How to Geolocate Songs Using Their Lyrics

James Dalzell Hodge (Jam2Go) explains how to geolocate songs based on their lyrics. Hodge first invokes the Plain White T’s song “Hey There Delilah”, trying to figure out where the man in the relationship was when Delilah was 1,000 miles away.

Where’s the dude singing “Hey There Delilah”? Like… Delilah is in New York City, but he’s 1000 miles away. “Then where’s the dude?” To find out I drew a 1000 mile radius circle around New York City to find some likely candidates …this radius could indicate that the Plain White T’s are stranded in the Bermuda Triangle. But, he did say “I’d walk to you if I had no other way”. So, we should eliminate places that are not walkable to New York this includes The Bahamas and Newfoundland.

He also examined “Ocean Avenue” by Yellowcard, “(Somewhere) Over the Rainbow” by Judy Garland, and “Country Roads” by John Denver.