The Professor babbles again!
After months of hibernation, (at least I wish, sleep is really nice) I'm showing up here again, and this time to start a new series of "top ten" countdowns.
To start off, we're going to go with a bit of a geography lesson, looking at oddball places that musicians have chosen to sing about, or at least include in their lyrics. And at the top of the list, number ten is...
Winslow, Arizona
"Well, I'm standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see. It's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowing down to take a look at me."
It may be said that no other town in the United States embraces its mention in verse more than this dusty railroad community in the desert of northeast Arizona. A list of attractions in town isn't much; a 9-11 memorial park is there, and the restored 1930-vintage La Posada hotel and train depot is something to be noted, and then there's probably the most talked about, Standin' on the Corner Park.
Yes, that's it, a single line in the Eagles song "Take It Easy" spawned a so-called cultural renaissance in this community of 9,931 people.
In 1997, downtown Winslow was dying. Years of reduced traffic due to the bypassing Interstate 40 had killed many of the town's businesses, and the main thoroughfare began to resemble a ghost town of sorts. Thus a foundation formed to counter this downward spiral by harnessing the famous pop-culture mention, and put together ideas for a downtown attraction.
And one can see in the picture above, that not only does the park now include an appropriate statue of a guitarists doing what else but standing on a corner, but the nearby mural brings the mentioned girl and her truck to life in the reflection of a window, among various other appropriate features in respect to the song.
One could say the idea worked, and today, classic rock fans occasionally make a pilgrimage to see this bit of music-based Americana, and it is a must-see on any trip down Route 66, which is also Winslow's main street.
In addition, billboards outside the town proclaim "Winslow, Arizona says 'Take it easy'" a fitting, if certainly blatant tribute to a song that made Winslow more than just another dusty, dying desert backwater.
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