Saxophone virtuoso Jim Snidero for some reason titled an instrumental piece “Duluth at Noon.” Whether the tune sounds like a midday stroll on the Lakewalk is up for interpretation.
Perhaps coincidentally, the song is on Snidero’s 2015 album Main Street, which is the same title as Sinclair Lewis’ famous satiric novel from 1920. Lewis had visited Duluth while in the early stages of crafting Main Street, and moved to Duluth 23 years after it was published.
The alternative rock band They Might be Giants dropped a reference to Duluth on its self-titled debut album in 1986. Whether “the Big Duluth” mentioned in the lyrics to “Rabid Child” is supposed to be a clothing store or the nickname of a person or what, well, that’s up to the listener.
When it was that Wyoming-born and Wales-based musician Jeb Loy Nichols was in Duluth, and why he’s never coming back, are anyone’s guesses, but it’s apparently related to someone named Christopher.
As near as can be determined through web searches, “The Couple from Duluth” was composed by acclaimed bassist Jay Leonhart and was originally released on his 1984 album with Joe Beck titled There’s Gonna Be Trouble. The version above is a live recording from Leonhart’s 2015 album The Bass Lesson.
Hot new hit 41-second single by Ingeborg Von Agassiz.
Complete lyrics:
The William A. Irvin ship has been removed to fix the slip.
The punk rock band Meat Puppets released “Lake of Fire” on the 1984 album Meat Puppets II. It also appears as a hidden track on the 1994 album Too High to Die.
The Duluth reference goes a little something like this:
I knew a lady who came from Duluth
She got bit by a dog with a rabid tooth
This Duluth song doesn’t actually have the word “Duluth” in its lyrics, but is loaded with Duluth references. It’s from the self-titled 2005 album by Duluth band Swimming with Nancy.
Alice Cooper drops a reference to Duluth on this song from his 1982 album Zipper Catches Skin.
Perhaps the least-known Duluth song is by the Champaign, Ill.-based band Abort Scene. “Born Pinned to the Duluth Wheel” was released on the album Seeds of the Real Alternative (Waterloo Records, June 3, 2008). The track also appeared on the band’s 2013 compilation Rational Hardcore.
Consider this the third post in the “Ruth Trilogy.”
Part One: Shuggy Ray Smith – “Ruth from Duluth”
Part Two: Ruth Hart: “Baby Ruth from Duluth”
This little tune, purportedly released in December of 1965, is about a “little pretty girl” from Duluth who “eats corn on the cob through a picket fence.” Enjoy.
From the album Yust Try to Sing-a-long in Swedish with Doug Setterberg & Stan Boreson, Golden Crest Records, undated (circa 1962).
Local music fans will recognize this tune as the inspiration for the Hoot Owls song “Scandinavian Hot Rod.”
Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Clare Means was in Duluth recently for a performance at Wade Stadium. While here she recorded a “Duluth Song” and released this video, set to images of the Western Duluth Little League Intermediate Division District Tournament Team, which defeated Lake Park 15-5 on July 11 to claim the 2017 Minnesota state championship.
