I spent forty-five minutes yesterday morning sitting in a car waiting to meet up with someone who was late. I was bored. Joni Mitchell started singing “California” on my stereo. Ten minutes later, through the miracle of MP3 shuffle, I heard the first chords of Springsteen’s “Nebraska.”

And I wondered: what’s the greatest song in history that shares its name with a U.S. state? “California” and “Nebraska” are two pretty solid nominees. But what about the dull earnestness of CSN&Y’s “Ohio”? Or the simple fun of the Beach Boys’ “Hawaii”? Or Sonic Youth’s unlikely Aerosmith tribute, “New Hampshire”? Should I salute or ignore the pre-Sufjan efforts of acts like the Dambuilders and They Might Be Giants’ John Linnell to write songs about whole swaths of the Union?

I was at the point of putting the tiara on Arrested Development’s irresistible “Tennessee,” but then I remembered the sugary, strings-drenched pop bliss of the early Bee Gees hit “Massachusetts.” Hard to beat that.