10. Stars Fell on Alabama

This song about Birmingham is the title of a 1934 jazz standard composed by Frank Perkins with lyrics by Mitchell. The 2014 version by She & Him comes in at number ten.

Image via Barbershop Harmony Society
  • ‍She & Him is an American musical duo consisting of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. They recorded songs for six studio albums and an extended play as well as various other releases including Stars Fell on Alabama. They sang this in their album Classics in 2014.
  • Stars Fell on Alabama has been performed by over 100 artists. The title seems to have been borrowed from the title of the 1934 book of the same name by Carl Carmer referring to a spectacular occurrence of the Leonid meteor shower observed in Alabama in 1833, "the night the stars fell."
  • The song has become the unofficial anthem of both the Southerners and Jacksonville State University after being performed by the Marching Southerners of Jacksonville State University at every home football game and exhibition
  • In 2002, the phrase "Stars Fell on Alabama" was added to Alabama's license plates until 2009 when it was replaced by "Sweet Home Alabama."
  • The song was performed by Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong and used in the soundtrack of the 2007 film "Constellation".

9. Black Betty

This song about Birmingham is a 20th-century African-American work song credited to Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter though the earliest recordings are not by him. The 1977 rock version by Ram Jam comes in at number nine.

  • Ram Jam was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1977. They are known for their hit single "Black Betty".
  • The band started with Bill Bartlett, Steve Walmsley, and Bob Nave until Walmsley was replaced by David Godflies naming them Starstruck. Bartlett took the original "Black Betty" and recreated it making it a regional hit.
  • ‍Ram Jam was created from producers in New York who formed a group around Bartlett. When the song was released, the recording was originally from Starstruck composed at the time of Bartlett, Tom Kurtz, David Goldflies, and David Fleeman.
  • "Black Betty" reached number 18 on the singles charts in the U.S despite being boycotted by the NAACP and the Congress of Racial Equality due to the lyrics.

8. Swordfishtrombone

This song about Birmingham is a song in the 1983 album by American singer-songwriter Tom Waits and is his eighth since his debut Closing Time in 1973. This song experimental rock song comes in at number eight.

  • Tom Waits is an American singer, songwriter, musician, composer, and actor whose lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice.
  • In 1980, Waits split from his manager and record label and moved to New York City to pursue a more experimental and eclectic musical aesthetic influenced by Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart. This is where Swordfishtrombone was born.
  • Swordfishtrombone was written during a two-week trip to Ireland. It abandoned the jazz sound characteristic and was his first album not to feature a saxophone.
  • Wait's album was declined until Island Records released it where it then became the New Musical Express album of the year.

7. I Can't Love You Anymore

This song about Birmingham was written by Lyle Lovett in 1996 in the album "The Road to Ensenada". This country song comes in at number seven.

  • Lyle Lovett is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer since 1980 and has recorded 13 albums and released 25 singles to date. He has won four Grammy Awards, including Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Album.
  • Lovett began as a songwriter, but soon signed with MCA Records in 1986 and released his eponymous debut album.
  • He's typically associated with country but his compositions incorporate folk, swing, blues, jazz, and gospel. His honey-cured voice has a ring of honesty which is the opposite of the characters in the songs.
  • Lovett won a Grammy including Best Country Album for his 1996 The Road to Ensenada. This album included I Can't Love You Anymore which is the most countryish song on the album where the singer says goodbye to a girlfriend, calling her his "angel in distress," yet calmly declares, "I'll get over you."

6. Train to Birmingham

This song about Birmingham was written by John Hiatt in 1971 at age 19 in the album Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns but the song and the album didn't make it out until 2011. This country song comes in at number six.

  • John Hiatt is an American singer-songwriter, and musician since 1972 and has played a variety of styles including new wave, blues, and country. Hiatt has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards.
  • Train to Birmingham was written while Hiatt was writing songs for Tree-Music Publishing Company. He says he wasn't a country songwriter but was surrounded by them. He was trying to pick up country songwriting and asked one of them at the publishing company how to write one and one of them said, "well, you gotta have a train song", so he wrote about one of the writers who took the train home every weekend to Birmingham.
  • The song was finally recorded after years when Hiatt exclaimed, "you know what, my wife really loves the song. And she's been asking me to record it for years, and it kind of seemed right on this [Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns] record. We were doing all of these songs about cities and different locations and going from the city and the country and back and forth".

5. Sweet Home Alabama

This song about Birmingham is a song by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd that appeared in 1974 on their second album named Second Helping reaching number eight on the US chart in 1974 and became the band's second hit single. This beloved song comes in at number five.

  • Lynyrd Skynyrd, originally named My Backyard, is an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. The height of their fame in the seventies comprised of popularizing the Southern rock genre with Sweet Home Alabama and Free Bird.
  • In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked them 95th on their 100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list. In 2006, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
  • Sweet Home Alabama was a response to Neil Young's Southern Man and Alabama. It was also their only single to crack the top ten where their previous singles has "lazily sauntered out into release with no particular intent".
  • None of the three writers were from Alabama. Ronnie Van Zant wrote the lyrics then Gary Rossington and Ed King wrote the music. In the beginning, the song was put under controversy for themes of racism and slavery in the American South but ended up being successful and heard by everyone.

4. Boulder to Birmingham

This song about Birmingham was written my Emmylou Harris and Bill Danoff and appeared on her 1975 album Pieces of the Sky serving as something of a signature tune for Emmylou to recount her grief following Gram Parsons' death. This heartfelt song comes in at number four.

  • Emmylou Harris is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career winning her 14 Grammys. Emmylou also won the Polar Music Prize, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and many more including being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
  • Harris toured as a member of Gram Parson's band, the Fallen Angels, in 1973, and the pair shone during vocal harmonies and duets. Later that year, Parson and Harris worked on a studio album, Grievous Angel which was released after his death.
  • Boulder to Birmingham is known for its chorus: "I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham/I would hold my life in his saving grace/I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham/If I thought I could see, I could see your face".
  • This song has been covered by many different artists including Dolly Parton, The Fray, Tom Wopat, and more.

3. Cities

This song about Birmingham was written by the American new wave band Talking Heads in 1979 and is a fast-paced bass and keyboard-led song described as "melodic" and "funky". This aggressive funky rhythm of a song comes in at number three.

  • Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City until 1991 and were described by Stephen Thomas Erlewine as "one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the '80s". They helped pioneer new wave music with avant-garde sensibilities and an anxious, clean-cut image.
  • In 2002, they were indicted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with four of their albums appearing in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and three of their songs included among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll as well as many other achievements.
  • With Fear of Music, Talking Heads flirted with the darker stylings of post-punk rock, mixed with white funkadelia and subliminal references to the geopolitical instability of the late 70's. Cities, one of the songs on this album, is mainly about a man looking for a city to live in. However, lead singer David Byrne's surrealistic yet humorous delivery of the song is anything but simple and the lyrics are both deadpan and silly causing a mixed humor in the song.
  • Other versions of the song are by the rock band Phish and it is frequently played at their concerts.

2. Rip This Joint

This song about Birmingham was the second song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on The Rolling Stones' classic 1972 album Exile on Main St. It is one of the fastest songs in the Stones' canon with a pronounced rockabilly feel. This "keep you on your toes" song comes in at number two.

  • The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962 and were identified with the youthful and rebellious counter culture of the 1960s. Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, they started playing covers but were more successful with their own material.
  • Exile on Main St. was a return to their "bluesy" roots after a short experimentation with psychedelic rock. It was during this period they were introduced on stage as "The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World". In 1989, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame then listed in Rolling Stone magazine fourth on the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
  • Rip This Joint's tempo is noted as one of the fastest ones and really keeps you on your toes while Jagger's breakneck delivery of the lines spells out a rambling tale set across America from the perspective of a foreigner.
  • The recording of the song began in late 1971 at Richards' rented home in France using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Jagger was on lead vocals, Richards sang back-up and played electric guitars, Watts played drums, Plummer provided upright bass while Hopkins performed Johnnie Johnson-like piano, Keys played two saxophone solos, and Price performed trumpet and trombone.

1. Promised Land

This song about Birmingham is an American filk song written by Chuck Berry to the melody of "Wabash Cannonball". This soulful song comes in at number one!

  • Chuck Berry was an American singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and Roll, Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive. He focused on lyrics of teen life and consumerism developing a music style that included guitar solos and showmanship.
  • Berry had a troubled childhood being sentenced to armed robbery in High School then being sentenced to three years in prison in 1962 for offenses under the Mann Act. However, in this time away he came back with hits.
  • One of these hits Berry wrote in prison was Promised Land. He describes himself at a "poor boy" who is trying to make it to the 'promised land" which is Los Angeles, California. Once there, he calls the folks in Norfolk, Virginia that he made it and declaring it heaven on earth.
  • In 1973, Elvis Presley recorded a powerful, driving version which peaked at number 14 on the Billboard charts. There are many more versions as well including one in French by Johnny Hallyday which spent one week at number one on the singles chart in France.