And speaking, as we were in today's title, of that great moral philosopher Michael Phillip Jagger -- who amongst us has not at some point been moved by his poignant cry "Go ahead, bite the Big Apple, don't mind the maggots!"?
Which brings us to today's business. To wit:
...and your favorite (or least favorite) post-Beatles rock/pop/soul/country/folk song referencing (either directly or by implication) New York City and its environs is...????
I haven't got a least, but my favorite? It's a tie, and don't gimme any of that Alicia Keys shit or I'll come to your house and shove a BLT in your kisser.
The Dion song, of course, is from his epochal 1989 Yo Frankie comeback(!) album (produced by Dave Edmunds). And let's be honest -- as you can hear from it, Mr. DiMucci may be the best single motherfucking singer ever to come out of those aforementioned pavements.
As for The Trade Winds -- c'mon. There's never been anything funnier than a hit record/blues lament for a surfer transplanted to NYC.
Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?
And have a great weekend, everybody!!!
24 comments:
Coincidently, I listened to "Yo Frankie" last week and wow, is it good!
As for a fave, I'm going to offer "New York" by St. Vincent, but only because it came out during the height of the pandemic and it really resonated.
New York Skyline by Garland Jeffries from his great album Ghost Writer in 1977 would be my choice. rs
Willie Nile has so many songs about NYC it's not even funny. Maybe the title track from Streets of New York, or I Saw Bo Diddley in Washington Square. He just played a solo show in the Bay Area last weekend and he was, as usual, marvelous. Also, early Bruce - Incident on 57th St. or NYC Serenade.
It's a tie for me between Jennifer Warnes (Leonard Cohen) First We Take Manhattan and the Pogues with Kirsty MacColl Fairytale of New York. Two of my favorite female voices.
The Ramones - Rockaway Beach
Velvet Underground - Waiting for the Man
Odyssey - Native New Yorker
(and environs):
that dog - Long Island
Fountains of Wayne - Hackensack
Fear: “New York’s Alright if you like Saxophones”.
Dylan's "Visions of Johanna" is something of a NYC travelogue: "The bricks lay on Grand Street where the neon madmen climb" "The all-night girls who whisper of escapades out on the D train" "Lights flicker from the opposite loft"
Chelsea Hotel by Leonard Cohen
Jim Carroll - the city as it drops into night.
My personal favorite - People Who Died - his homage to his NYC friends
rob
That was gonna be my third choice.😎
Rain Dogs by Tom Waits. I think everything previous was California, and that album changed his sound dramatically (and to my ears positively). The NY influence is extensive.
-Dave in Atlanta
The Ad-Libs: Boy From New York City
And because I'm still on a 5-year French kick, enjoy sil vous plait:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dobcTvJ12mI
Least Favorite: Al Kooper''s "New York City You're a Woman"
I was waiting for somebody to nominate the Ad-Libs.
Pete - Dylan broke my heart when he abandoned NYC for Malibu in the early 1970's.
Captain Al
Riding my bike with my transistor radio on my handle bars - 1965
The Trade Winds
New Yorks A Lonely Town
rob
"Across 110th Street" - Bobby Womack
"Waiting For The Man" - Velvet Underground
"On Broadway" - The Drifters
"New York Shuffle" - Graham Parker & The Rumour
"New York, New York" - Frank Sinatra ...you know you want to do a Rockettes kick whenever you hear it!
Least favorite - "New York Telephone Conversation" - Lou Reed ...ugh
10cc - Wall Street Shuffle
rbm
One more...
Billy Joel - Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
rbm
Sorry Steve, somehow I didn't see your Trade Winds reference. Mea Culpa. A great song never the less if I still remember it 40 years later 😉
Precisions "New York City"
Randoms "Let's Get Rid Of New York"
Raveonettes "New York Was Great"
Bobby D "Hard Times In New York Town"
C in California
The Pogues, of course, is the favorite. But here's more:
Rock n Roll - The Velvet Underground
New York Serenade - Bruce Springsteen
New York Shuffle - Graham Parker
I Love LA - Randy Newman
I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City - Harry Nilsson
California Bloodlines - John Stewart
The Boxer- Simon and Garfunkel
How about the Ad Libs -
The Boy From New York City
"Ooh-wah,ooh-wah,cool cool kitty..."
rob 😉
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