Redding: We're #1 ....Sorta

Okay: We're number 187. Whatever.

I was a little irked at the report in USA Today and elsewhere on the Gallup-Healthways survey that ranked Redding 187th out of 189 U.S. cities with regard to "well being." We're one notch below Spartanburg, South Carolina, and just below us, at the bottom of the list, are a couple West Virginia communities. Sigh.

For me, the best antidote to irked-ness is songwriting. Turning lemons into lemonade with this new tune, wherein we answer the negative press with a laundry list of Redding's virtues.  

Scroll down to listen on Youtube.

We're Number 1 (87)

words and music by Erin Friedman

Numbers crunched and calculated

U.S. cities ranked and rated

Enumerated proof we can’t ignore

In Anchorage they exercise

In Lafayette they’re satisfied

In Redding we are mystified

By our abysmal score

We’re Number One-eighty-seven

We score no points for rivers, bridges and sunshine

We’re number one-eighty-seven

But watch out Spartanburg

Redding’s ready to climb

We cast flies on the Sacramento

Our theater’s restored art-deco

We love Shasta’s glow when the sun is setting

Provo’s tops in USA Today

But I can buy local Chardonnay

Even on the Sabbath Day

At Safeway in Redding

We’re Number One-eighty-seven

We score no points for rivers, bridges and sunshine

We’re number one-eighty-seven

But watch out Spartanburg

Redding’s ready to climb

Our Sundial Bridge is world-renowned

Hike the falls at Whiskeytown

Our 80 miles of trails are right for rambling

See salmon rise on 44

Smile, Redding, head outdoors

Our collective self-esteem will soar

Like an eagle on the wing

We’re Number One eighty-seven

We're looking down on almost heaven, West Virginia

We’re number one-eighty-seven

Redding will rise

And Gallup, we’ll forgive ya