Escape to Wisconsin
by @dasbinky · @nancyrostMod
Liner Notes
John says: I have been everywhere in this song, except the parts in the bridge. I have never made a lounge tune before, and this was fun.
Nancy says: Our writing rendezvous was on a snowy, blustery day so my thoughts turned to road trips. We imagined being the tourist bureau of weird Wisconsin roadside attractions and it escalated from there. I think it was always meant to be a lounge song.
The chorus is from two old Wisconsin tourism slogans. The bumper sticker was often modded to omit the "TO" and/or cut up ransom-letter style to form new words. The second slogan never really took off, but was shared with the newsletter below.


Lyrics
Escape to Wisconsin Where you’re among friends Wisconsin The fun never ends
Enjoy our informational road signs Like the one about sphagnum moss The Fantasuites at the Don Q Inn Offer shackles and a cross We’ve got the vintage Gobbler supper club Just off the overpass Sample catchy old-world culture With an authentic polka mass
Escape to Wisconsin Where you’re among friends Wisconsin The fun never ends
We got the world’s biggest fiberglass muskie Take a picture through his gills A plaque where Elvis stopped a fight With his mad karate skills When you’re driving through Black River Falls There’s a giant orange moose Take classes at the Mustard Museum Get a degree from Poupon U.
Escape to Wisconsin Where you’re among friends Wisconsin The fun never ends
We’ve also got a dark side Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein And one infamous McCarthy Not the one named Eugene … AND
Mount Horeb has a trollway Milwaukee's got the bronzest Fonz We touch two of the Great Lakes But we miss, you, Lake Huron Visit the Forevertron The work of Dr. Evermore There’s the upside-down White House We think it’s a metaphor
This doesn't really fit anywhere else, but Sparta has a dual-purpose museum dedicated to Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton and Sparta’s own dubious claim to being the Bicycle Capital of America, and you know what? Good for them!
Escape to Wisconsin Where you’re among friends Wisconsin The fun never ends
Comments
"that's right" - you channeled some FZ there. Bravo!
Super mellow and cool! It's like a burst of laughter turned into music, you can't listen to it and not smile. The key change in the end is really great, haha. Excellent collab!
You've sold me, I'm coming to Wisconsin. Love the way it keeps flirting with going off the rails before snapping back into place.
This really does sound like an loungey advertisement jingle! I think you should send it to the tourism bureau (except verse about the dark side. The spoken bridge is hysterical. I will be singing this all day from Madison, Wisconsin!
That chorus is sooo dang catchy. Earworm much? I already wanted to go to Wisconsin so I can't, in good faith, say this made me want to visit but it made me want to visit. That spoken word bridge was a perfect touch.
This is awesome. Love the graphics too! I sense a wkrp in Cincinnati feel. Such a deep knowledge of that great cheese state!
I'm cracking up listening to this... so funny!!!!
My god, the production! So wide I feel like I'm there in the room, with a full Wisconsin band all around me. This could be a cheesy throwaway, but the sound is too rich for that. "Hi-yah!"
I know someone already mentioned this, but... where's the cheese? (Apart from the arrangement, I mean 😉)
This is tremendous, and I love the whole concept. But how can you have a song about Wisconsin and not mention cheese even once?
Guaranteed to make you smile, if not chuckle into your hand or maybe at certain parts, laugh out loud...whatever, your day will be a lot brighter for listening to the joys within Wisconsin and this song for the win!
Okay, I think this might be one of my favorites this FAWM. Not just because I'm from WI and currently live in WI, but because of the vocal and instrumental delivery. It's so so good. EDIT: And the part about Sparta is phenomenal. My wife teaches there so it was extra comical for me. Yes, good for them!!
very clever lyrics, that must have taken some effort to put together.
this is a FAWM 2025 highlight.
The breezy tone, and the infectious jingle-hook of the chorus is a delight. Until I was stuck in a elevator and the chorus looped for hours. The verses are just right with the details but delivered with such levity that you can't help but smile. And then that catchy chorus hits again.
You should make a video for this to a montage of Cialis ads and 70s commercials, family vacation footage of these landmarks on Super 8, happy people with shining white teeth holding hands while sitting in a bathtub on a hill overlooking Wisconsin.
I want a college sweatshirt from Poupon U.
Wow from the first bar, taken to a time, and from the first words, very much a place. I feel like the tourist board of Wisconsin's social media officer would bite your hand off at the wrist to get hold of this wonderfully twisted ad for the state. I really liked the spoken word part too, it just added. Can't actually pick a favourite lyric, though "we think that's a metaphor" and "poupon u." have to be up there. I'll have this as an earworm today!
Outstanding!!!! I love everything about this!!!! Wonderful travelogue!
Damn, I think of all of these we've only seen the Fonz. Gotta come back with this as a ticklist... Hints of the recent Donny Benet rubbing off on ya? I could absolutely see him in the promo vid for this tune hanging at all of these hip spots, fruity cocktail in hand 😎
How delightful. The tropicalia is really selling me on this destination
Actually my Wisconsin friends with whom we roamed New Orleans (Wenzel at the Wheel) escaped FROM Wisconsin, to Minnesota... not sure that's an improvement? Anyway, much entertained here and if I ever make it back to the States and make it to Wisconsin, I'll know where to go! (The voice interpolation adds a little pizzazz too)
Holy eff, I love y’all’s magic with words and music. As a lifelong Wisconsinite I also have experienced many of these delights. I’m calling the Discover Wisconsin tourism show to recommend they adopt your song. Thank you for a catchy tune I’m bound to hum for the next week.
Sounds nice, I think I'll check it out.
I read ahead and was eagerly awaiting many lines, including 'Milwaukee's got the bronzest Fonz.' So many words in the ol' mouth trumpet machine and the backing track is suh-weet. Such restraint John is exercising here. And the fade out, classic.