Happy Monday, and Happy Finals Week (depending on where you are) everyone. I’ve been fortunate to bring some fun subjects into what’s normally a stressful time for students and faculty alike.

My Globalization class (GEO 121) submitted their 4th paper, which required that they pick a song and pick apart its geographical references. My North American regional class (GEO 350) had a group zine semester project, which they are just submitting today. One group, who focused mainly on the American Southeast, did a zine devoted to music and region. Despite their thwarted attempts to burn a mix CD, they were still able to share their playlist with the class, which I’m passing along here.

GEO 121 Musical Geography Paper Class Playlist

1. King 180 – ‘I Ain’t Goin’ Back Again’
2. Sufjan Stevens – ‘Oh Detroit, Life Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)
3. Jason Aldean – ‘Crazy Town’
4. Gordon Lightfoot – ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’
5. Rise Against – ‘Help is On the Way’
6. Kid Rock – ‘All Summer Long’
7. Toto – ‘Africa’
8. John Denver – ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’
9. The Kinks – ‘Waterloo Sunset’
10. Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’
11. Nelly – ‘King’s Highway’
12. The Manao Company – ‘Drop Baby Drop’
13. Men at Work – ‘Down Under’
14. Eminem, Royce da 5’9″, Big Sean, Danny Brown, Dej Loaf, Trick Trick – ‘Detroit vs. Everybody’
15. U2 – ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’
16. Logic – ‘Everybody’
17. Lynyrd Skynyrd – ‘Sweet Home Alabama’
18. Ray Charles – ‘Georgia on my Mind’
19. We are the World 25 for Haiti
20. The Hold Steady – ‘Confusion in the Marketplace’
21. Arkells – ‘Michigan Left’
22. Alan Jackson & Jimmy Buffett – ‘It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere’
23. Highly Suspect – ‘Serotonia’
24. The Specials – ‘Ghost Town’
25. Jason Aldean – “Fly Over States’
26. Shakira – ‘Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)’
27. The HU – ‘Wolf Totem’
28. OutKast – ‘ATLiens’
29. Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Especially in Michigan’
30. Panic! at the Disco – ‘Vegas Lights’
31. Kid Rock – ‘Detroit, Michigan’
32. Drake – ‘Know Yourself’
33. John Denver – ‘Rocky Mountain High’
34. Jim Jones ft. Fat Joe – ‘NYC’
35. ‘Tear Me Down’ from “Hedwig & the Angry Inch”
36. Tony Bennett – ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’
37. Jack White – ‘Just One Drink’
38. Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys – ‘Empire State of Mind’

GEO 350 Group Project Playlist

1. OutKast – “Ms. Jackson” (oooooh)
2. Lil’ Jon – “Snap Yo Fingers”
3. Wes Montgomery – “West Coast Blues”
4. Blind Blake – “West Coast Blues”
5. Blind Willie McTell – “Statesboro Blues”
6. Mississippi Fred McDowell – “You Gotta Move”
7. Garth Brooks – “Friends in Low Places’
8. Johnny Cash – “Ring of Fire”
9. Randy Travis – “Forever and Ever, Amen”
10. Louis Armstrong – “What a Wonderful World”
11. Nina Simone – “Backlash Blues” (Live at Montreaux 1976)
12. Nina Simone – “Backlash Blues”
13. Joe Hertler (CMU alum) & the Rainbow Seekers – “Evening Coffee’
14. The Velvet Monkeys – “The Creeper”
15. Scream – “Caffeine Dream”
16. Fugazi – “Waiting Room”
17. Charlie Daniels Band – “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”
18. Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Sweet Home Alabama”
19. The Allman Brothers – “Midnight Rider”