This one goes out to all my cartographer fans. There are so many Wire songs that I love, especially from their super punky first album from 1977, Pink Flag, but this beauty (Map Ref. 41 Degrees N 93 Degrees W) from a couple of years later gets me every time.
The reference is to the dead center of the United States including Alaska and Hawaii, which is near the rather obviously named Centerville, Iowa. But I think I speak for everyone in the Lower 48 when I say that the song should have been called 39° 50′ N, 98° 35′ W. That’s the geographic center of the contiguous United States, a former hog farm near Lebanon, Kansas. Why on earth would you include Alaska and Hawaii in this? It’s just silly.
If this song wasn’t so pretty, I’d boycott it.
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