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Best song ever about New York?


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[b][i]New York State of Mind[/i][/b] - Billy Joel As a native 'New Yawka,' that one really hits home.
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[quote]Originally posted by joegerardi: [b][b][i]New York State of Mind[/i][/b] - Billy Joel As a native 'New Yawka,' that one really hits home.[/B][/quote] That one, and "In a New York Minute" by Henley/Eagles...
"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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Gotta go Sinatra on this one. You know, for someone who I've always thought was a bloated drunken mafia-connected bastard, I can't get past the fact that [i]the guy could sing[/i]. I mean, he could sing so damn well that I can look past anything I find appaling about him and know that his ability to lend feel to a song rivals anyone who I've ever heard. Listen to some of his love ballads from the '50s and early '60s. He just...kills. Start spreading the news...I'm leaving today... - JK
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I'm for "New York State of Mind" with "New York, New York" a close second. The reasons are mostly personal. My mother was born in Hoboken, NJ, same town as Sinatra, and grew up in Cliffside Park, NJ which is perched on the Pallisades that overlook Manhattan, across the Hudson River. While growing up in the '30's and '40's she spent a lot of time in NYC. Among her favorite things were going to Giants football games at Yankee Stadium and Army-Navy games at the old Polo Grounds. Growing up in the '70's and early '80's at my house in Connecticut, the tradition was to have a big Sunday dinner as a family. Every Sunday afternoon we had either pot roast or an eye-of-the-round roast and sat around the dining room table. After dinner it was coffee and peppermint schnapps and long games of setback, or pitch. Music was very important, we had an old console stereo in the dining room, complete with an eight-track player, and what was usually played was Billy Joel and Frank Sinatra. My sister is eight years older than I, so she was in her late teens, early twenties at this time and she was a big Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen fan. Billy Joel was something that she and my mother could agree on. Sinatra was on the list because my mother felt a kinship with him, both being from Jersey and all, plus he was IT during her coming of age years. My mother's two favorite songs were "New York State of Mind" and Sinatra's "New York, New York". Since my mother died in 1993, "New York State of Mind" has taken on a special meaning for me. It brings me back to Sunday afternoons in Branford, CT when everything seemed much safer and simpler. I didn't know we were just a couple rungs above the poverty line and that we were living paycheck to paycheck. The whole "Turnstiles" album take me back to that time. I popped in the cassette I made of the crackly old record in my car the other day and began a journey back in time and began signing along with the opener "Say Goodbye to Hollywood". As I sing the lines "Life os a series of hellos and goodbyes and I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again", I begin to weep. I'm a ten year old boy again, sitting around the dining room table with my family, missing my parents... ahh, the power of music. Sorry for the long post, I felt a need to share. For the spookiest song about New York, in light of Sept. 11, check out the last cut on "Turnstiles", "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" I'm sure Billy was not being prophetic when he wrote that, but now some of the lines in the song are extremely eerie...

KJ

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"50 million Elvis Presley fans can't be all wrong" - John Prine

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[quote]Originally posted by dansouth@yahoo.com: [b]I'll pick an obscure one - The Only Living Boy in New York, by Simon and Garfunkel. Downtown Train by Tom Waits (covered well by Rod Stewart) is another favorite.[/b][/quote] Dan, I'm with you on "Only Living Boy in New York". Great song. But you missed many of his others: Bleeker Street Homeward Bound Wednesday Morning 3AM The 59th Street Bridge Song 7:00 News/Silent Night A Poem on the Underground Wall Late in the Evening Graceland. . . . OK, just kidding about Graceland. Nika.
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I think Paul Simon and Billy Joel are the two mainstream writers who best capture the essence of New York. It was too bad Paul wasn't at the Concert for NYC.

KJ

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"50 million Elvis Presley fans can't be all wrong" - John Prine

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How about a whole CD worth of New York songs? Lou Reed's best CD (IMHO) to date, New York. If you haven't checked that one out, pick it up. All the songs put together paint a great and diverse picture of the city with killer lines about NYC from a guy who surely knows the place.

Joe McDonough

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Considering the times and the season, The Pogues - Fairy Tale of New York is my 'street' choice "and the boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay..." Otherwise, New York state of mind is my 'penthouse suite' choice.
It's OK to tempt fate. Just don't drop your drawers and moon her.
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Ace Frehley : Back in the New York Groove.... [img]http://www.ukobservers.net/cwm/contrib/tweetz/bigeek.gif[/img] [img]http://www.ukobservers.net/cwm/contrib/tweetz/bigeek.gif[/img] [img]http://www.ukobservers.net/cwm/contrib/tweetz/bigeek.gif[/img] [ 12-18-2001: Message edited by: KHAN ]
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I always thought Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out" perfectly illustrated the unique experience of gettin' ready, dressin' up, and steppin' out on the town. The instrumentation plays every bit as much a part as the lyric in setting a mood that is uniquely New York. For all I know, he wrote it about another city (or ANY city), but it is a classic urban celebration, and for me it will always conjure up the special glamor that is so particular to New York nightlife. Then again, there's also "Up On The Roof," which is another that brings NYC immediately to mind.
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no sleep 'til brooklyn -beastie boys. rockaway beach -ramones. everyone goes to new york city for the fine beaches...that's not a jellyfish, it's a condom! 53rd & 3rd -ramones. what's more new york than teenage male gay prostitutes hustling on the corner of 53rd & 3rd?? max's kansas city - wayne/jayne county & the electric chairs. well the only thing more new york than male gay prostitution is probably a junkie, redneck, post-op transexual, fronting a punk rock and roll band. -d. gauss
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Here's another New York, New York from the Chairman Of The Board. [quote][center]New York, New York (from 'On the Town')[/center] Dockhand: [i]I feel like I'm not out of bed yet, oh, oh, oh Oh the sun is warm, and my blanket's warmer, Sleep, sleep in your lady's arms, Sleep in your lady's arms.[/i] Ship's whistle, the sailors rush down from ship to dock) Sailors Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin sing: [b]New York, New York... New York, New York... New York, New York.. it's a hell of a town![/b] Dockhand: [i]Hahaha, hey fellas, what's the big rush[/i] Sailors: [i]We only got 24 hours! We've never been here before![/i] Dockhand: [i]What can you see in one day? What do you think you're gonna do?[/i] Sailors: [b]New York, New York, it's a hell of a town! The Bronx is up and the Battery's down The people ride in a hole in the ground, New York, New York, it's a hell of a town![/b] (musical interlude) [b]The famous places to visit are so many, So the guys would say, I know my grandpa wouldn't miss any in just one day Gotta see the whole town, From Yonkers on down to the bay, in just one day. New York, New York, it's a hell of a town, The Bronx up and the Battery's down, The people ride in a hole in the ground, New York, New York, it's a hell of a town[/b] (musical interlude) [b]We sailed the seas and played a bit of poker way in Mandalay, We've walked the streets till the night was over, And we can safely say, the most fabulous sight is New York In the light of day, our only day. New York, New York, it's hell of a town, The Bronx is up and the Battery's down, The people ride in a hole in the ground, New York, New York, it's a hell of a town Manhattan women are all dressed in satin, so the fellows say, There's just one thing necessary in Manhattan, When you just have one day, Gotta pick up a date, maybe seven or eight, By your way, in just one day. New York, New York, it's a hell of a town, The Bronx is up and the Battery's down, The people ride in a hole in the ground, New York, New York, it's a hell of a town[/b][/quote] [img]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004RF9J.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img] [ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: fantasticsound ]

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