You join us today at the mouth of the river Ness in the Highlands of Scotland, birthplace of Karen Gilan from Doctor Who & Guardians of the Galaxy; one of my favourite contemporary writers, Ali Smith; Runrig guitarist Malcolm Jones; and the Loch Ness Monster.
We're steering clear of Nessie today though and sticking to the city itself, which you'll find mentioned in Mike Scott's Long Way To The Light...
I spent the night in Glasgow
Flew to Inverness
I found the Place and at the first
I was not impressed
Nobody said hello
The faces left me cold
Back then how was I to know
All that would unfold?
Tough crowd there, Mike?
You'll also find Inverness mentioned in the sequel to Hank Snow's I've Been Everywhere... gloriously titled I Ain't Been Anywhere...
I ain't been anywhere Joe, ain't been anywhere Joe
I didn't want to go so I guess I'll never know Joe
An old stick in the mud Bud
I ain't been anywhere.
Kumquat, Limerick, Inverness, Loch Ness
Swansea, Cuanda, Colombia, Gold Coast
Edinburgh, Singapore, Galveston, Okinawa
Blarney, Killarney, Karachi, Pyongyang
Warsaw, Tarancon, Down, Libya
Goose Bay, Labrador, Outer Space, no place.
However, surely the greatest lyrical mention of Inverness comes in another song that gets about a bit... even visiting the small Norfolk village where I went on holiday last year. (And now I'm kicking myself for using this track for Inverness... what chance do I have of ever finding another song about Cley-next-the-Sea?)
Land's End at dusk
A day of churches
Her getting her hair cut
A windswept walk to Dunnet Head
Boarding a north-bound train at Inverness
A rainy Cley-next-the-Sea
Her swinging on a tyre
Me taking her picture
A station frozen in time
March stars in a Norfolk sky
407 miles down the country next week, back to my home county, but a little bit further south... it ain't New York City, that's for sure!
