Esperanza Spalding (Courtesy of Oregon Symphony)

After a long winter, the arrival of spring makes us want to sing ... songs about Oregon.

And the Beaver State has served as muse to many artists, including some of the biggest names in the business.

The themes and scenes of their songs run the gamut: longing for an Oregon girl or an Oregon of the imagination, odes to the timber-felling life and "The Goonies," a passing reference to Spencer Butte, a tale of strolling in Northeast Portland with a broken heart.

The genres run the gamut too. We've got folk, country, straightforward rock, punk and more.

Take your pick from our list of favorites below.

Don't Edit

Alameda (1997)

Elliott Smith

Don't Edit

Back to Oregon (2007)

Broadway Calls

Don't Edit

Carry & Lowell (2015)

Sufjan Stevens

(Stevens' "Carrie & Lowell" album is filled with references to the state, so we'll go with the ethereal title song.)

Don't Edit

The City of Roses (2012)

Esperanza Spalding

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Don't Take Me Alive (1976)

Steely Dan

Don't Edit

Dream of the '90s (2011)

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein

(Yes, it's an over-referenced novelty song for a cable-TV comedy show. But, like it or not, it's also become the unofficial song of Portland.)

Don't Edit

Eugene Oregon (1972)

Dolly Parton

(The country legend once spent a difficult and ultimately rewarding day in Eugene -- and wrote a song about it. "To this day," she has said, "it is one of my favorite songs and I will remember Eugene, Oregon, for the rest of my life.")

Don't Edit

Light Rail Coyote (2002)

Sleater-Kinney

Don't Edit

Live Long in Oregon (2014)

Laura Gibson

(Yes, this was an advertisement for the disastrous Obamacare effort Cover Oregon. But it was quintessentially Oregon -- and it led (see below) to a pitch-perfect satire from Lisa Loeb: "Your passion for cuteness might kill your whole state, so long, Oregon!")

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Bonus: Oregon Spirit (2014)

Lisa Loeb

Don't Edit

Lumberjack (1960)

Johnny Cash

Don't Edit

Night of the Living Rednecks (1987)

Dead Kennedys

Don't Edit

Oregon Girl (2006)

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

Don't Edit

Oregon, My Oregon (1920)

John Andrew Buchanan and Henry Bernard Murtagh

("Oregon, My Oregon" won a contest to become Oregon's state song.)

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Oregon Trail (1941)

Woody Guthrie

Don't Edit

Portland, Oregon (2004)

Loretta Lynn and Jack White

Don't Edit

Portland Town (1962)

Joan Baez

Don't Edit

Portland Water (1995)

Michael Hurley

Don't Edit

Roll On Columbia, Roll On (1941)

Woody Guthrie

(Sure, it's the official state folk song of Washington, but the Beaver State is an integral part of the song too.)

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

So Long, Astoria (2003)

The Ataris

Don't Edit

Twin Rocks, Oregon (1998)

Shawn Mullins