Have You REALLY Been Everywhere, Man? A Quiz.

Have you really been everywhere, man? The late Johnny Cash was arguably the most famous musician to sing the popular quintessentially North American country song I’ve Been Everywhere, which was released in 1966 — but the song that Johnny Cash sang actually was not the original version.

Have You REALLY Been Everywhere, Man? A Quiz.

Before we get into the quiz, here is a little history about this ditty of a song: I’ve Been Everywhere was first written in 1959 by Albert Geoffrey McElhinney, who was more popularly known as Geoff Mack and was a country singer and songwriter in Australia, as well as — get this — an aircraft mechanic. This novelty song was the biggest hit in 1962 for Leslie William Morrison, who is a musician in Australia that is more popularly known as Lucky Starr — and the original version of this song contained lyrics that only mentioned destinations, towns, and cities within Australia.

If you think that the Johnny Cash version of the song was a tongue-twister, listen to the Lucky Starr version from decades ago and again in recent years — and if you think you can sing the Australian version similarly to the way Lucky Starr sang it, submit a video to me as proof and I will present it here at The Gate With Brian Cohen in a future article.

Hank Snow recorded the original North American version of the song in 1962, with the lyrics changed to mention states, destinations, towns, and cities that are mostly within North America — although six destinations from South America were also included — but Johnny Cash was the singer who had the most success with the song, which is the version that is most well known.

Many other versions of the song have since been recorded — including but not limited to those whose lyrics have been changed for Great Britain and Ireland, New Zealand, Western Australia, and even Texas.

Without further ado, the following is a list of the 92 places that are mentioned in the lyrics of the song I’ve Been Everywhere as derived from this article at Wikipedia, as other sites for the lyrics of this song seemed to be less accurate. The quiz part is: to how many of these places have you actually visited?

1. Winnemucca
2. Reno
3. Chicago
4. Fargo
5. Minnesota
6. Buffalo
7. Toronto
8. Winslow
9. Sarasota
10. Wichita
11. Tulsa
12. Ottawa
13. Oklahoma
14. Tampa
15. Panama
16. Mattawa
17. La Paloma
18. Bangor
19. Baltimore
20. Salvador
21. Amarillo
22. Tocopilla
23. Barranquilla
24. Padilla
25. Boston
26. Charleston
27. Dayton
28. Louisiana
29. Washington
30. Houston
31. Kingston
32. Texarkana
33. Monterey
34. Ferriday
35. Santa Fe
36. Tallapoosa
37. Glen Rock
38. Black Rock
39. Little Rock
40. Oskaloosa
41. Tennessee
42. Hennessey
43. Chicopee
44. Spirit Lake
45. Grand Lake
46. Devil’s Lake
47. Crater Lake
48. Louisville
49. Nashville
50. Knoxville
51. Ombabika
52. Schefferville
53. Jacksonville
54. Waterville
55. Costa Rica
56. Pittsfield
57. Springfield
58. Bakersfield
59. Shreveport
60. Hackensack
61. Cadillac
62. Fond du Lac
63. Davenport
64. Idaho
65. Jellico
66. Argentina
67. Diamantina
68. Pasadena
69. Catalina
70. Pittsburgh
71. Parkersburg
72. Gravelbourg
73. Colorado
74. Ellensburg
75. Rexburg
76. Vicksburg
77. El Dorado
78. Larimore
79. Atmore
80. Haverstraw
81. Chatanika
82. Chaska
83. Nebraska
84. Alaska
85. Opelika
86. Baraboo
87. Waterloo
88. Kalamazoo
89. Kansas City
90. Sioux City
91. Cedar City
92. Dodge City

The links were left intact from the aforementioned Wikipedia article, as they lead to further information and details pertaining to each place.

Final Boarding Call

The problem with this list of lyrics is that some of them are not specific enough. For example: is Charleston the city in South Carolina or the city in West Virginia? Is Kansas City the city in Missouri or the city in Kansas? To which Kingston is being referred? As with the animated cartoon series The Simpsons, specifically which Springfield does the song highlight? Also, might some misspellings have occurred along the way?

Does it really matter?

If I interpreted this list of lyrics correctly and accurately counted the places to which I have been, I have only been to 41 of the 91 locations — not including places that I passed through, passed by without stopping, or was only at the airport, as the number of places would increase if they were counted.

Despite having been in greater than 80 countries on seven continents and all 50 states in the United States multiple times, I have not been everywhere, man — not by a long shot — at least, according to this song.

Click here for another music quiz that is related to travel.

If you participated in this quiz, how did you fare?

All photographs ©2017, ©2022, and ©2024 by Brian Cohen.