Top 20 Songs About Birmingham

The folks over at an apparently new magazine called Pavo are attempting to compile a list of the 20 best songs about Birmingham. They’ve been adding a new song to the list every day for the last 19 days and tomorrow is the final day. The songs are in no particular order, from what I gather. One of the first things that I noticed about the list is that only one of the songs (of those listed as of this post) was made in the last 30 years — “Birmingham” by the Drive-By Truckers. That’s a little disturbing to me. As a matter of fact, since I’m an engineer and I like analytical breakdowns, here’s a look at the number of songs by decade.

1920s – 3
1930s – 4
1940s – 2
1950s – 1
1960s – 6
1970s – 3
1980s – 0
1990s – 0
2000s – 1

(Yeah, I know it adds up to 20. For some reason their list of the top 20 songs about Birmingham will actually have 21 songs on it. And yeah, that bothers me, too.)

We all know that the 60s were a busy time for Birmingham what with being a hotbed for hatred and subsequent change and all, so I can understand why a the majority of songs about our fair little hamlet were penned during that decade. But come on, 80s and 90s! Nothing? A little too busy with your Moog synthesizers, cock rock, and androgyny or your unkempt hair, flannel, and rap-rock to give a little lyrical love to the Dirty Ham? Of course I realize that there were probably songs written about Birmingham during the abscess of excess that was the 80s and 90s, but apparently none worthy of Pavo’s list. And to be honest no songs are sticking out in my head, either.

So let’s try to come up with some more songs about Birmingham. Can y’all think of any more? Preferably at least a few made in the last 30 years. Local favorite or national star; we don’t care who sang it, wrote it, produced it, or played it. Leave us with a few of your favorite songs about the Magic City in the comments on this post and we’ll try to make a list of our own.