Like Taylor Swift's 'Florida!!!'? Here are the 16 best songs about the Sunshine State

Amidst the onslaught of new songs dropped by Taylor Swift on Friday in her surprise double-album "The Tortured Poets Department," Florida gets a little attention.

Well, a lot. In the song "Florida!!!," written and performed with Florence Welch of English indie rock band "Florence + the Machine," Swift goes dark with "I've got some regrets, I'll bury them in Florida" while singing about swamps, hurricanes and timeshares, as she flees to the Sunshine State to escape a painful situation. Is the song about her breakup after six years with English actor Joe Alwyn? That's for her to know and the fans to wildly speculate.

(Florida also gets a brief shoutout in her song "Fortnight," featuring Post Malone.)

With "Florida!!!" Swift joins a large community of musicians who have written songs about or in Florida. As her chorus goes, "Florida is one hell of a drug." Here are just a few.

(Note that some videos may contain objectionable lyrics.)

'Deep Down In Florida' by Muddy Waters

Blues legend Muddy Waters was born in Mississippi, but he had some significant events in the Sunshine State. He first met one of his sons there, Big Bill Morganfield. His last public performance was with Eric Clapton at a Florida concert in 1982. And in 1977, he met his third wife there, Marva Jean Brooks, the same year he released the album "Hard Again" with the song "Deep Down in Florida."

"Yeah, I be going down in Florida / Where the sun shines damn near every day"

The rich, laidback song takes him to Gainesville and Newberry, plus some time on the beach.

'The Everglades' by Waylon Jennings

It was written by Harlan Howard and covered by six other artists first, including The Kingston Trio, but outlaw country icon Waylon Jennings made "The Everglades" his own in this song about a "nice young man" on the run from the law in the Florida swamps after "a jealous fight and the flashing blades."

"It won't last long in the everglades / A man can't live in the everglades"

And possibly the most Florida line ever, "If the skeeters don't get him then the 'gators will."

'Flora-Bama' by Kenny Chesney

For 60 years the iconic Flora-Bama beach bar has sat squarely between Orange Beach, Alabama and Perdido Key, Florida, moving smoothly every night from beachside oyster bar to honky-tonk nightclub with events like the annual Interstate Mullet Toss and welcoming all visitors with daily music from "local favorites to Platinum-selling recording artists."

"There's hot time, low tide, years of history / Hurricanes with different names that almost took the beach"

Jimmy Buffett gave a tip of the hat to the Flora-Bama in his songs "Bama Breeze" and "Ragtop Day," but Kenny Chesney's 2014 "Flora-Bama" went all in to celebrate the quintessential beachside dive bar. "Gonna raise a lot of hell tonight in the, in the no shoes nation."

'Florida Boy Forever' by Brian Kelley

Brian Kelly, half of the celebrated country duo "Florida Georgia Line" with Tyler Hubbard, wrote "Florida Boy Forever" to celebrate his hometown. "I grew up in Ormond Beach, catchin' crayfish out the creek," he says, before going out into the world and taking his roots with him.

"Always keep that sunshine with me / Sure as waves crash on the shore / I'll be the Florida boy forever, I know"

But even more than the song, the music video just drips with local flavor as he hangs out at a local surf shop and restaurant and paddles a canoe on the Tomoka River before heading to an Ormond Beach baseball diamond to play with friends and members of the Seabreeze High School baseball team.

'Florida Man' by Blue Öyster Cult

"Florida Man" has been a thing ever since newspapers pointed out the craziness of the state, columnists like Dave Barry and Carl Hiassen confirmed it, and the Florida Man Twitter feed was created. The hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" fame took a swing at the meme with this song on their 2020 album "The Symbol Remains" and pulled stories from the headlines for their lyrics about meth, cat-eating, and bizarre deaths.

"Don't you laugh, it could be you / The Florida curse always comes true

You can jeer, but you don't understand / Any fragile soul can be a Florida Man"

BOC took it a step further, though, and suggested the "Florida Man" tales are due to "the medicine man of the Seminole" cursing the descendants of the conquistadors. Makes as much sense as anything else.

'Florida Kilos' by Lana Del Rey

Why are so many Florida songs about drugs? Unlike Glenn Frey's upbeat 80s anthem "Smugglers Blues," Lana Del Rey's "Florida Kilos" is dark and moody.

"White lines, pretty daddy, go skiing / You snort it like a champ, like the winter we’re not in"

Del Rey has also provided hat tips to Orlando ("White Dress"). Miami ("Salvatore"), and Florida in general ("Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd").

'The Florida Song' by Ricky Sylvia

Want a cheery, upbeat song from someone who lives here? Ricky Sylvia and the Buzzcatz from Winter Park present "The Florida Song" about snowbirds, the Miami Dolphins, golf courses, shuffleboard and even a space program.

"We got rockets on the east coast, go up all the time. / Ain't no place like it that you’ll ever find.

Bingo, shuffleboard, fishing too. / You see that cat man? His hair was blue!"

'Florida Time' by Bob Seger

Bob Seger's "Florida Time" is straight to the point, about getting over the Georgia line to have "a good time" in Florida where he can "tan right up."

"Now we're in Florida and some will turn off / Some will hit Daytona and the rest will head south

The Lauderdale beach is just up ahead / I'd like to hit Nassau but my wallet is dead"

Seger, who has had a condo in Naples for years, may already started to have a good time when he wrote this song since there is no chorus and the bridge and outro are just "Florida time" over and over and over.

'Floridays' by Jimmy Buffett

Frankly, you could pick almost any of the Sunshine State's favorite cheerleader Jimmy Buffett's musical catalog and probably find some Florida mention, or at least affection for the state's vibe. But "Floridays" on his 1986 album of the same name is pretty direct.

"I come from where the rivers meet the sea / That's part of why I'm so wild and fancy free"

Best runner-up: “Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season.” (Best song about Jimmy Buffett songs? Paul & Storm's "Buffett Night (Tonight, I'm a Parrothead).")

'Four Walls of Raiford' by Lynyrd Skynyrd

The Southern band from Jacksonville wrote more about Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee than they ever did about their home state — although in 2022, current lead singer Johnny Van Zant and his brother Donnie of .38 Special wrote "Sweet Florida" in support of Gov. Ron DeSantis — but they did pen one about Florida State Prison in Bradford County.

"And I had stripes on my back, memories that hurt / For the only time I seen sunshine is when I hit the dirt"

"Four Walls of Raiford" is a slow ballad, almost a dirge, about a Vietnam vet falsely arrested after he got out and couldn't find a job after fighting for his country.

'Gainesville' by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Florida son Tom Petty doesn't go into a lot of detail about his hometown in "Gainesville," a track recorded for his 1998 "Echo" album and reportedly dropped because it wasn't dark enough, but the feel and affection is there. "Gainesville" was finally released 20 years later in the box set "An American Treasure."

"Long ago and far away, another time, another day / Gainesville was a big town / Gainesville was a big town"

Petty dropped some more Florida mentions in other songs such as “Crystal River,” “Casa Dega,” “Southern Accents” and (kind of) “American Girl.”

Southern rock to Miami sound:A look at Florida's most influential musicians

'Kokomo' by The Beach Boys

This is cheating a little, since the paradise of Kokomo "off the Florida Keys" doesn't actually exist (although there is a Kokomo in Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Missouri and Texas). It also used to be a brand of coffee. But The Beach Boys' unshakably catchy steel-guitar hit caught the dreamy feel of living in the Keys, and we're sorry about the inescapable earworm you're going to have for the next few days.

"Bodies in the sand / Tropical drink melting in your hand

We'll be falling in love / To the rhythm of a steel drum band

Down in Kokomo"

'Old Folks at Home' ('The Swannee River') by Stephen C. Foster

Stephen C. Foster was looking for a two-syllable river for his song "Old Folks at Home," as the story goes, and picked the Suwannee River without ever visiting Florida. But the song, wistfully singing about plantations in blackface minstrel style, caught on and was made the state song in 1935. After years of complaints about the topic and the offensive language, the lyrics were changed with the approval of the Stephen Foster Memorial and the revised version was adopted by Florida in 2008.

"Way down upon the Suwannee River, / Far, far away,

There’s where my heart is turning ever, / There’s where the old folks stay."

Ray Charles released his own version in 1957, "Swanee River Rock (Talkin' 'Bout That River)." Charles, who lived in St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa before he got big, also wrote "St. Pete Florida Blues."

'The State of Florida' by Less Than Jake

Some songs vaguely mention Florida, beaches, sun or cocaine, but only ska punk group Less Than Jake sang about the infrastructure. In this fast-paced, shout-the-chorus song the band from Gainesville talks about "latchkey kids from divorces, transplants and the foreign tourists" and the state sinking under the real and metaphorical weight of unchecked development. Rock on!

"And the city skyline hasn't looked the same / Since the boom in south Florida's real estateFill up vacation spots / Turned to trailer parks / 'Cause this state is fading"

'Tallahassee' by The Mountain Goats

OK, it's not going to give you feel-good thoughts about the state, and most of the songs barely mention Florida at all. But The Mountain Goats devoted an entire album in 2002 to the tale of a married couple who bitterly hate each other moving down to Tallahassee. Think of them as the anti-Beach Boys.

"There are loose ends by the score / What did I come down here for?"

Other songs on the album mention plantations, driving from Tampa. and flying up the Florida coast in "International Small Arms Traffic Blues."

'Welcome To Miami' by Pitbull

Mr. 305 himself, rapper and Miami native Pitbull frequently spits about his beloved hometown with songs like "305 Till I Die" and his appearance in songs like "Move to Miami" by Enrique Iglesias. But "Welcome to Miami" presents the city in all its glory, from its neighborhoods and sports teams to shoutouts for his fellow Miami artists.

"This is a city full of culture and different races / Where all the mami's come fully equipped at young ages / With the hurricanes cause even the biggest hurricane couldn't phase us"

Pitbull rides for, lies for, cries for Dade where "palm trees blue skies gangstas and goons, where parties don't stop till the next afternoon."

Honorable mentions:

There are a LOT of songs about or taking place in Florida. Here are just a few more, and we probably missed your favorite.

• "3 Nights" by Dominic Fike
• "Don’t Let Me Die in Florida" by Patty Griffin
• "Florida" by Modest Mouse
• "Florida Hurricane" by St. Louis Jimmy
• "Florida Water" by DJ Scheme
• "Floridada" by Animal Collective
• "Gator Country" by Molly Hatchett
• "Goin' Back to Miami" by Wayne Cochran
• "Green Grass & High Tides" by Outlaw
• "Jacksonville" by Brandon Flowers
• "Lochloosa" by J.J. Grey and Mofro
• "Mainline Florida" by Eric Clapton
• "Miami" by Will Smith
• "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" by Billy Joel
• "Seminole Bingo" by Warren Zevon, co-written by Carl Hiaasen
• "Seminole Wind" by John Anderson
• "St. Pete Blues" by Ray Charles
• "South of the South" by Dave Dondero
• "The Sweet Smell of Florida" by Warmduscher
•  "Tallahassee Lassie" by Freddy Cannon
• “Walk Between Raindrops” by Donald Fagen
• "Ybor's Burning" by Magadog