List of songs about Birmingham

This is a list of songs written about the city of Birmingham. Birmingham and specific locations within the city have been referenced in numerous popular songs, of which the following represent but a sample:

1900s–1910s

Sheet music for "If I Ever Get Back to Birmingham" (1916)

• "If I Ever Get Back to Birmingham (to the Girl who Waits for Me)" (1916) by James Brennan & Chick Story

1920s

• "Birmingham Blues" (1921) by Edith Wilson
• "Mining Camp Blues" (1925) by Trixie Smith
• "Birmingham Breakdown" (1926) by Duke Ellington & His Kentucky Club Orchestra
• "Birmingham Boys" (1926) by the Birmingham Jubilee Singers
• "Jefferson County" (1926) by Sid Harris, recorded by Priscilla Stewart, Bo Weavil Jackson
• "Pratt City Blues" (1926) by Bertha "Chippie" Hill, re-recorded 1932 by Jabo Williams
• "Birmingham Black Bottom" (1927) by Charlie Johnson’s Paradise Ten
• "Birmingham Jail" (1927) by Darby and Tarlton
• "Birmingham Rag" (1927) by Darby and Tarlton
• "Birmingham Town" (1927) by Darby and Tarlton
• "Fourth Avenue Stomp" (1927) by Frank Bunch & His Fuzzy Wuzzies
• "New Birmingham Jail" (1927) by Jimmie Tarlton
• "Snatch It Back Blues" (1927) by Buddy Boy Hawkins
• "Third Alley Blues" (1927) by Ivy Smith & Cow Cow Davenport
• "Birmingham Jail No. 2" (1928) by Darby and Tarlton
• "Frisco Leaving Birmingham" (1928) by George "Bullet" Williams
• "Keep Your Man Out of Birmingham" (1928) by William Harris
• "Big Rock Jail" (1929) by Barefoot Bill
• "Birmingham Bertha" by Ethel Waters (1929) (from On with the Show!)

1930s

• "Birmingham Blues" by the Birmingham Jug Band
• "Birmingham Daddy" (1931) by Gene Autry
• "Seventh Street Alley Strut" (1931) by Marshall Owens
• "45 Pistol Blues" (1935) by Walter Roland
• "Sam the Hot Dog Man" (1936) by Lil Johnson
• "Eighth Avenue Blues" (1937) by Peanut the Kidnapper
• "I Got a Man in a 'Bama Mine" (1937) by Merline Johnson
• "Fifteen Miles from Birmingham" (1938) by the Delmore Brothers
• "Tuxedo Junction" (1939) by Erskine Hawkins with Buddy Feyne, William Johnson and Julian Dash, a jazz standard set to the tune of "Alabama Jubilee"

1940s–1950s

Sheet music for "Birmingham Bounce" (1950)

• "Back to Birmingham" (1940) by the Delmore Brothers
• "Birmingham Bus" (1945) by Romo Vincent
• "Fat Sam from Birmingham" (1947) by Louis Jordan
• "Birmingham Bounce" (1950) by Hardrock Gunter
• "Down South in Birmingham" (1952) by Del Thorne
• "Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey (Going Back to Birmingham)" by "Little Richard" Penniman (1958), covered by The Beatles (1964), 10 Years After (1974), Bob Segar (1989, released 2011), & The Jim Jones Review (2008)
• "Birmingham Boogie" by Hot Lips Page

1960s–1970s

• "Washington Heights, Pratt City Special" (1962) by Robert McCoy
• "Alabama" (1963) by John Coltrane
• "Birmingham Bull (Didn't He Ramble)" (1963) by Ernie Marrs
• "Great Day for Me" (1963) by Carlton Reese, recorded by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights choir
• "Birmingham" (1964) by Junior & the Classics
• "Birmingham Sunday" (1964) by Richard Fariña, recorded by Joan Baez
• "Birmingham Blues" (1965) by John Lee Hooker
• "The Magic City" (1965) by Sun Ra
• "Talking Birmingham Jam" (1965) by Phil Ochs
• "Birmingham" (1967) by Tommy Collins
• "Hello L.A., Bye-Bye Birmingham" by Mac Davis & Delaney Bramlett, recorded by Nancy Sinatra, Larry Henley, Blue Cheer, Juicy Lucy, Bobby Whitlock, and the Oobleedooblee Band
• "Birmingham" (1968) by the Movers
• "Birmingham Bus Station" (1968) by Claude King
• "Walkin' Back to Birmingham" (1968) by Leon Ashley
• "Birmingham, Alabama" (1969) by Murray MacLeod & Stuart Margolin, recorded by Harry Belafonte and R. B. Greaves
• "Birmingham" (1969) by Freddy Weller
• "Birmingham Blues" (1969) by Jack Barlow
• "Backin' to Birmingham" (1972) by Lester Flatt
• "Birmingham Lucy" (1973) by Bobby Goldsboro
• "Birmingham Mistake" (1973) by Sammi Smith
• "Birmingham" (1974) by Randy Newman
• "Birmingham Blues" (1975) by Charlie Daniels and Jeff Lynne, recorded by the Charlie Daniels Band (1975) and Electric Light Orchestra (1977)^1.
• "Boulder to Birmingham" (1975) by Emmylou Harris
• "Birmingham Is My Home" (1976) by the Birmingham Heritage Band
• "Birmingham Mama" (1979) by Tony Conn

1980s–1990s

• "Birmingham Tonight" (1980) by Telluride
• "Birmingham Turnaround" (1990) by Keith Whitley
• "Down and Out in Birmingham" (1990) by Pirates of the Mississippi
• "Train to Birmingham" (1991) by John Hiatt, recorded by Kevin Welch
• "When Jesus Left Birmingham" by John Mellencamp (1993)
• "Birmingham Bus Station" by Charlie Daniels (1994)
• "Birmingham" (1995) by Amanda Marshall
• "Birmingham Shadows" by Bruce Cockburn (1995)
• "Breakfast in Birmingham" (1996) by David Lee Murphy & Kim Tribble
• "Postmarked Birmingham" (1997) by Phil Vassar, Blackhawk
• "Birmingham Road" by Jeff Black (1998)
• "Wither Vulcan" by Remy Zero (1998)
• "Hello Birmingham" by Ani DiFranco (1999)

2000s

• "Sweet Birmingham" (2000) by Robert Moore, recorded by Taj Mahal
• "On a Bus Back to Birmingham" (2001) by Rusty McHugh
• "Birmingham" (2002) by the Drive By Truckers
• "Leaving You Behind" (2003) by Emily DeLoach
• "Sparrows over Birmingham" (2003) by Josh Rouse
• "Paint Me A Birmingham" (2004) by Buck Moore & Gary Duffey. Recorded by Ken Mellons (2003) and Tracy Lawrence
• "Birmingham" (2004) by Katherine McElroy, recorded by Snow Machine
• "Atlanta & Birmingham (2005) by Deana Carter
• "Birmingham 1982" (2005) by Maria Taylor
• "Metropolis" (2005) by Dan Sartain
• "Birmingham" (2006) by The Deaths
• "Birmingham Eccentric" (2008) by Kelley Stoltz
• "Old Iron Hills" (2009) by Maylene and the Sons of Disaster

2010s–2020s

• "Hills of Birmingham" (2010) by Terrible Things
• "Birmingham" (2011) by The Get Up Kids
• "Birmingham" (2012) by Shovels and Rope
• "Birmingham" (2012) by Tony Clark
• "You Don't Know What I Could Have Been" (2012) by Kevin P. Turner/UAB Gospel Choir
• "Larry Langford (2014) by KD, Eskiimo Joe and Cleeze Purp
• "The Weeds Downtown" (2014) by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires
• "Birmingham" (2020) by Zach Bryan
• "City Federal Building (song)" (2023) by St Paul & the Broken Bones

Mentions

Birmingham is also mentioned in the following:

• "Black Betty" by Leadbelly (early 20th century), remade by Ram Jam (1977)
• "Stars Fell on Alabama" by Frank Perkins & Mitchell Parish (1934)
• "Wabash Cannonball" by J. A. Roff, variation recorded by Roy Acuff (1936)
• "Promised Land" by Chuck Berry (1965), recorded by Dave Edmunds (1972), The Band (1973), Elvis Presley (1974), James Taylor (1974), Meat Loaf (1983), and performed frequently by the Grateful Dead (1971-1995)
• "My Elusive Dreams" by Moses & Joshua Dillard (1967)
• "Handsome Johnny" by Richie Havens & Louis Gossett Jr (1969)
• "California Women" by Hoyt Axton (1971)
• "Carry Me" by the Stampeders (1971)
• "Rip This Joint" by the Rolling Stones (1972)
• "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd (1974)
• "Struttin' My Stuff" by Elvin Bishop (1975)
• "Cities" by Talking Heads (1979)
• "Swordfishtrombone" by Tom Waits (1983)
• "Prisoner of the Highway" by Michael Barry Reid, recorded by Ronnie Milsap (1984)
• "Gun Street Girl" by Tom Waits (1985)
• "Jacob's Ladder" by Bruce Hornsby, first recorded by Huey Lewis & the News (1987)
• "Run, Baby, Run" by Sheryl Crow (1993)
• "True Believer" by John Hiatt, recorded by Ronnie Milsap (1993)
• "In a Waffle House in Alabama" by Steve Goodie (1995)
• "Maribel" by Andy Orfutt Irwin (2005)
• "Her First Mistake" by Lyle Lovett (1996)
• "I Can't Love You Anymore" by Lyle Lovett (1996)
• "Playboy Mommy" by Tori Amos (1998)
• "One of These Days" by the Drive-By Truckers (1999)
• "Alabama Anthem" by Birmingham J (2005)
• "Sure Don't Feel Like Love" by Paul Simon (2006)
• "If It Hadn't Been for Love" by Michael Henderson & Christopher Stapleton, recorded by the SteelDrivers (2008), Adele (2010)
• "Lonesome Friends of Science" by John Prine (2018)
• "I Wish Grandpas Never Died" by Riley Green (2019)
• "I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You" by Bob Dylan (2020)
• "Southern Hospitality" by Trinity the Tuck (2022)

This list is incomplete and may never satisfy any subjective standard for completeness. You can help Bhamwiki by expanding it.

Notes

1. Lynne may just as well have been writing about Birmingham, England, his home town.

See also

• List of songs about Bessemer
• List of songs about Tuscaloosa

References

• "List of songs about Birmingham, Alabama." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 19 Mar 2006, 17:22 UTC. 19 Mar 2006, 19:09 [1].
• "Directory of African-Appalachian musicians" (March 22, 2004) Black Music Research Journal
• Mathews, Burgin (2011) Thirty Birmingham Songs. Birmingham: Lady Muleskinner Press