Favorite New York Songs?

It's autumn in New York, which always reminds me of one of my favorite songs: "Autumn In New York". I've always thought that NYC is at its best on a crisp, sunny autumn day -- say late in the a.m., around 11:00. What a time to visit the Union Square farmers' market, window-shop, or just walk through the park among the swirling autumn leaves. (All of the above with your sweetie on your arm, of course.) Perfect! How about the rest of you who live in NY, used to live in NY, want to live in NY, or just love it here? Favorite NY songs, anyone?

 

Lots of Billy Joel songs...

 

"From a town known as Oyster Bay, Long Island..."

Actually, in about 1980 I dated a girl from Cold Spring Harbor, BJ's home town and the title of his first album. She and her friends were huge fans, natch. Against my better judgment, I tagged along when they visited his house uninvited (it's the one on the Glass Houses album cover). He wasn't home, but we tripped the silent alarm and were escorted off the property by the local police. I wasn't quite a big enough fan for that.

 

Never having been anywhere near New York, it remains in my mind as the home of anomy (described in sociology texts as "All alone with a million others"). Thus, it is not surprising that my fave NY track is Simon & Garfunkel's "The Only Living Boy in New York". One day I will make it there, if only to experience the magnitude of the place.

Frank G

 

My personal opinion is that everyone should visit NYC at least one in their life, just for the experience. Give me a shout when you're in town!

 

The Pogues w/ Kirsty MacCall - "Fairytale Of New York". Also one of my favourite holiday tunes.

"...You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night..."

 

"Hanging out on Second Avenue
Eating Chicken Vindaloo"

The first four Ramones albums sound like New York to me.

-BZync (former Bronx boy)

 

There's a song by Stephen Sondheim called "Another Hundred People" which captures that better than any others I know.

 

Rosemary Clooney's rendition of David Frishberg's "Do You Miss New York" always gets to me.

 

Having never seen Doc Watson in person (he doesn't come out this way anymore and is certainly getting up in years), and having never been to New York, I was semi-planning to go and see him play at B.B. King's Blues Club. Thought I'd nail those two birds with one stone, but alas, was unable to get away to do it. But I'm not giving up on the idea of making it happen sometime down the road. Best NY song? "New York, New York" by Sinatra. Also like "New York, New York" by Johnny Winter. "See the world passing by my door, looking through my window on the 86th floor................

 

One of my favorite places on earth. I'm from Long Island.

Anyway, "Mona Lisas and Madhatters" by Elton John.

JEFF!

 

Born, raised and live right here in the heart of mid-town Manhattan.
Today is a beautiful, crisp fall day. The city is bustling outside.
How about "Native New Yorker"?

 

Perhaps not a hymn to NYC, but set in the city is "Famous Blue Raincoat" - one of my favorite songs of all time.

(From the same fellow - Chelsea Hotel No. 2)

 

One more that doesn't mention NYC, but as a NYer, I cannot imagine it referring to anyplace else:

"Up on The Roof"

 

Springsteen - New York City Serenade ('Listen to your junkman')
Tenth Avenue Freezeout ('From a tenement window a transistor blasts')

 

Dylan's "Positively 4th Street" -- a putdown rather than a celebration of the time & place.

 

Lou Reed - High In The City, from New Sensations

 

I'm back, back in the New York Groove!! "It's gonna be ecstasy/This place was meant for me!"

 

By Odyssey

 

With a Bo Diddley beat!

 

Two forgotten tunes:

"Second Ave" - Art Garfunkel
"American City Suite" - Cashman & West

also a Bunch of Steely Dan tunes

 

How about Lou Reed's New York? A bit bleak, but if you follow it with Set The Twilight Reeling
A great way to try to understand the paradox that is NYC - one of my favourite places on the planet.

Dave

 

On The Town - Gene Kelly, Sinatra, Jules Munshin

New York, New York a wonderful town,
The Bronx is up,
And the Battery's down,
People ride in a hole in the ground,
New York, New York it's a wonderful town...

 

George Russell - New York, New York

w/John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Jon Hendricks, Max Roach.