Ben E. King who owns it. He was eventually persuaded to take on the project just five weeks before the piece was set to debut at Aeolian Hall in midtown. He was forced to improvise, more or less building the backbone of the song as the performance went along. Diamond needed New York, something he made clear years later with his cinematic star turn in The Jazz Singer.
Womack describes, in great detail, the s Harlem that many like to pretend still exists today. But really, with its lush string arrangements and Philly soul groove, the song is a time capsule of both a sound and a New York that, for good or for bad, are long gone. Fair enough. He understood its brutal bustling heart, that vast avenue dedicated to selling tinseled dreams to a lonely nation. Fuck Don Draper, folks. Hell, fuck Don DeLillo. Scott-Heron may be gone from this world, but his sly social critiques just keep getting louder.
That was before George Benson got his hands on it. The 6 train never comes. He literally could not stop making hit records, even when he tried and he did try. When this incredible run brought John and lyricist Bernie Taupin to New York for the first time, it seemed inevitable that the two would have something to say about the city that both had long romanticized from afar.
On one of his first nights in town, Taupin heard a gunshot outside of his hotel room. He thought of Ben E. Fowl language was never so fly. Is this song about his career? Is it about terrorism? How New York is it? Although many of the sung versions contain their own interpretation of the lyrics, each drives home the same message — New York City between the end of a sultry, unlivable summer and an even more insufferable winter is about as damn near perfect as it gets in the Big Apple.
Los Angeles? Though Mitchell has apparently dismissed her composition as a bit of a treacly, nascent effort, the sweet gem was covered by three artists — Judy Collins, Fairport Convention, and Jennifer Warnes — before Mitchell herself even released it.
Where each block is like a maze full of trapped rats. Apart from the memorable melody and lyrics, the piano licks that accompany a blossoming sax solo give the song a quintessentially New York jazz feel. John, but its hot-summer-asphalt beat and back-alley-hiss chorus are NYC through and through — just like Jeffreys himself.
His rock-, soul-, and reggae-inflected albums brought him a measure of acclaim in the late s, but even back then Jeffreys was an underrated and underappreciated homegrown virtuoso. Though it was written by longtime Ellington collaborator Billy Strayhorn, the song will forever be associated with the Duke.
It has lyrics the A train is how you get to Harlem, in case you were wondering , and some of the greatest jazz vocalists have recorded and performed it, but the instrumental versions — with the woodwinds driving the melody — are the most easily recognizable. Did all those kids perish as Carroll sings that they did? Live here awhile and your MetroCard becomes a chore, something else to add to the pile of things you have to maintain.
Group Combined Shape. Combined Shape Group 2. Enter search below: Combined Shape. Path 2. News Culture FILM Combined Shape. November 18, February 18, We hope they inspire a little of that NYC strength and spirit in you. Also living there can be brutal; you know how sometimes being around a lot of people only makes you feel even more alone than you already did?
Imagine living that every minute of your life. Double props to this song for being as anti-cellphone as it is indifferent towards New York. If you believe the speaker in the chorus, the goal is no less than world domination. Rumor has it that Michael Bloomberg himself commissioned this song, but it might as well have been sung by Disneyland animatronics. However, as someone who moved to New Jersey as a teen, I have a soft spot for this song.
In the year following my move, I was forcefully optimistic and tried very hard to paper over my fears about making new friends with empty reassurances. One swipe of a plastic card opens the floodgates to just about anything, and Le Tigre reminds you to take advantage of it. This track, courtesy of the legendary group Boogie Down Productions, pays homage to the birthplace of hip-hop.
New York City is infinite, therefore its potential for musical muse is also infinite. As long as NYC stands, people will write songs about it. Sounds pretty great, right? That is, after all, the great strength of her voice: She modulates her pitch from line to line, verse to verse, with casual mastery, one moment telling of her fondness for the greatest city in the world, the next outlining the way its greatness so often cross-pollinates with loss and abiding sadness.
She alternates between the two axes on and off, lilting through the emotional connective tissue binding her to the song. They sent it in to Roc Nation for Jay-Z to record to it, but it received some less-than-positive reviews, leaving them to think that it would never become anything. But thanks to a welcome turn of events that involves it being heard by the right person at the right time at a barbecue, Jay-Z decided to give it a shot, bringing on Alicia Keys to sing the original hook.
And together, the two made history with a rousing love letter to the Big Apple. It resonated with the world, going more than five times platinum. It has the feel of something written in secret, quickly and quietly.
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