My brother brought up an interesting point last week. He mentioned that there are hundreds of songs that have a general theme about how wonderful it is to live in the south of the United States. Starting with Stephen Foster and Jimmie Rodgers we can all name dozens of songs about the south. "That's what I like about the south" "Are you from Dixie", on and on.

But I can only think of a handful of songs about life in the north. Sure there are songs about cities - "Sweet Home Chicago" "Detroit City" "New York, New York" - but very few regional songs about areas of the north. One of the few I can think of is "Old Cape Cod".

So why is that ? I'm sure yankees like the north - so why are there so many more songs about the south ? Is it too cold to sing up there ? What's the deal ? Why are the regional songs of the south just plain better and more interesting ? Any ideas ?

PS - "I've beem everywhere" by Johnny Cash doesn't count. You can't claim that one.