[Editor's Note: This is the … newest part in an overly long series about the musical legacy of Nebraska. Click for parts one and two.]
by John Wenz
When we last left you in this Nebraska Index series, we left you with baited breath, Waylon Jennings edging out Justin Bieber for Omaha supremacy, and Counting Crows left in the dust with their little heart of the matter. But now it's time to go beyond Omaha, and out into the rest of the state. The next three parts will span genres, eras and sanity. And there will be far too many references to Charles Starkweather.
But for these outsiders writing about Nebraska, ultimately, only one song can remain supreme for being The Ultimate Nebraska Song. Let's start in 1931.
1931 – "Nebraska Blues" by Victoria Spivey
Texas born, New York City transplanted blues singer whose career spanned from the '20s to the '60s, and who recorded at one point with Bob Dylan.
Degrees of Nebraska: 2.5/5
The narrator seems to be more in Chicago, but is dreaming of Nebraska. Who wouldn’t dream of Nebraska? Especially if that’s where the best man she ever had is. Because of course he is, you know?
Portrayal of Nebraska: 3 / 5
Points for talking about our awesome folks here — her daddy from Nebraska is the best man she ever had, after all. It’s because we raise them right with manners and all of that stuff. Still, we’re not left with much of an image of the state — something that marks it as a strong song of yearning, but not suitable to replace “Beautiful Nebraska.” But at least it got closer than Ginger Ten Bensel?
Overall Quality of Song: 4 / 5
This is good early piano blues. It probably has some classification someone at KZUM could easily school me on, but in her vocals you can hear the yearning. It’s just one of those songs I could stand to play more often, and definitely makes me want to pursue Spivey’s career more.
Nebraska Index: 9.5 / 15
1949 – "Nebraska Moon" by Ole Rasmussen and his Nebraska Cornhuskers
Despite the name, these country-swingsters held their own in the early '50s before disappearing back into obscurity.
Degrees of Nebraska: 3/5
Dude sure likes his Nebraska. In the evening he’s happy, and one large factor is the Nebraska Moon, which is guiding his love somewhere or other. But this song could technically be anywhere. This is somebody who chose the name “Nebraska” and went with it. Go back in time, get him drunk and have him switch the name to the Fargo Shitkickers and I bet you could come back and find out it’s now “North Dakota Moon.” This would be scientifically inaccurate, though, as North Dakota is a land of perpetual darkness. He has a song called “Sandhills of Nebraska,” as well, but that one wasn’t as easy to hunt down and over-analyze. Maybe that one is more Nebraska specific, but though the portrayal isn’t negative, this seems to be a case of “state with the right number of syllables and the band’s place name in the title.”
Portrayal of Nebraska: 4 / 5
We apparently have a very trustworthy moon, much more trustworthy than the abyss known as North Dakota, whose moon would remove your kidney without hesitation. We’ve got a hell of a moon up in that sky, watching his love get home. Lighting her way.
God, music was boring before people started talking about boning.
Overall Quality of Song: 3 / 5
Speaking of boring, there’s nothing really to hang our hats on with this song. It’s not a bad song by any means, but sometimes things are just a bit … slow going and standard. Fold your hands nicely in your lap and say “Well that was certainly a pleasant song.” Golf clap. Audience awaits next song. Western swing has its moments of carrying on rich folk traditions arising out of Appalachia, but also somehow turns really white music even whiter. This is soundtrack filler.
Nebraska index: 10 / 15
1957 –"Nebraska Sunrise" by Buddy Knox
A minor player in the early rockabilly scene (by way of his hit song “Party Doll”), Knox kept a relatively Texan country sound before veering first into pop and then into semi-retirement.
Degrees of Nebraska: 3 / 5
He just came down from the Wild Cat Hills, over Crystal Lake before the sun came up and then washed his face in the Red Willow. He then complains about the political hustle-and-bustle in the cities so far away, which I’m guessing means the ever looming threat of Lincoln. Those are things that are certainly in Nebraska! Except the Wild Cat Hills are near the Panhandle, Crystal Lake is near Hastings (there’s another lake by the same name just outside South Sioux City which is even farther away) and Red Willow is sort of by McCook which is mostly south of North Platte.
In fact, for this progression of events to play out in any way, he would have to travel approximately 250 miles from the Wild Cat Hills to get to Red Willow to wash his face, because, in fact, it wouldn’t make sense to go to Crystal Lake in between, as Crystal Lake is another 120 miles eat of Red Willow. Here’s a map that demonstrates just how illogical this turn of events is:
So either we are dealing with a superhuman (not likely, given the “simple man” lyrical content of the song) or a person who decided to write a song about Nebraska based on an unsorted list of place names. Which great, Mr. Knox (RIP), I can do that too, watch!
Just came down from Toad Stool Park
Over Robber’s Cave before the sun came up
Washed my face in the Niobrara river
Read some boring news in the North Platte paper
Awesome! Here’s a map of mine, for those keeping track at home:
Is it really that much less believable than Mr. Knox’ turn of events?
Portrayal of Nebraska: 3 / 5
I mean, whatever. He nails our small town apoltical ramblings that are less about hating the increasing influence of government and more about hating the idea of having to be involved in the political process. Nebraska, to him, is a way to get away from the hustle and bustle of places like Washington, D.C. and Des Moines, places filled with things like corruption and senators and presidents. “What do I care who’s president? My day remains the same each day.”
I give him points for reflecting on the beauty of our state. However, I feel like he’s sort of filling in some blanks here and I just doubt the sincerity of the whole affair. A shame.
Overall Quality of Song: 2 / 5
There is one timeline in which we take away the acclaim of “Party Doll” as an early precursor to rock and place more emphasis on this song and reflect how, lyrically, this is the antecedent to the rise of those million plus post-9/11 songs. Simple-minded portrayal of the political process? Check! Reflecting that the rural life is where the “real” America is, damn the suits in Washington? Check. I mean, you could have Toby Keith or Alan Jackson sing this today and nobody would be the wiser over it. All they would have to do is either add in a line about beheading Jihadists and nailing their heads to the front of a Ford 4 x 4 (Keith) or butcher the pronunciation of a couple Middle East countries, like maybe the UAE if they’re feeling especially dumb (Jackson.)
So, uh, in other words, this song is kind of awful. It’s not the worst compositionally. I guess. Fairly standard non-love ballad of the era. But lyrically, it’s pretty cringe inducing. However, it gets one extra point for being a vaguely patriotic country song that is not “God Bless the USA,” which is whatever the opposite of a platonic ideal is.
Nebraska Index: 8 / 15, I hate you.
1962 – "I've Been Everywhere" by Hank Snow
A string of number one hits in the '40s and '50s kept country singer Hank Snow a household name for followers of the Grand Ol’ Opry, and kept songs like this enduring classics covered by future generations.
Degrees of Nebraska: 2 / 5
Blink and you’ll miss Nebraska between Chaska, Minnesota and the vast frontier of Alaska in the third verse. Sioux City is briefly mentioned, so theoretically if he’s been everywhere, he might’ve crossed the border and ventured into South Sioux City. So … yeah. It gets a point for not outright misplacing us on a map.
Portrayal of Nebraska: 2.5 / 5
Two and a half points may seem high, but remember, portrayal is based on a scale of negative / value neutral / positive, and therefore, by simply being a value neutral place he’s been, it gets 2.5 points. But it sort of feels like if the road is his love life, we’re just a notch on his bed post. I realize that in adapting this Australian song for American audiences, the writers had to make things rhyme, but we don’t even know where in Nebraska he was. We don’t get to feel loved or special. We’re a notch on the narrator’s bed post, except being a train hopping, dirty hobo, he probably doesn’t have a bed.
Overall Quality of Song: 5 / 5
C’mon, this is classic country! While maybe you know Johnny Cash’s version better (because it was in a cheap hotel commercial), this ain’t no slouch. It’s fun and catchy and frustrating to sing along to the first hundred times. I can’t find any fault in such a fun little romp, except when viewing it through the other two criteria.
Nebraska Index: 9.5 / 15
1964 – "Plains of Nebrasky-o" by Eric Anderson and Phil Ochs
Degrees of Nebraska: 4 / 5
Corn! Rivers! Plains! Farming! Drought! Tumbling crop prices! It may not be the brightest, sunniest story, but I have no trouble firmly placing the story of the song in Nebraska. I feel that, moreso than the other songs we’ve discussed thus far, the intent of this song is to place it in Nebraska, not to tell a story and throw Nebraska in for novelty’s sake.
Portrayal of Nebraska: 4 / 5
So I realize we’ve thus far gone on the “low end = negative, high end = positive” scale, but here we have something a bit more … honest than the other songs. Nebraska isn’t portrayed in an awesome, stunning light, but is instead viewed from the lens of a realistic light. This is the plight of the common farmer, both their ideals of the place they’re calling home (corn growing high, rivers roaming free, westward imperialist expansion creating economic opportunity), the struggles of their forebearers (fathers dying at ploughs, mothers dying in snow), to their current problems (corn ain’t growing, everybody telling them it’ll get better.) I mean, this is the activist folkies ruining America or whatever, but they’re doing it by painting a vivid, not inaccurate picture.
Overall Quality of Song: 4 / 5
I’m a Phil Ochs fan, so my opinion is skewed / biased and if this were a court case I’d have to recuse myself from the case. This is not my favorite song of his or my favorite song he was involved with, but it’s not far from it. In its own way, it brings the plight of the farmers to the same level as the old wobbly songs and other union anthems. This could ferment another Farmer’s Holiday in the wrong or right hands.
Nebraska Index: 12 / 15
1967 – "My Elusive Dreams" by David Houston and Tammy Wynette off My Elusive Dreams
Though recorded by many artists, Houston and Wynette’s version of this tale of heartbreak remains the only one to hit No. 1 on the country charts (though Charlie Rich’s version performed better on the Hot 100 charts, though neither cracked the Top 40.)
Degrees of Nebraska: 2 / 5
A couple chases their dreams across America before realizing it’s something they’ll never find. Among their stops chasing the American dream is a “small farm in Nebraska.” They soon move on to a goldmine in Alaska.
Portrayal of Nebraska: 2.5 / 5
Going to place this firmly in the “value neutral” camp. Though it’s nice that they thought the dream might be here on the confines of Nebraska, it’s really not our fault the dream isn’t here. The dream isn’t anywhere for this couple, as Houston’s character admits at the end that they’re both fleeting and a little bit schemy. In fact, contentment is nowhere to be found because he’ll never really find it. And he’s worn down the only person willing to follow his elusive dreams, and they’re broke and out on their ass. This song is America.
Overall Quality of Song: 4 / 5
The best thing about pre-'90s country is the fact that most of the songs are depressing as hell. Work hard, try to get ahead, find yourself in the midst of abject failure. Try to love, find that years of emotional hardening have left you unable to find the words you need. Or succeed in love but fail because you can’t find contentment no matter where you look. I mean, there’s a reason this music is soaked in sadness and whiskey and nary a trace of boot-scootin-boogies. It was a glorious time in the arena of “Kill yourself” music. And this duet is a classic that goes beyond the surface and gets to the heart of the matter.
Nebraska index: 8.5 / 15 — But ultimately, it’s not Nebraska enough.
1972 – "Cheyenne" by Roy Orbison off Roy Orbison Sings
Roy Orbison was there at the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll, recording at Sun Studios in Memphis alongside Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. After some quiet years in the late '60s and '70s, Orbison staged a comeback around the time of his untimely death in 1988, due in no strange small part to Blue Velvet. So, uhh, thank David Lynch for that?
Degrees of Nebraska: 2 / 5
He’s not so much in Nebraska as leaving Nebraska, vaguely homeless looking and ready to … get drunk in Wyoming and pick up cowgirls.
Portrayal of Nebraska: 2.5 / 5
He’s leaving for a reason never said, so he could be on the road, he could be chased out of town or he could just be ready to leave Nebraska. We don’t know! It’s a mystery. And if you’ve been to Cheyenne, it’s not exactly the bright, bustling lights of Omaha and really is an extension of that weird cultural nexus of Eastern Colorado / Eastern Wyoming / Panhandle Nebraska. He could be leaving Scottsbluff for Cheyenne, which is like, a two-hour trip. For all we know, he’s going back to Nebraska or something. The lyrics are fairly unclear of his opinions of Nebraska.
Overall Quality of Song: 3.5 / 5
This was released during a low period in Orbison’s career, six years after the dreadfully named “Twinkle Toes” barely cracked the American Top 40 charts, and eight years after “Oh, Pretty Woman” sent him to number one. It wasn’t a great time to be Roy Orbison. So this song isn’t coming out of the strongest period of his work, and at first the song is a little much in the cheese factor to take.
However, it does eventually work its way in. It’s a nice little drunk juicebox song, or somewhere on Side B on a road trip tape. It’s not the most spectacular song you’ve ever heard, but its moment may someday come.
Nebraska index: 8 / 15
1982 – "Nebraska" by Bruce Springsteen off Nebraska
He’s the boss. Unless you live under a rock, there’s literally no way you don’t know Bruce Springsteen. This song is off the album Nebraska, one of a small handful of albums minus the E Street Band that search the seedier side of America, as America’s spokesman for the working class explores just what all America means.
Degrees of Nebraska: 5 / 5
Uhh, the song is very, very much in Nebraska. That’s because it’s heavily tied to the Charles Starkweather murder spree across the state, starting in Lincoln and ending somewhere over the Wyoming state line. In 1958, Starkweather took his girlfriend along on a murder spree across the state, first killing her family in Lincoln and then proceeding across the state, killing most they encountered. Starkweather was executed for his crimes in 1959.
Portrayal of Nebraska: 2 / 5
This is tough. The whole album, Nebraska, is in some ways about the failures of the American dream. These are the toughest points in many characters lives, whether it be a convicted spree killer like Starkweather, or the ordinary cop of “Highway Patrolman.” It’s tough to argue that an album Springsteen himself said was inspired by less-than-sunny early punk duo Suicide could be considered “uplifting.” I lean toward value neutral for this song, as Starkweather’s portrayal in the song seems to be a young man unhinged by circumstance rather than geography, but a stark, unrelentingly bleak portrayal lasts through the entire song.
Overall Quality of Song: 5 / 5
This song is nothing short of classic. As in one of the greatest songs released alongside one of the greatest albums. It took some of the desperation of Springsteen’s previous effort, The River, and pulled out all the stops. For a mainstream artist to release an album so vividly dreary was a feat of tremendous courage, and since the time of its release, Nebraska has become one of the most highly regarded albums of all time.
Nebraska index: 12 / 15
So what comes next? Hang around to find out. We've got some Christian metal, some Metal Church and a detour into the tiny town of Hazard, where there's a murder and, for once, Charles Starkweather didn't do it.
John Wenz is usually accompanied by a fleet of cats in his South Philadelphia home. He can be reached at johnwenz@hearnebraska.org.