In case you missed it, Milwaukee Record has a theme song now. Courtesy of local auto detailing and carpet cleaning professional Joshua Jones, the song touts our “music and news” coverage, while the accompanying video includes some friendly comments from some friendly readers (“This article is written in some of the worst English I have ever seen”). But what about Milwaukee as a whole? Sure, there’s WISN’s famous “Hello Milwaukee” jingle, but there are plenty of full-length songs that directly mention Milwaukee to stock a dive bar jukebox. From Ella Fitzgerald and Jerry Lee Lewis, to Hanson and Jewel for some reason, here are 11 of them.
1. Ella Fitzgerald, “My Cousin In Milwaukee” (written by George and Ira Gershwin) (1932)
Sample lyrics: “I got a cousin in Milwaukee / She’s got a voice so squawky / And though she’s tall and kind of gawky / Oh, how she gets the men”
2. Patti Page, “Milwaukee Polka” (1953)
Sample lyrics: “Milwaukee, Milwaukee / I thank you all Wisconsin that you have Milwaukee / How lucky can you be?”
3. George Jones and Brenda Carter, “Milwaukee Here I Come” (1968)
Sample lyrics: “Milwaukee is where we were before we came here / Working in a brewery making the finest beer / You came to me on a payday night said let’s go to Tennessee / So we drove to Nashville to the Grand Ole Opry”
4. Jerry Lee Lewis, “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me)” (1968)
Sample lyrics: “Someone buys another round / And wherever drinks are free / What’s made Milwaukee famous has made a fool out of me”
5. Fatboy Slim, “The Sound Of Milwaukee” (1996)
Sample lyrics: “Throw your arms in the air”
6. Hanson, “Man From Milwaukee” (1997)
Sample lyrics: “I’ve been sitting here too long by a man from Milwaukee / He’s been talking too long on his yellow walkie talkie / He’s been talking to Mars but I think he’s wacky / He says they’ll come get him, come get him some day”
7. Trelly G, “Milwaukee” (2010)
Sample lyrics: “Party like a rock star / Drunk, I ain’t growing up / If you’re from the 414 / Let me see you throw it up”
8. Jewel, “The Milwaukee Song” (2010)
Sample lyrics: “There’s the Airlines center and Discovery World / The Betty Brinn Museum for the boys and girls / If Juneau and Kilbourn were still alive / They’d regret the Bridge War of 1845”
9. Joseph Huber, “Hello, Milwaukee” (2012)
Sample lyrics: “Lord I’ve been drinkin’ / And the bottle’s caught me / And I’m thinking I should go back home and live that simple life my father taught me / In old Milwaukee / Hello, Milwaukee”
10. The Both, “Milwaukee” (2014)
Sample lyrics: “We walked over the bridge in Milwaukee / Past the statue of Fonz and the duck / With the wind kicking in and the sparrows all running amok”
11. Maritime, “Milwaukee” (2015)
Sample lyrics: “But yeah, Milwaukee / Milwaukee, you’re my one horse town / Milwaukee, Milwaukee”