Hey! Wikipedia came through!

    A long, long time ago, there was a borderline novelty hit by a garage band called The Standells. It was about Boston and was called "Dirty Water." That long time ago was 1965. At another more recent long time ago, somebody remade it. And remade it. And remade it. I would swear that I could remember versions for Columbia and for Philadelphia and maybe other cities I passed through on the bus or train. I remember thinking at the time that if they did one for Columbia, they must have done one for everybody!
    Fast forward to not a long time ago. I looked it up and couldn't find anything about the cover versions. Or maybe I thought I did. Today I looked it up again and Wikipedia came up trumps. (Assuming that's good; like I know anything about Bridge!) A neo-garage outfit (I'm not making this up) out of London called The Inmates did a London-oriented cover, then did 200 more to send out as promos to radio stations across the US. (Wikipedia says "many," but if they did Columbia, they must have done at least 200.) This was in 1979, and the record became a minor hit in early 1980. I was hearing the promos for years afterward. Certainly that was the early part of the '80s, but it was definitely after January 1980.
    Occurs to me that the band were ahead of their times. Because that particular publicity stunt was hardly likely to pay off in 1979. People hearing the promo about Columbia SC or Jackson MS are going to want THAT record, not one about London. If anything, they would probably be less likely to buy the London version. It's not like anyone in 1979 could put out a double-sided single for each town with the London version as the "A" and the Columbia version as the "B." But today, a garage band with time on its hands could market a 99 cent download of an "A" side and batch it with a free download of whatever town's version the buyer wants. Hey, it could work!
    Mind you, my other brilliant "Dirty Water" connected idea, doing it as a medley with "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" ("Aw, Lake Superior you're my home!"), might be in slightly poor taste. Too soon?
    PS: It being Wikipedia, nothing's perfect. They have the original record coming out in 1965 but written in 1966. Neat Trick Department!