By Abigail Vannatta, Staff Writer
Wichita’s a big enough scene that it’s made its way into a couple of big-time songs. Everybody knows the classic “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes — “I’m going to Wichita” — or Glen Campbell’s 1968 “Wichita Linemen.”
But there are other standout songs that mention Wichita that are lesser known but just as good.
Here are my top five picks, ranging in genre from rap to old country to alternative:
- “You Ain’t Big” by Rufus Wainwright (2020)
This song sounds like Americana paraphernalia. Wainwright is known for his baroque-pop genre that blends ornate strings with rock as well as for his dramatic, theatrical vocals, comparable to Thom Yorke of Radiohead. And for this song, he adds a country flare.
Wainwright sings, “You ain’t big unless you’re big in” Alabama, New York state, Mississippi, with Kansas and Wichita repeatedly mentioned.
He sings, “Don't know who you are unless you made it in Wichita / Gotta get back to Kansas.”
Wainwright told Rolling Stone magazine that the song is about how musicians are often not recognized until they’re known within the heartland cities of the United States, referencing The Beatles and Elvis as examples.
He even pays a special (negative) tribute to Lawrence, singing, “Unless you made it in Lawrence, Kansas / Wait a minute, Lawrence, Kansas doesn't really matter at all.” It leaves listeners with the question, ‘What happened in Lawrence?’
The lyric video for “You Ain’t Big” honors the Americana look but doesn’t shy from being critical of that America. It shows old postcards of the states he mentions and vintage clips of ’50s America, contrasting an idealistic world for white people with clips of Black people protesting during the Civil Rights Movement.
This list’s most-known musician, Wainwright has about 1.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify, but this track comes from a more recent album in a discography that goes back to 1988. “You Ain’t Big” is less recognizable but still a standout track.
- “Wichita Skyline” by Shawn Colvin (1996)
Of course among a list of Wichita songs, there must be a country song. “Wichita Skyline” has a folky, acoustic sound with the image of the Wichita skyline used repeatedly as a metaphor for the narrator’s feelings.
Colvin sings, “Now I’m just a flat line / like the Wichita Skyline,” and “There’s nothing around the bend / except for that flat, fine line.”
The song comes from Colvin’s album “A Few Small Repairs,” released in 1996 with co-writer and producer John Leventhal. Colvin’s accrued around 450,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
She once told KMUW that the song was inspired by where she grew up in South Dakota but that she really liked the way the word ‘Wichita’ sounded. She said the inspiration came from both “Wichita Lineman” and “The Wizard of Oz.”
Still, the tune hits home for Wichitans and old-style country lovers.
- “Citizens of Wichita” by Emperor X (2005)
This song is reminiscent of early 2000s indie rock like Modest Mouse, plus its vocals sound like Daniel Johnston’s. Emperor X is really Chad Matheny, a singer and songwriter from Jacksonville, Florida, based in Berlin since 2012. He has 47,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, making this song feel underground after the last two.
The lyrics sound like a Wichita college kid’s everyday life with settings like “Methodist parking lots” and “the basement of the ECC,” or the “Arkansas” river, “spilling drugs on your pre-med clothes.”
He mentions Wichita specifically twice, saying there are “500,000 citizens” or “a quarter million children in the downtown of Wichita / playing in their suits on the fountains and the grates.”
The song feels like it could have been penned by an outsider sitting by and observing the city at a close distance, and the sound aligns perfectly with the indie, alternative sound of a college coming-of-age movie.
- “Wichita (Zero Heroes mixtape)” by XV (2011)
XV is Donavan Johnson, a rapper from Wichita who had his coming up in the late 2000s, early 2010s ‘blogosphere’ hiphop scene. He became popular online for his mixtapes, before being signed by Warner Bros. Records in 2010. Johnson’s sound has been compared to other rappers like Kid Cudi and B.o.B, and he has amassed about 20,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
“Wichita” comes from his “Zero Heroes” mixtape and shares the story of his upbringing. The lyrics feel like they portray simpler times for Johnson, making music as a teenager “in the city of Wichita” with “big dreams” that have since come true for him.
The music video version, produced by Just Blaze, includes orchestral strings at the beginning that makes the song feel even more classic. The video has a documentary, black-and-white style and uses clips of Johnson with friends in downtown Wichita — at a barbershop, at the skatepark and on a basketball court. Other Wichitans will recognize shots of the Keeper of the Plains and Riverside Park.
The “Zero Heroes” version of the song just sounds like the soundtrack for downtown Wichita (if it had a soundtrack).
- “How Lucky My Eyes” by The Fever Haze (2024)
Probably the least-known of the other artists here is The Fever Haze, which has only about 1,000 monthly listeners on Spotify — but it’s a favorite on the list. The band is a five-piece lineup based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
“How Lucky My Eyes” comes from the band’s 2024 album “Moonbow” and is written by vocalist Jackie Kalmink. It has a shoegaze, ’90s alternative style with a heavy hand on the drums and fuzzy-sounding guitars.
While it only briefly mentions Wichita at the start — “Motel 6 / Wichita / Lost track of time” — the lyrics feel like a time piece of Wichita in the summer, riding in the backseat of a friend’s car with the windows down and the wispy, reverbed voice of Kalmink blasting. This song would make anyone wish it was summer 24/7.
PHOTO: Courtesy, Taylor Hunt
