the Blue Ridge Mountains, there I'll take my stand. Up on the Blue Ridge Mountains, there I'll take my stand. A rifle on my shoulder, six shooter in my hand; Oh Lord, I been all around this world. I've wondered about that one most of my life, Charlie. I always thought a cape was a narrow spit of land that stuck out into an ocean. What the heck's one doing in Missouri , of all places? -Joe Offer- I've always assumed, looking at a map, that the "Cape" of Cape Girardeau has to do with the shape of the land as the Mississippi River curls around it. Or perhaps a sandbar. Or perhaps these geographical items existed at the time in history when the place got its name, but Ol' Man River just keeps rollin' along and changin' the landscape. Yes, Charlie, if ya look at the map there's a "swelling" where the river bends westward and then back eastward at the town site of Cape Girardeau. ie. "a cape" of sorts. It's only about 15 miles north (as the crow flies) of Cairo, Illinois where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi down in that part of S. Illinois called EGYPT. That's close to NEW MADRID, Mo. where in 1812 the N.M.fault "quaked" and the Mississippi ran backwards for 3 weeks---Reelfoot Lake was formed---entire forests were leveled---and this is no tall tale. If it'd been populated as it is now millions would've been killed. The steamboat ROOSEVELT rode out the