New York City, the city formerly known as New Amsterdam, and later to be made iconic by popular culture as the ‘city that never sleeps’. Like other iconic cities, there are many New Yorks, and not all of them exist outside of the imagination. And sometimes, the New York of the mind reveals itself in little glimpses. It’s these that popular songwriters seek to capture.
Mean Street of New York City
In some songs about New York, it is the mean streets. In the Rolling Stones’ “Shattered” it is a place that swallows the innocent, leaving only the jaded to fight over the remnants. In Genesis’ mid-70s prog rock opus “Back in New York City” we get inside the mind of one of its lower denizens, Rael the tough kid who ‘doesn’t care who he hits’. And Lou Reed backs that up, with tales of the desperate and angry living on the ‘Dirty Blvd.’ Bobby Womack’s “Across 110th Street” is about the kid who survives all the violence and proverty, looking back to see how lucky he was. The Ramones “53rd & 3rd” is a grim tale of a kid who hasn’t made it, struggling to make ends meet by selling himself for money.
Alienation in the City
With Sting’s “Englishman in New York” we get the tale of dignified survival, a story about an alien in a place where he doesn’t know the rules, yet carries himself with grace despite the fact. Simon & Garfunkel seem to echo the alienation that can be experienced in the Big Apple, surrounded by many, yet ultimately alone. In this world, it’s every person for themselves.
New York City is a Sanctuary
So far, the tales of New York City seem to be pretty grim. And yet, there is that other New York; the place of dreams, and wonder, and romance. Ryan Adams runs to New York and finds comfort there in his “New York New York”, ultimately feeling that he has come home after the end of a breakup. In this song, New York City is a place to heal, to lick one’s wounds. It is a sanctuary.
A City of Dreams
With Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, “New York New York” (same title, by different song to the Ryan Adams one) and “Autumn in New York”, New York city is the greatest place on earth, ready to welcome the ambitious, and to show them the beauty that can be found on every street. In these songs about New York, we get a glimpse at a place that may not exist in time and place, yet may well in that other dimension that is beyond both. New York City in these songs is an ideal world.
10 Songs About New York
- New York, New York – Ryan Adams
- Back in NYC – Genesis
- Shattered – The Rolling Stones
- Dirty Blvd – Lou Reed
- 53rd and 3rd – Ramones
- Across 110th Street – Bobby Womack
- Only Living Boy in New York – Simon & Garfunkel
- Englishman in New York – Sting
- Autumn in New York – Ella Fitzgerald
- New York, New York – Frank Sinatra
Conclusion
There are hundreds of songs about New York, all with different takes on what it means to live there, and what urban life is all about too. If anything, this shows that regardless of points of view about New York, it can’t be denied that it is more than just a place to live. New York City has captured our imaginations.
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