On this date in 1965, Petula Clark became the first British woman to score a No. 1 single in the U.S. with her recording of the Tony Hatch-penned song, “Downtown.”

Certainly there are plenty of songs that mention particular places by name; Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” is a prime example. What’s special about the song “Downtown,” however, is that it mentions a place that means different things to different people. Maybe for you, “downtown” means a section of Minneapolis or New York or Chicago or Los Angeles … or Hopkins. (Interestingly enough, London, the place where Petula Clark and songwriter Tony Hatch started their careers, doesn’t even have a place called downtown; its central business district is known as the City of London or simply The City.)

Like Petula Clark’s “Downtown,” there are a lot of songs that mention a place that sounds kind of specific but really isn’t: The town. An island. The kitchen. An office. The street. What those places are and what they look like is all in the mind’s eye of the listener. There are many more … let’s dig into that!

So for today’s 9:30 Coffee Break, what songs do you want to hear that mention nonspecific places?

Respond with your song ideas in the comments below.

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Songs Played
Petula Clark – Downtown
Lana Del Rey – West Coast
The Replacements – Kiss Me On The Bus
The Hollies – Bus Stop
Prince – Uptown
Roxy Music – The Space Between
Rinocerose – Cubicle
Band of Horses – Islands On The Coast
Big Country – In a Big Country (bonus)