The Tyne and Wear Metro is the inspiration behind a new Geordie version of a classic country music song.
The energising track, ‘I’ve been everywhere’, has been playfully reworked by a local mandolin group, with its toe-tapping lyrics swapping a journey across North America for a ride on the Metro.
Musicians from the Tyneside Mandolin Orchestra came up with the clever cover of the famous geographical number, reeling off the names of every Metro stop on the system.
Never before has the song featured Metro station toponyms in its popular and tongue twisting verses.
The Metro themed version is a musical exploration of the familiar Metro system map - from South Hylton to Airport on the green line, to South Shields and St James on the yellow line.
We have recorded a performance of the song and shared it on its YouTube channel. Watch here: Tyneside Mandolin Orchestra perform their Metro song at Jesmond (youtube.com).
A classic of the country music genre, ‘I’ve been everywhere’ has provided a string of hits for singers down the years, perhaps most notably the legendary American musician Johnny Cash.
The reworked Geordie version of the song was the brainchild of Tom Cronin, Musical Director of the Tyneside Mandolin Orchestra, which is based in Jesmond in Newcastle.
He said: “Everyone in our group has really loved working on the song and then performing it. It’s just been great fun.
“I had heard the song on the radio one day and an idea came to me about reworking it somehow to make a localised version. The idea was to swap out the American locations for Tyne and Wear Metro stations, and we set about that task as a group.
“The challenge was shoe-horning our lyrics into the rhythm of the song, and then adapting the chorus. I’m really pleased with what we’ve came up with.
“We’re delighted that Nexus liked the song and that they asked us to perform it live for their customers at Jesmond Metro station.”
Huw Lewis, Customer Services Director at Nexus, said: “The reworked lyrics of this famous song perfectly demonstrate how Metro is at the heart of the communities it serves and is firmly part of everyday life in North East England.
“We love the song. It’s fantastic. It’s really clever the way in which the musicians from the Tyneside mandolin orchestra have managed to reel off all 60 Metro stations that we have on the system.
“It’s a playful take on a legendary piece of music. We’ve added the film of them performing the song on to the Nexus YouTube page so our customers can watch what has been produced. It’s well worth a look.”
‘I’ve Been Everywhere’ was written by the Australian country singer Geoff Mack in 1959, touching on many locations in his country, and was popularised by his countryman Lucky Starr with a hit version of it in 1962.That year, it was taken to new heights with a version by Canadian-American country legend Hank Snow.
Since then, many artists have covered it, featuring different lyrics about their native lands.
Johnny Cash famously covered the song in 1996 on his album ‘Unchained’. The record was a tremendous success and helped earn Cash a Grammy for ‘Best Country Album’ in that year.