36 songs that have the word 'Tucson' in them

Tucson Too Late - Jordan Davis

Lyrics: "And heaven knows I let her slip away / I showеd up and she's gone / Guess I got to Tucson too latе" 

Release date: February 17, 2023

Happy Does ─ Kenny Chesney

Lyric: "Some find it in the scripture or a Polaroid picture / Or flip a coin, heads, you're goin' to Tucson, Arizona"

Release date: 2020

Fun fact: The song was written by Brad Clawson, Brock Berryhill, Greylan James and Jamie Paulin. Chesney said the first time he heard it, it made him smile.

You Can Sleep While I Drive ─ Melissa Etheridge

Lyric: "We'll go through Tucson up to Santa Fe"

Release date: 1990

The Seashores of Old Mexico ─ George Strait

Lyric: "I left out of Tucson with no destination in mind"

Release date: Feb. 13, 2006

Fun fact: The song was written by Merle Haggard and first recorded by Hank Snow in 1971. Strait took it to #11 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

God Love Her ─ Toby Keith

Lyric: "She called from a truck stop / In Tucson, Arizona / With amazing grace..."

Release date: November 2008

Fun fact: The song is a moderate up-tempo song accompanied by electric guitar. It describes the love for a preacher's daughter.

Goin' Back to Tucson ─ Supersuckers

Lyric: "Going back to Tucson, Going back to where things went wrong..."

Release date: 1999

Fun fact: The song is from the album, "The evil Powers of Rock 'n' Roll"

Tucson Train ─ Bruce Springsteen

Lyric: "Just to show her a man can change / Now my baby's coming in on the Tucson train."

Release date: May 30, 2019

Fun fact: The song is on his new album "Western Stars," which comes out on June 14, 2019. 

Closer — The Chainsmokers (feat. Hasley)

Lyric: "Stay, and play that Blink-182 song/That we beat to death in Tucson, OK"

Release date: July 29, 2016

Fun fact: This song was inspired by the Blink-182's 2004 hit "Miss You." We may have just solved the mystery about what Blink song was overplayed on their tour bus in Tucson.   

Must Be Losing My Mind — Brett Dennen

Lyric: "Burned out in the lawn in Tucson, Arizona/With the scavengers on 4th Avenue"

Release year: 2011

Fun Fact: Brett Dennen is an American pop/folk singer who loads up a lot of modern day Tucson references in this song.

Wouldn't Wanna Be Ya — Toby Keith

Lyric: "I made it out to Tucson where I turned my truck around/I started barreling down that highway boy, back to that Texas town"

Release year: 2007

Fun Fact: The singer had some Tucson roots momentarily when a "Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill" opened in the Tucson Mall on New Year's Eve, 2012. He then turned "back to that Texas town" when the restaurant closed about 14 months later.  

Road to Gila Bend — Los Lobos

Lyric: "Got to Tucson in the dark/Keeping an eye out for the law/Five hundred miles or more from a broken heart"

Release year: 2006

Fun fact: Can't get enough Los Lobos? The band runs a "Classic Live Lobos" section on their website where you can watch past performances.

Hows about tellin' a story? — Devendra Banheart

Lyric: "Mansonite and the Wolfman, Katmandu, and Honest Abe/Something happens up in Tucson and then it happens again in Maine"

Release year: 2005

Fun Fact: Singer Devendra Banheart was raised for most of his childhood in Venezuela before moving to Los Angeles with his mother and stepfather at the age of 14. 

Idiot Summer — Gin Blossoms

Lyric: "There's no telling I was so confused/I try but I can't help you choose/Tucson is so far away"

Release year: 1989

Fun fact: This song was part of the Wayne's World 2 soundtrack. Party on!

Under African Skies — Paul Simon

Lyric: "I said take this child, Lord, From Tucson Arizona/Give her the wings to fly through harmony/And she won't bother you no more"

Release date: August 1987

Fun Fact: Part of the song was written for Linda Ronstadt — about her life growing up in Tucson. She also contributes to the backing vocals.

Thumbelina — The Pretenders

Lyric: "Hush little baby, don't you cry/When we get to Tucson you'll see why/ We left the snowstorms and the thunder and rain/For the desert sun, we're gonna be born again"

Release year: 1984

Not so fun fact: The song is featured in The Pretenders' third studio album, "Learning to Crawl," which was produced after two of the band's four original members died from drug overdoses.

Leila — ZZ Top

Lyric: "I begged her not to go away/She left my ex best friend out in old Tucson/Told me she was leavin' and would be rollin on."

Release year: 1981

Fun Fact: The band has appeared on a few television shows over their 40+ years in the business, including hosting an episode of WWE Raw.

It Ain't All Bad — Charley Pride

Lyric: "I picked last night in Tucson I sang 'em a country song/Missed my plane this morning Lord cause we parted all night long"

Release date: March 1975

Fun Fact: Pride has been part-owner of the Texas Rangers since 2010. At 82, he also takes time off to work out with the team at their spring training facility in Surprise. 

Willin' — Linda Ronstadt

Lyric: "And I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari, Tehachapi to Tonopah/Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made"

Release year: 1974

Fun fact: The song was originally written and performed by the American rock band, Little Feat. Ronstadt is a native to Tucson, so it's seems pretty fitting she has her own rendition of the song.

Check out this Ronstadt throwback from the Arizona Daily Star's archive.

Here's what her band, The Stone Poneys, has to say about their sound in 1966: "It's folk music because we're folks and it's our music."

Seashores of Old Mexico — Merle Haggard

Lyric: "We left out of Tucson with no destination in mind/We were runnin' from trouble and the jail-term the Judge had in mind"

Release year: 1974

Fun fact: There is a duet version of the song featuring Haggard and Willie Nelson. In fact they recorded a whole album together titled "Seashores of Old Mexico."

Get Back — The Beatles

Lyric: "Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona for some California grass"

Release date: April 11, 1969

Fun fact: When released as a single as part of the Beatles' final studio album "Let it Be," the song hit number one in the U.S. and international charts. 

Bonus fact: Paul McCartney's first wife, Linda, studied at the University of Arizona in Fine Arts. They married in 1969, the same year "Get Back" was recorded. The couple bought ranch property in Tucson in 1979 and lived here for several years until Linda's death in 1998.

The Ballad of Boothill — Johnny Cash

Lyric: "Out in Arizona just south of Tucson/Where tumbleweeds tumble in search of a home/There's a town they call Tombstone where the brave never cry"

Release year: 1959

Fun fact: This song is more about Tombstone than it is about Tucson. But hey, it's Johnny Cash singing about the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, so we'll deal.

Sister's Keeper ─ Pure Prairie League

Relevant Lyrics: Tucson Arizona... Casa Grandes over my shoulder / And these evenin' feelin's come so strong

Release Year: 1975

Jack Straw ─ Grateful Dead

Relevant lyrics: Half a mile from Tucson / By the morning light / One man gone and another to go / My old buddy you're moving much too slow

Release year: 1972

Lights of Tucson ─ Jim Campbell

Sample lyrics: Gotta see the lights of Tucson / Gotta pack, come on, get a move on / Gotta see the lights of Tucson / Ain't coming back / Wheels, get a move on

Release year: 1970 

Send Me Down to Tucson ─ Mel Tillis

Sample lyrics: No one wants to go down to Tucson in the summer / So this time the boss chose me

…

Go on and send me down to Tucson and I'll get the job done

Release year: 1979

Della and the Dealer ─ Hoyt Axton

Relevant lyrics: Down Tucson way there's a small café / Where they play a little cowboy tune.

Release year: 1979

Americano ─ Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers

Relevant lyrics: All roads lead back to Tucson / Pray, Maria I don't find the noose on

Release year: 2004

Vienna Calling ─ Falco

Relevant lyrics: Womit spielen kleine Mädchen heute, hier und dort und da, (What do little girls play today, here and there and there,) Und in (And in) Tucson, Arizona; Toronto, Canada.

Release year: 1985

Ghetto Cowboy ─ Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

Relevant lyrics: These directions say we go to Tucson, Arizona / When we arrive we'll cop a place we can bunk

Release year: 1998

Painted Desert ─ 10,000 Maniacs

Relevant lyrics: I wanted to be there by May at the latest time. Isn't that the plan we had or have you changed your mind? I haven't read a word from you since Phoenix or Tucson. April is over will you tell me how long before I can be there?

Release year: 1987

Tucson, Arizona (Gazette) ─ Dan Fogelberg

Sample lyrics: Tucson, Arizona / Rising in the heat like a / Mirage / Tony keeps his Chevy / Like a virgin locked in / His garage

Release year: 1984

Tucson Too Soon ─ Tracy Byrd

Sample lyrics: Tonight on a plane bound for Dallas / I see the bright lights of Tucson below / Shining on all of the memories / I thought I'd finally let go

…

For leavin' Tucson too soon / At the time it was something that I just had to do / But tonight face to face with that old desert moon / It seems I left Tucson too soon

Release year: 1996

Halls ─ Andrew McMahon

Lyric: "Pourin' rain in Tucson, Arizona, checked into the Congress Hotel"

Release date: October 14, 2014

Old Black Dawning - Frank Black

Lyric: "I'm always happy to go down to old Tucson"

Release date: March 8, 1993

American Nights - Chase Rice

Lyrics: "He was 18 and wasted / Bedroom in the basement / Parents' house in Tucson, Arizona"

Release date: January 24, 2020

Beer Taste Good - Casey Donahew

Lyrics: "Caught a bus out to Tucson, I wish diesel was free"

Release date: March 25, 2022