Monday, April 14, 2014

Redding: We're #1 ....Sorta

Okay: We're number 187. Whatever.

I was a little irked at the report in USA Today and elsewhere on the Gallup-Healthways survey that ranked Redding 187th out of 189 U.S. cities with regard to "well being." We're one notch below Spartanburg, South Carolina, and just below us, at the bottom of the list, are a couple West Virginia communities. Sigh.

For me, the best antidote to irked-ness is songwriting. Turning lemons into lemonade with this new tune, wherein we answer the negative press with a laundry list of Redding's virtues.  

Scroll down to listen on Youtube.


We're Number 1 (87)
words and music by Erin Friedman

Numbers crunched and calculated
U.S. cities ranked and rated
Enumerated proof we can’t ignore
In Anchorage they exercise
In Lafayette they’re satisfied
In Redding we are mystified
By our abysmal score

We’re Number One-eighty-seven
We score no points for rivers, bridges and sunshine
We’re number one-eighty-seven
But watch out Spartanburg
Redding’s ready to climb

We cast flies on the Sacramento
Our theater’s restored art-deco
We love Shasta’s glow when the sun is setting
Provo’s tops in USA Today
But I can buy local Chardonnay
Even on the Sabbath Day
At Safeway in Redding

We’re Number One-eighty-seven
We score no points for rivers, bridges and sunshine
We’re number one-eighty-seven
But watch out Spartanburg
Redding’s ready to climb

Our Sundial Bridge is world-renowned
Hike the falls at Whiskeytown
Our 80 miles of trails are right for rambling
See salmon rise on 44
Smile, Redding, head outdoors
Our collective self-esteem will soar
Like an eagle on the wing

We’re Number One eighty-seven
We're looking down on almost heaven, West Virginia
We’re number one-eighty-seven
Redding will rise
And Gallup, we’ll forgive ya


1 comment:

Hal Johnson said...

Hah! A dandy musical answer to Gallop.