In Cleveland they like to think this song is a sentimental ode to the city, and it's a popular local folk tune.
But actually it's mocking the city. Calling early 1970's (This song was released in 1972) Cleveland the city of light and magic is clearly sarcastic. As the city gets cleaner and more modern people forget what a smoggy rusty nasty industrial hellhole Cleveland was for 50 years and the sarcasm gets diluted
It's also a bit of a political statement about how unnatural river fires are. You can't get much stranger than a river catching fire.
Poor Cleveland. Chemically polluted rivers in heavy-industry towns catching fire was not an unusual event in this country, but Cleveland just can't live down the (very minor) Cuyahoga River fire.
In Cleveland they like to think this song is a sentimental ode to the city, and it's a popular local folk tune.
But actually it's mocking the city. Calling early 1970's (This song was released in 1972) Cleveland the city of light and magic is clearly sarcastic. As the city gets cleaner and more modern people forget what a smoggy rusty nasty industrial hellhole Cleveland was for 50 years and the sarcasm gets diluted
It's also a bit of a political statement about how unnatural river fires are. You can't get much stranger than a river catching fire.
Poor Cleveland. Chemically polluted rivers in heavy-industry towns catching fire was not an unusual event in this country, but Cleveland just can't live down the (very minor) Cuyahoga River fire.