Talk:I've Been Everywhere

--182.239.236.198 (talk) 07:47, 19 May 2023 (UTC)

Copyright - lyrics can't be reproduced in full
I meant the change to listing towns by verse was not a problem for copyright in my view, while improving readability--A Y  Arktos 07:52, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
 * after reading your comment 4 times, I realised that :-) --Scott Davis Talk 09:40, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Wanganella, Wallambilla, Bouindarra
Confirm Wanganella, rather than Wangarella, seems correct according to this version of the lyrics - and is thus presumably a typo at http://www.virtualtruckroute.com/music_lyrics_ivebeeneverywhere.html. However, the freewebs.com version also has Wallambilla and Bouindarra as do a couple of other sites.--A Y  Arktos 22:24, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Checking the index of a road atlas there is Wallumbilla, Queensland which sounds likely. No joy on Bouindarra  though.--A  Y  Arktos 22:29, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
 * There is a place called Bundarra, New South Wales. Do others think that is what was meant by Bouindarra?--A  Y  Arktos 22:37, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Sounds likely. Especially if the place is pronounced Boo-ndarra, and the first singer reading the word said Bun-darra, so it was mis-written to make him sing it right. I find it interesting he's been "everywhere", but they're almost all in Qld and NSW. --Scott Davis Talk 06:54, 7 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Would Qld/NSW suggest the Fingal link should be Fingal on the NSW far north coast, rather than Fingal, Tasmania? -- Kevin Ryde 23:15, 7 February 2006 (UTC)
 * There were three to choose from according to ga.gov.au (NSW, VIc, Tas). None had WP articles. Tas was picked for two reasons: 1) It has more red links to it and 2) I'd heard of it. You may well be right. Several towns have XML comments about possible ambiguities. --Scott Davis Talk 04:42, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I stuck a note in the text about multiple names. Not sure my wording is too good, but it's nice to be warned the links are not authoritative.  (Unless some of them are, if the song was written with each particular place in mind.)  -- Kevin Ryde 01:11, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
 * This search suggests it's meant to be Boroondara instead of Bouindarra. Angela. 14:44, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Map locations
At commons:Image talk:Australia ive been everywhere.PNG I have listed all the towns by state by verse. Let me know if you need more info to work further on the map. Can't hink why anybody would suggest the song was biassed towards NSW and Qld :-) Better names in those states that's all.--A  Y  Arktos 23:48, 9 February 2006 (UTC)
 * The North American map seems to be missing a dot for Opelika [Alabama], from the 4th verse. Some sites list the spelling as "Opalacka," which is a location in Florida, but Opelika seems to be correct. Mooveeguy 16:08, 31 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Indooroopilly and Yerongpilly are suburbs of brisbane, Kirribilli is a suburb of sydney where the PM's hovel (~ house) iss.  Wendy.krieger (talk) 02:24, 20 July 2014 (UTC)

The map was removed in 2006. I checked the revision history and it's rightfully so. The North American map is completely USA-centric when the song has many Canadian locations for a Canadian song (that version was first sung by a Canadian for the entire NA market). If a map is ever added again then Canada and the USA both need to be shown. The Central American countries could be omitted simply for space or on a separate reference. 2001:1970:4F66:5900:60D9:F34E:2C52:E28E (talk) 00:59, 5 January 2018 (UTC)

US MAP LOCATION IS MISSING OSKALOOSA. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.156.217.10 (talk) 20:46, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

Scared Weird Little Guys version
I know they did a version with another set of towns. One verse lists several West Australian towns with multisyllabic Aboriginal towns before abruptly ending with 'Perth', they then do towns in Scotland and Asia


 * They appear to start with the usual Australian first verse, with Perth stuck on the end. --Scott Davis Talk 09:34, 18 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Suburbs in their Melbourne version: Collingwood, Ringwood, Elwood, Greensborough, Thornbury, Kingsbury, Werribee, Keysborough, Parkville, Yarraville, Kingsville, Mordialloc, Rosebud, Rosanna, Mt Eliza, Elsternwick, Essendon, Preston, Doveton, Gardenvale, Armadale, Riverdale, Aspendale, Melbourne Gaol - i dunno if this is worth putting in the article..

Another Canadian Version
There is another Canadian Version by George_Fox_(musician) towns are North American with some emphasis on Alberta. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.65.134.12 (talk) 03:34, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Trivia
Does "The song was used in the 2004 film Flight of the Phoenix, and Johnny Cash was played on film in 2005 by Joaquin Phoenix, whereas the song does not list Phoenix, Arizona among its many cities" really belong in this article. I can only imagine the number of random connections, oddities, and other inane information which could be placed in almost all of wikipedia's article's. Trojan traveler 17:47, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
 * No, which is why I removed it. Oddly, someone immediately replaced it. Perhaps they'll explain why. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 02:14, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Because I didn't like the attitude you copped, that's why. Wahkeenah 02:28, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Ah. Well, you might aim toward actually improving the encyclopedia rather than supporting the inclusion of really dumb trivia. If you wish to argue that it's not really dumb trivia, this is the place to do it. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 02:33, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * And you might aim toward not copping an attitude in the edit summary, and you'll be less likely to get more attitude in return. Wahkeenah 02:47, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * If saying dumb trivia is dumb trivia is "copping an attitude", I'll happily keep the attitude. Your reversion, however, was incivil behaviour, and you're experienced enough here to know that what you did was out of line. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 03:01, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * "Dumb trivia" is your personal, totally subjective point of view. I've seen other users cop the attitude that trivia of any kind is "unencyclopedic", which is also a point of view. And you've presumably been on here long enough to know that you should keep editorial comments out of edit summaries. "Not notable" would suffice. And uncivil behavior would be to keep reverting your change just to be a jerk. Which you'll notice I'm not doing. Once was enough. Guess what? It probably is "dumb trivia". Just try to keep your inflammatory opinions confined to the opinion page (i.e. here). Wahkeenah 03:08, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Ah. Disruption to prove a point. OK. Seeya. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 03:17, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * ...and with that said, you may well be right. This isn't the place to discuss the issue, though; where might be better? It's an interesting issue; you're asserting that comments such as mine weren't appropriate for edit summaries; I'm not sure your suggested restriction on summary content is a bad idea, but it's certainly neither policy nor general practice. Got any thoughts about venue? --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 03:21, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I think we've made our respective points sufficiently. Wahkeenah 03:23, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, we pissed each other off, certainly; I'm sorry my words toward you were harsh (and pretty condescending, I see) -- I was out of line. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 03:29, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * And I was copping a little attitude myself and was also out of line. So there. :) Wahkeenah 03:40, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * The fact that it was used in Flight of the Phoenix is likely relevant; the rest of the coincidences about Phoenix are not. —C.Fred (talk) 02:22, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * It's also in two other movies: The Big One by Michael Moore, and The Road to Nashville, which I've not seen but sounds absolutely delicious. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 02:33, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Since it was used in Flight of the Phoenix, which was a major movie, I do think it should be mentioned in the article. If Cars can be mentioned, why not Phoenix? --TheSlyFox 02:23, 16 December 2006 (UTC)
 * So, add it back. Wahkeenah 02:33, 16 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks, but I already did. In fact, I was coming back here to say so. :P --TheSlyFox 02:44, 16 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Sehr gut. As you can maybe tell by the catty exchange above (incredibly, still displayed on this talk page, after 2 months), I didn't really want to get into it any more. Wahkeenah 04:12, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

I can find no analysis of this Cash version subplot, apparently invented after the Snow version, to end-tag the verse and intro the chorus each verse. Does anyone have any insight as to the origin or meaning of this Switchback/ClayPigeons-esque dispersed statement?: "I'm a killer, for Pete sake. See what I mean; what a pity." 63.145.34.130 (talk) 19:10, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Wasn't Cash's version also used for commercials for Alamo car rental back in the late 90's or early 2000's? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Spxmet (talk • contribs) 18:09, 20 March 2010 (UTC)

Date of release
According to several sources--e.g. a Canadian music magazine and an Australian museum--while the song was mostly written in '59, it wasn't recorded by Starr until January '62. So the info here (and at Lucky Starr and Geoff Mack) appears to be incorrect. I figured before I changed all three articles I'd give my sources here, and maybe wait to see if anyone's got some opposing sources for it being a hit in '59, as I'm not quite an expert on old Australian country music. Anyone? --Severinus 07:17, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Before my time :-) If you have a source and can expand meaningfully - go for it --A Y Arktos\talk 08:45, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Well spotted, here's another source, and this one says it reached number 1 in Australia May 1962.--Melburnian 03:21, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

What about the date of writing of the song? The CBC has that pegged at 1958 (http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-68-1920-12544-11/on_this_day/arts_entertainment/twt "Did You Know" tab, panel 5). I'd think that would be easy enough to find, but none of the sources I looked at saw it. I'm not going to change the article without corroboration, though. —C.Fred (talk) 15:40, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

From User talk:Jpgordon
Yes, I too have noted that there are multiple spellings in various lyric sources for the song. And I have attempted to create something a little more definitive. When I began to analyze this song (for reasons to which I have no idea), I figured correctly that Wikipedia would probably be the most accurate. However, I detected some flaws. Here's what I corrected and why:

Winnemucca is a town in Nevada.

Verse 1

Some versions misspell Mattawa (WA) as Mattua. La Paloma (TX) is not one word (LaPaloma). The last three towns in this verse are cause for dispute. I think it is more consistent as Tocopilla (located in Tocopilla Provence, Chile), Barranquilla (located in Atlántico Department, Colombia), and Ampatilla (Tucumán, Argentina). Lyrically, it would make sense to say 3 places in South America in a row as opposed to: "Tocopilla, Barrabquilla, and Padilla". Padilla is located in Puerto Rico, which is not possible to drive to from the continental US. Also, singing the words "and Padilla" is not lyrically consistent with the last words of the other 4 verses. So, as I see it, Ampatilla would be best. Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Panama may be interpreted as two states and a foreign country. But as it turns out, they are all cities in the United States, which again, is more lyrically consistent.

Verse 2

Devils Lake is actually a city in ND (also MI) next to a lake by the name of Devil's Lake. So, technically speaking Devil's Lake is not a city anywhere in the United States, Devils Lake is. Lyrics interpreted as states are actually towns. Louisiana (MO), Washington (DC or IA), and Tennessee (IL).

Verse 3

Ombabika is a city in Ontario Canada. Schefferville is a city in Quebec Canada. These two in succession seem to be the most logical interpretation. Most lyric listings spell it like Omerback or Amberback, Shariville or Shereville. There are no such places in the United States that I was able to find. Costa Rica is not interpreted as the Caribbean Island as one could not drive there from here. Costa-Rica is a town in Sonora Mexico. Jellico or Jellicoe? Flip a coin. Argentina is of particular dispute. Johnny Cash definitely sang it as Argentina. Hank Snow sings it Argentine, if I'm hearing right. No city in the Americas has the name of Argentina. However, there are a few Argentines (MI, KS, and PA). It would be lyrically inconsistent to interpret Argentina as the country of Argentina for reasons stated previously. Perhaps Johnny (and maybe Hank) sang it as "Argentine-ah" so it would rhyme with Pasadena and Catalina. Diamondtina? Dimontina? No! Diamantina is a city in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Idaho is a town in Ohio.

Verse 4

Gravelburg or Gravelberg does not exist. Gravelbourg is a town in Saskatchewan Canada. El Dorado is a city in Kansas. It is misspelled everywhere as Eldorado.

Adimore or Adimoore does not exist. Atmore (AL) is the closest thing I could come up with, even though I'm forced to assume Johnny Cash might have sang it as "At-a-more" to rhythmically match the previous "Larimore". It's hard to say. Now Chattanooga is definitely not correct. I don't hear Chattanooga. I hear Chatta-NEE-ka with perhaps a soft 'k'. Chatanika is a village in AK and a road leads to it. Opalacka and any variant thereto cannot be found anywhere. Notice that "Chatanika" and "Opalacka" are the ending word of their respective phrases in this verse. Since Chatanika and Opalacka do not very rhyme well, I think Opelika (TX) may have been the intended lyric, although it is sung as Opalacka. These states are actually cities: Colorado (TX), Nebraska (IN) and Alaska (WI). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Innermore (talk • contribs) 03:40, October 19, 2006

Waterloo
Please would someone disambiguate the North American link to Waterloo? Thank you CarolGray 16:28, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

Opa-locka
I have been going over this single word for days and it seems possible that the Cash version refers to Opa-locka, Florida. At least this is how I will continue to sing it in my head from now on. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.104.151.147 (talk) 04:02, 5 December 2006 (UTC).

Opelika, AL
I've noticed that there seems to be some confusion as to the city in the last verse said as "Ohp-uh-lyka." It's listed correctly right now in the article, but I'll still share that, for what it's worth, I live in Opelika, AL, and it's pronounced exactly as he sings it. 65.81.132.252 16:44, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Multiple places with the same name
The section on the North American version of "I've Been Everywhere" includes notes stating it is not known which "Charleston," "Springfield," etc. the song refers to. Because the song explicitly and repeatedly states "I've Been EVERYWHERE" and "I've traveled every road in this here land," I would infer these place names to be references to ALL of the places in North America known by those names.

Andrea Parton (talk) 17:42, 13 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Agreed - I'll change the article to link to the appropriate disambiguation pages, unless there's some objection. GoingBatty (talk) 15:50, 7 October 2011 (UTC)
 * ✅. Note that many of these links now intentionally go to disambiguation pages.  If you have a reliable source to indicate a specific location, please disambiguate the link and add a reference.  Thanks!  GoingBatty (talk) 03:36, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Monterey or Monterrey
Do we know it's definitely Monterey, CA ... or could it be Monterrey, Mexico? The latter isn't too far from the US border and would likely appear on a US road map. Just saying. 98.221.124.80 (talk) 06:03, 23 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I don't think we know. As discussed in my post above, it could easily be BOTH!  Wikipedia links the "Ottawa" in the song to Ottawa, Kansas, but there is also Ottawa, Ontario, the capitol of Canada.  Andrea Parton (talk) 16:46, 30 April 2010 (UTC)


 * In fact, the page Ottawa (disambiguation) actually lists four towns called Ottawa in the US alone! But typing "Ottawa" into Wikipedia's search bar and clicking "Go" goes directly to the article on Ottawa, Canada with a top note "for other uses, see Ottawa (disambiguation)."  We know the song references several other non-US locations such as Toronto, Panama, and even Argentina!  Andrea Parton (talk) 16:53, 30 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Eighteen miles down the road from Ferriday, Louisiana, is a small farming community named Monterey. It is extremely likely that is the referenced town, although it could be the California town. Lkt215 (talk) 12:40, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

"Use of the song in advertising" section
I remember about 8 or 10 years ago, the song was rewritten and used as political advertising (on the radio) in Massachusetts for some candidate for a state level public office. I think it was state senate or something -- probably not a gubernatorial candidate. I don't remember the name of the candidate or the office, which tells you how effective the ad was. It used names of several towns in Massachusetts and the title lyric was changed to "I've been Everywhere in Mass". Does anyone have any further information on this? Tckma (talk) 13:27, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

I am better than You
Should the article mention 'I am Better than You' (aka 'I've been everywhere, noob'), a RuneScape parody of this by Tehoobshow? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv2gSuyqijI&feature=related —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.187.177.243 (talk) 00:47, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Misspelling of Wollongong
It happens "all the time" but on the map Wollongong is spelt incorrectly as Woollongong. Not sure who, if anyone, can do anything about it, I've never posted here before. 20.139.226.71 (talk) 04:29, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

Hawaiian Traveller's Patter Song : "The Hawaiian Cowboy" 1936
Worth a listen to

Lyrics at — Preceding unsigned comment added by Douglas Jardine (talk • contribs) 21:31, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

Link to Yarra Yarra pointed to Yarra River
I've changed the (dead) link to Yarra Yarra NSW to Yarra River, following the content of this article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-31/ive-been-everywhere-trip/2863974 at ABC in which the songs author, Geoff Mack, says that Yarra Yarra refers to the Yarra River in Melbourne. Presumably after the original Wurundjeri Yarra Yarra. It's referenced, too. 203.45.31.24 (talk) 03:12, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

Missing towns
The original form of the song is 4+4+4+4+4+3=23 towns in each verse. But American verse three only lists 22 towns. Compare with Lucky Starr 1962 soundtrack on or The missing town is after (and rhymes with) "Idaho, Jellico", and before "Argentina". It sounds like "Pik-a-pro" on the track, but I can't find a matching US city. Any guesses? Similar problem for the New Zealand first verse (only 22 towns, but 23 on the recording), but I apparently don't speak the language... Dadur (talk) 23:18, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Shaggy Dog...
I'd just like to humbly point out that the song is in fact a 'shaggy dog' story, meaning a joke in the form of long, rambling narrative building up to a punch-line. The 'punch line' of the song is when the truck-driver, fed up with the hitch-hiker's boasting about his travels, suddenly stops, in the middle of nowhere, and says, 'Here's one place I bet you've never been mate!', and kicks him out. Bluedawe 22:12, 19 April 2017 (UTC)
 * The article currently suggests that that's only in the New Zealand version? Martinevans123 (talk) 22:23, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

In the Hank Snow version, this could also be the case as most of the locations named are located in many US states as large and small communities, akin to someone saying "I've been to Paris! Paris, Illinois!" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.2.89.115 (talk) 14:06, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

--182.239.236.198 (talk) 07:47, 19 May 2023 (UTC)**Geoff Mack wrote some alternate versions himself**

There is a radio interview on YouTube, that comes up as the second listing, when one searches 'Geoff Mack I've been Everywhere'.... in which Mack AND Lucky Starr are interviewed, in which Mack says, corroborated by Starr, that he himself wrote six of the alternative lyric versions, the: English, US, New Zealand, South African, German, and Japanese versions (Mack lived in Japan for some time, and was fluent in Japanese), Starr even interjects and prompts Mack to tell the story of how they hounded him for a new Zealand version, at short notice, which he wrote, using a great many Maori words and place names, which meant it a very long song, in lyric form... and how expensive that was, because it would have taken too long for the song to make it by mail, so he Telegraphed to Starr in New Zealand. That is possibly something worth mentioning in the article.

alternate version: Fiddlestix Beer Song
From the band DooDoo Wah's, 1996 cd, 'For Amusement Only'. same song, different lyrics, about the joys of beer, while traveling across the Nevada desert. Augie&#39;s Daddy (talk) 21:49, 21 February 2024 (UTC)