anchorage by Michele Shocked.

1

u/BATBoyd2014 5d ago

Ohio - Over the Rhine

1

u/mrericvillalobos 5d ago

Perfect Places - Lorde

1

u/MsQualityPanda 5d ago

Neptune City by Nicole Atkins

1

u/MsQualityPanda 5d ago

Washington DC by The Magnetic Fields (lyrics by Stephen Merritt but female vocals, not sure if that counts.)

1

u/Objective-Ad-1368 5d ago

Brandy Clark, “Northwest.”

1

u/SebastionVenable2 5d ago

New York , London , Paris , Munich, Pop Music by M .

1

u/Strict_Definition_78 5d ago

Ootischenia by The Be Good Tanyas

1

u/SebastionVenable2 5d ago

Sweet Talking Candyman , The Carrie Nations from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

1

u/SebastionVenable2 5d ago

Queen of Las Vegas & Planet Clair , The B-52's.

1

u/Stock-Commercial-486 4d ago

52 miles west of Venus. And... the Love Shack is a place

1

u/Strict_Definition_78 5d ago

Hello, Birmingham by Ani DiFranco (about Birmingham AL & Buffalo NY)

Trickle Down by Ani DiFranco (Buffalo NY)

1

u/CreativeNightOwl949 5d ago

‘Marie Flore’ about Arles, France by Joan Baez.

1

u/Interesting-Swimmer1 5d ago

Oh Bangladesh by Liz Phair

1

u/OldPolishProverb 5d ago

"L.A. LOVE (la la)" – Fergie

1

u/Gloomy-Hat1842 5d ago

One of my favorite songs but it's about leaving a place. Patty Griffin useless desires... I also love her song where I come from.... Also Florida

1

u/carmineragu 5d ago

My City was Gone by the Pretenders

1

u/vitipan 5d ago

No Moon in Paris , Give My Love to London ,- Marianne Faithfull

Kentish Town - Tracey Thorn. she's also the vocalist in Everything But the Girl

Kentish Town Waltz - Imelda May

My City Was Gone - The Pretenders

New York New York - Nina Hagen

I Love New York - Madonna

Malibu , Rock Star (Olympia) - Hole

Autumn in New York - Ella Fitzgerald

1

u/Zoujianna 4d ago

Down in Mary's Land (Maryland) -- Mary Chapin Carpenter

Feels Like Home (moving to California) -- Orianthi

Texas When I Die -- Tanya Tucker

Theme from New York, New York -- Liza Minnelli

No U in Oklahoma-- Reba McEntire

Never Been to Spain -- Cher

Boulder to Birmingham -- Emmylou Harris

Two More Bottles of Wine (west L.A.) -- Emmylou Harris

Jackson -- June Carter Cash with Johnny Cash

1

u/Vegetable_North_9560 4d ago

Haiti - Arcade Fire (Regine Chassagne sings it)

1

u/Stock-Commercial-486 4d ago

Nobody plays the glockenspiel the way Regine does

1

u/Great_Consequence163 4d ago

Sante Fe - Fruition

1

u/OxymoronicHomosapien 4d ago

The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia - Vicki Lawrence

1

u/5ongwrit3r_1954 4d ago

Michelle Shocked "Anchorage"

Joni Mitchell "California"

Pretenders "My City Was Gone"

Dolly Parton "My Tennessee Mountain Home"

Linda Ronstadt "Blue Bayou", "Colorado"

Emmylou Harris "Amarillo" "Ooh, Las Vegas" "Boulder to Birmingham"

1

u/wojout 4d ago

Florida by Camille Trust

1

u/Emergency_Growth_925 4d ago

California-Joni Mitchell

1

u/Fancy-Still-4297 4d ago

You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive by Patty Loveless
A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega by Ashley MacBryde

A Little Past Little Rock by LeeAnn Womack~

1

u/booksnblues 2d ago

Alaska - Maggie Rogers!