"On the shores of Gitche Gumee"

It's been a long long time since I have been to Minnesota. I remember when I was much younger, my parents decided to do the Lake Superior circle tour. In case you aren't familiar with the concept, it's basically just a designated route around Lake Superior (called Gitche Gumee by the Ojibwa). Each of the Great Lakes has a circle route (at least the three main ones that touch Michigan). In the case of Superior, it takes you through the upper peninsula of Michigan into Wisconsin, then a short jaunt along the northern shore of the lake until you get into Canada. Eventually, you find yourself back in Sault Ste. Marie and cross back over into Michigan making the circuit complete.

More recently, I had a flight layover in Minneapolis, but since we never left the airport, I don't really count that as having visited Minnesota. This Summer, @mrsbozz and I are planning on taking a trip to Wisconsin. It is very possible we will be making a quick drive over to Duluth to have lunch one day, so although it will be just a taste of the state, we should still be able to count having visited it on our map.

Since I don't really have any photos of Minnesota, I am sharing photos of Lake Superior for this post. In case you haven't guessed, this weeks #threetunetuesday sponsored by @ablaze brings us to the great state of Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes. When I was younger, I used to get annoyed that Minnesota was memorialized for its lakes. I mean sure, it might have a lot of lakes, but we have the Great Lakes. How much better is that? It's funny the things you think are important when you are younger.

In fact, if you look at a map, Minnesota does indeed have a metric crap ton of lakes. It's honestly no contest, but yes, Michigan still does have the Great Lakes.

Minnesota was actually a bit harder than I would have expected to find songs for this post. Sure, it's not that easy to rhyme something with Minnesota, but I think we all know by now that not every song has to rhyme, it just makes it easier and a bit more catchy when it does.

I was able to pick out three songs that I am going to share here, I hope you enjoy them.

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I know I might catch a lot of flack for this, but I am a huge Indigo Girls fan. I understand there is this preconceived notion that only gay women like Indigo Girls music, but I think if you actually listen to them you will realize that isn't the case. Or at least realize that shouldn't be the case. The harmonies alone are so amazing, and then when you add in the lyrical prowess, there is just something really special about this duo.

I was going to share a more recent video of the song "Ghost" from them, but honestly, these days their voices aren't quite the same as they used to be, so I found an older cut of it. You just have to get past the overly long intro because it seems like the video is broken at first. It isn't until about ten seconds in that you really start to hear it.

I really like the line in this song where they talk about the Mississippi River starting in Minnesota. I've seen pictures of the headwaters of the Mississippi and to be honest, it's nothing special. There is a little sign and then just a swampy area I think. The part in the song where they say you can walk across it in five steps is just really poignant to me.

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I'll be the first to admit, I never really got into Soundgarden when they were popular. Yes, I knew the couple of big hits they had, but it wasn't until Chris Cornell passed away and it became more apparent just how many creative project he had his hands in and just how amazing he was. "Outshined" has a reference to Minnesota if listen really closely. I wouldn't have known it if I hadn't looked it up online, but I felt it would just be a little wrong to not include this prolific artist this week.

It doesn't take long to hear the reference to Minnesota. It happens before we even get to the chorus in fact, but it is there. If you watch the video with the captions on it is even easier to catch. I don't have much else to say here. Soundgarden kind of speaks for themself.

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Finally, I realized it would be an absolute crime if I didn't include one of Minnesota's favorite sons in this post. Of course I am talking about Prince and if you know, you know. As I was preparing for this post yesterday, I realized just how little of his music I actually know. Yes, I know the big hits, and the smaller ones too, but he had a massive career spanning back to the late 70's and an amazing catalog of music to sift through.

I've made it my mission to take a deep dive into his music on Spotify this week. That doesn't even include the songs he wrote for so many other people.

"Laydown" is one of the songs that I have probably never heard in my life until now and it's quite simple, but if you listen to the whole thing you will eventually hear the reference to Minnesota. It's too bad that Prince had to be taken from us so soon. I think he really could have made so much more great music.

I remember maybe about twenty years ago he was in Michigan doing a show near where we lived. I just kind of laughed it off and didn't have much interest in going to see him, but I really wish I had now. Just to be able to say I saw a legend.

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