Father-Son Duo's 'Massachusetts Song' Goes Viral

By Louisa Hufstader

Here's the perfect antidote to too much holiday music and overproduced pop of all kinds: "The Massachusetts Song (You Athol)," by Dana Edelman and and his 11-year-old son Jaiden Edelman of West Tisbury.

Dana, 41, wrote the song using more than 50 Bay State place names in the lyrics, creating a complicated and very catchy ballad with a chorus you might find hard to get out of your head:

"You're a Taunton Falmouth Buzzard,
Ware'd the ham go from my Sandwich?
You've got Marbles in your head,
You Athol."

A video of the Edelmans performing their song at The Yard in Chilmark was posted on YouTube the Monday before Thanksgiving and by Dec. 20 had surpassed 10,000 views.

Shot and directed by Gerry Wenner, the video includes full lyrics, which grow increasingly goofy as the father and son riff on town names that have baffled many Massachusetts newcomers and visitors. Highlights include:

"You were Bourne with Mashpee for your Braintree."
"All the Sutton there's a Warren of Wales in the Seekonk."
"Head to the Barre for a Canton of Hardwick Brewster."
"It was Worcester than I thoughtster."

Dana Edelman, a working musician who composes for advertising and television and has his own recording career as a singer-songwriter, explained to Patch that the song came about during long car drives between New York and Martha's Vineyard before he and his wife, son and daughter were finally able to move here year-round two years ago.

"I, in my usual annoying creative babble that my family is constantly subjected to, just started riffing on the syllables off the road signs," he said.

"Jaiden is a great singer, so anything he sings on is simply better than it would be otherwise."

The result is a charming, funny song and video that will continue to delight Bay Staters long after the Norwegian group Ylvis's satirical "Massachusetts" song has dropped off the charts.

Have you watched the video? Tell us in the comments.