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Smith is referring to the Portland Rose Festival, an annual civic festival held in his hometown Portland during the month of June. It’s quite a long-standing tradition, as the first parade began in 1907.
In a Jim Jr. Interview, Elliott gave a comment on the Rose Festival in Portland and explained the theme behind this song:
Rose Parade is a parade that happens in Portland every year. But, ‘Rose Parade’ wasn’t really supposed to be about that parade. It was just supposed to be about parades in general, like the way people parade around and expect you to join in on their peacock march. You know?
Pick up a flat rock, skip it across Green River Creedence Clearwater Revival – Green River
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Putah Creek is also known by the name “Green River” due to the buildup of algae and vascular plants in the late summer.
According to CCR’s Tom Fogerty:
I went there with my family every year until I was ten. Lot of happy memories there. I learned how to swim there. There was a rope hanging from the tree. Certainly dragonflies, bullfrogs. There was a little cabin we would stay in owned by a descendant of Buffalo Bill Cody. The actual specific reference, Green River, I got from a soda pop-syrup label. You used to be able to go into a soda fountain and they had three bottles of flavored syrup. My flavor was called Green River. It was green, lime flavored, and they would empty some out over some ice and pour some of that soda water on it, and you had yourself a green river. Instead of calling the river Putah Creek, John called it Green River.
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Take me to the tracks at Christie Road Green Day – Christie Road
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Christie Road is located in the city of Martinez, California, in Contra Costa County. A relatively sleepy town with a population around 35,000, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong used to hang out by the train tracks, which was the designated “party hotspot”. In the context of the song, Christie Road allows Green Day frontman to escape his suburban teen ennui with blunts and beers.
Is that the Chattanooga choo choo?
Track twenty-nine
Boy, you can gimme a shine Glenn Miller and His Orchestra – Chattanooga Choo Choo
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Terminal Station in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is a bygone railroad station. The station was opened in 1909 and was the latest and largest station in Chattanooga’s history.
Prototypical old steam locomotive on public display at Terminal Station.
American railroad passenger traffic declined in the 1950s and 1960s, and in 1972, local businessmen bought the building. They decided to renamed it the Chattanooga Choo Choo after the song, and began rehabilitating the building. Nowadays, the 24-acre complex is a popular convention center, hotel and resort with restaurants and shops.
The “boy” he addresses is a shoeshine boy, a fixture of train stations (and other public spaces) around the world at the time. Though not employed by the railroad, the shoeshine boy would be aware of the comings and goings of the various trains and would likely have a good idea of the local train schedule.
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One of Glenn Miller’s most famous hits, ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo’ is a 1941 Harry Warren song which initially was written for a 1941 movie, ‘Sun Valley Serenade’ (which actually is set in Idaho). The song isn’t referring to any specific railway per se, but just a simple desire to meet a loved one in Chattanooga.
Not everybody is a fan of the song, however. Rival bandleader Artie Shaw once quipped that “All I can say is that Glenn should have lived, and ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo’ should have died”.
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And they've been known to pick a song or two (Yes, they do) Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet Home Alabama
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Muscle Shoals is a famed Alabama recording studio where musicians like Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and of course, Lynyrd Skynyrd have recorded. By finding new ways to meld R&B and rock, it’s been credited as an origin site for the “Southern rock” genre.
The Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section, owners of the original studios, are referred to as “The Swampers.”
The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, from left: Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, Jimmy Johnson
And also check out the excellent 2013 documentary
“Muscle Shoals” celebrating the life of Rick Hall, founder of FAME studios, with cameos from Aretha Franklin, Jimmy Cliff, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Donna Godchaux, and featuring many other artists who are no longer with us.
There is a secondary allusion, too: The city of Muscle Shoals is partially swampland where mussels grow / live. The mussels are harvested by “swampers.”
“Pick” also carries a double meaning: the Swampers' work choosing songs that would become hits, and playing guitar with a pick.
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What is this?
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