reports from outposts near and far.

Pastoral = Go-Betweens' "Cattle & Cane". Without a doubt in my mind. I see fields of heather swaying gently in the wind every time I hear that song.

Urban = sheeeit, dude. That's tough. My instinct would be to offer a VU song, but that's too obvious. There's a Jawbox song that's always tickled my fancy when I want to hear something that supports my none-too-flattering view of city living - "Capillary Life", off their last (eponymous) proper album. (Much better than PJ Harvey's pulpy sketches of city decrepitute from her last album. Not to slight that album, though - it was purty damn good.)

For a double whammy, you can always go with Prince's "Uptown" (funky fresh exuberance) & Ida's "Downtown" (restrained ruminations on love in the city). I was lucky enough to see Ida perform BOTH songs back-to-back - ah, yes. (Not that you folks have one idea of what I'm talking about, unfortunately.)

urban 'city poison' by moonshake pastoral 'holland street' field mice

just cause those were the last two songs i have listened to that kinda fit the description. best city? detroit cause it is so often miscategorized as somehow cool, the best being journey's description of the south side of detroit which is, of course, Canada.

Let's see...Urban: Bowie, "Sweet Thing" and Pastoral: John Cale, "Buffalo Ballet". Off the top of my head and all.

Pastoral = REO Speedwagon, dude! "Ridin' the Storm Out." Urban = ummm, there's lots... lesse, "Welcome to the Jungle."

Urban - "Dirty Livin'", Kiss
Pastoral - "Blew", Nirvana

I'm serious about the Nirvana thing. I think people not from the 'country' tend to, um, ROMANTICIZE things a wee bit. The reason I liked Nirvana was I think they captured the seedy, trivial shittiness of living somewhere where everything seems to happen someplace else and everybody's drinking themselves to death just to forget that.

Dancing in The City - Marshall Hain. Senses Working Overtime - XTC.

There are lots of great songs about Los Angeles, probably because everybody claims to hate it so much. "Welcome to the Jungle" has been mentioned. Fear's "I Love Livin' in the City" is excellent, but is that about LA or Philadelphia where Lee Ving is from?

Worth mentioning this, again.

Am I the only one who can't get in that Places website that Tom keeps linking to ? Maybe I'm dumb, but the only link I see is for those who want to contribute. Or is that the idea ?

The idea I assume is that you contribute. Hitting 'refresh' pulls up random entries though.

Cripes, Dr C. A *third* "Dancing In The City" fan on ILM, after David Huntsman and myself. Will wonders never cease, etc., etc. ...

But in my case:

urban: Oxide and Neutrino, "Up Middle Finger"

pastoral: Ultramarine, "Honey"

BEST PASTORAL SONG: "Summer's Cauldron/Grass" by XTC BEST URBAN SONG: I'm tempted to say "Walk on the Wild Side" (about NYC) by Lou Reed, but ooof if that's not such a cliche. "I Love Livin' in the City" by FEAR might do it.

I'd wager that London's probably had the most great songs written about it, from "Waterloo Sunset" through "G-G-G-G-G-Get Outta London" (by Interferron)

Urban: 'The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side'. Pastoral: '100,000 Fireflies'.