Utah Needs A New Song Shoutout

Music can make people feel things that other forms of media can’t always replicate.

Intense emotion, unrivaled excitement, immense sadness, there’s no doubt you can find a song and artist for every mood.

From the lyrics, the rhythm and the sound, music often has a larger impact than the run time of the song.

Music is powerful, and can be especially potent when it feels relevant to the listener.

Yes, I can enjoy a catchy beat about getting sweaty in the club while at my office job, but it won’t impact me the same way that a breakup song will after a tough split with a long time lover.

One of the way’s music can provide special meaning to individual listeners is by making the song feel like “home”.

Like a country song playing off the idea of a “small town” or a pop song referencing the party scene in Miami, if you are from a place that is similar to the mentioned location, it connects in a different way.

I love me some George Strait with “Amarillo by Morning”.

I enjoy jamming to some “Detroit Rock City” with Kiss.

Country Roads is always worth turning the radio up for when John Denver starts rolling.

And as much as I like them, sitting here in Utah, never having been to any of the places mentioned in songs like this, imagine what those songs feel like to people with deep connections to Detroit, West Virginia or the Texas panhandle.

Washington has Owl City with “Hello Seattle”.

Faith Hill paints a picture of a “Mississippi Girl”.

Charlie Daniels and the Devil went down to Georgia.

2Pac and California, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Alabama and the list goes on.

So for me, and for you, here in the beehive state, what’s our song?

No that is not a Taylor Swift mention.

Utah has a lot of songs with passing mention’s.

Chris Ledoux brings up the beehive state now and again through his works and even has a full blown song titled “Utah Tribute” in what seems to be a sort of thank you for helping the country legend grow.

The “Utah Desert” got a nod from Bruce Springsteen in “The Promised land.”

Lynn Anderson was told by her rodeo cowboy in Salt Lake City that he loved her.

Shania Twain threw Utah in with a bunch of other states in “Rock this Country”.

Marty Robbins has a cowboy ballad about “Utah Carol” that despite the name, has nothing to do with merry sounds about the state, but more so a guy named Utah getting trampled in a stampede.

Post Malone is one of the most recent examples of Utah getting some lyrical love in his 2018 song, “Wow.”

Directly after a Dikembe Mutombo reference, Post references a “750 Lambo (Lamborghini) in the Utah snow.

Despite the reference from some notable names, Utah’s two best chances at having a popularized anthem focusing more so on the state as a whole comes in the form of The Beach Boys and The Osmonds.

Were you expecting Five Finger Death Punch here? Perhaps, Ariana Grande?

The Osmonds song, appropriately titled “Utah” makes it very clear that Utah is the place they want to be, basically saying it’s home and there’s no where that can compare to home.

It released in 1972.

The Beach Boys themselves took a liking to Salt Lake City in 1965 as it was one of the first places outside of California that their popularity really escalated.

They mention how they “dig a city called Salt Lake” and that they “never get tired of Salt Lake.”

Why don’t they get tired of Salt Lake you may ask?

Well per The Beach Boys themselves the song states that the theme park, Lagoon, has a lot to do with it.

“There’s a park near the city, yeah all the kids dig the lagoon now.”

But they weren’t just there for the old white rollercoaster, they also say that the park is “full of all kinds of girls.”

After all, of course, The Beach Boys do mention that “girl for girl, they’ve got the cutest of the Western states.”

So theme parks and attractive women are currently responsible for Utah’s version of Luckenbach, Texas by Waylon Jennings.

Whether your a big fan of these songs or didn’t even know they existed until today, it’s fair to say songs from 1965 and 1972, as much as we appreciate the love, may be far enough behind that the state is anxious for a re-tune in the music industry.