Playlist: Geography 12 - An NYC State of Mind
- jamesgeraghty
- 10 minutes ago
- 5 min read
I will be honest with you - I was listening to my favourite radio show last week (Radcliffe & Maconie on BBC 6 Music, for the record), and it was one of their features that sparked the theme for this playlist.
On their regular Sunday Tea Time Theme Time section, someone had suggested songs with links to districts of New York City. I could do that, I thought - and so, instead of the three included on that show, I have for you a playlist of more than 10! Everyone a district or borough of the great city of New York... well, except the one that starts it off, but you'll see why it gets in.
Enjoy....
1. Beastie Boys: An Open Letter To NYC
We start with an opus to the whole city; a song all about the band's love of their hometown, from an album (To The 5 Boroughs) dedicated to it. It reflects back on the events of 9/11 a few years before, and about the city's flaws and the need for community. One of their best and underrated tracks.
An Open Letter To NYC (official music video)
2 The Pogues: Rainy Night In Soho
Did The Pogues write this about the trendy spot at the heart of Manhattan, rather than the one in central London? Probably not, but hey ho... There was some disagreement between songwriter Shane MacGowan and producer Elvis Costello, over whether to use a cornet or an oboe in the song; MacGowan preferred the mix with a cornet in, and that seems to have prevailed, as that was the version used on most releases. This was the song Nick Cave sung at MacGowan's funeral in December 2023.
Rainy Night In Soho (official music video)
3. A-ha: Manhattan Skyline
After the phenomenal success of debut Hunting High And Low, it was always going to be hard to follow; but sophomore record Scoundrel Days did just that, selling six million copies and spawning several more hit singles, including Manhattan Skyline - another Top 20 hit in the UK for the Norwegian trio. The two principle songwriters split the song parts up - keyboard player Magne Furuholmen wrote the quiet bits, and guitarist Paul Waaktaar the rockier parts.
Manhattan Skyline (official music video)
4. Nina Simone: Central Park Blues
At over 800 acres, Central Park takes up a fairly significant chunk of Manhattan, so it's nice that Nina Simone wrote a song about it. Central Park Blues is an instrumental track that closes out Simone's 1959 debut LP, Little Girl Blue. That album also includes the track My Baby Just Cares For Me, which would eventually provide her a massive hit single in 1987. But back then, Simone was an aspiring classical pianist (she spent a summer at Julliard), who was doing some jazz work on the side to pay the bills.
Central Park Blues (audio only)
5. Dream Theater: Hell's Kitchen
Twenty blocks or so south of Central Park and gateway to the Lincoln Tunnel and Union City, New Jersey (familiar name, music buffs?), you will find the interestingly named Hell's Kitchen. Sitting on the west side of Midtown Manhattan and was once a stronghold of the poor Irish-American community, that was gentrified through the 1980s. It is now one of the focal points for the NYC LGBTQ+ community. So, who better to write a song about it than prog-metal band Dream Theater, formed at the Berklee College of Music in Long Island, in the 1980s. Their take on the place, is an instrumental on their fourth record, Falling Into Infinity. It began life as the middle section of another song, Burning My Soul, which producer Kevin Shirley stripped out and left it as a standalone track.
Hell's Kitchen (audio only)
6. Booker T. Jones: The Bronx
The Road From Memphis (Jones' 2011 album) seemingly leads to The Bronx! Legendary keyboard player and leader of The M.G.'s, the staggering house band for the Stax label, Booker T. Jones has worked with just about everyone over a six decade career. But for this ninth solo album, Jones was backed by Questlove's hip-hop band, the Roots. The Bronx closes out the record, and he is joined by Lou Reed (who was born in Brooklyn and grew up on Long Island) as guest vocalist.
The Bronx (audio only - it's rather a long intro, but you get to listen to sublime guitar work by 'Captain' Kirk Douglas while you wait for Reed to start)
7. Bill Withers: Harlem
Harlem sits just above Central Park, with its northern edge made consisting of the Harlem River marking the boundary between Manhattan and the Bronx. Harlem is the lead off track on Bill Withers 1971 debut, Just As I Am. He was fresh from his previous job working in an factory making aircraft toilets (apparently the picture on the album sleeve), and just about to launch into fame with the smash Ain't No Sunshine. This whole record was produced by none other than Booker T. Jones, who also played on it with fellow M.G. bandmate Donald 'Duck Dunn (not to mention Stephen Stills is also playing on this).
Harlem (great live version, year unknown)
8. Little Simz: The Hamptons
I like to think that this song is about that collection of popular seaside towns at the eastern end of Long Island, rather than the posh town on London's outskirts (the one with the famous royal palace). London rapper Little Simz would eventually find mainstream success from the time of her 2015 debut album, and getting to tour with the likes of Lauryn Hill and Nas. But before all of that, she was building up her reputation with a series of EPs and mix-tapes. The Hamptons is a track from one of those, 2014s E.D.G.E. EP.
The Hamptons (official music video - certainly isn't the one in London)
9. Interpol: Greenwich
Greenwich Village is, of course, another trendy part of lower west Manhattan, with more than a few songs written about it. The seventh studio LP New York band Interpol put together, was a result of songwriting completed in Covid lockdown. The band members were in different parts of the world at that time - Paul Banks in Edinburgh, Daniel Kessler in Spain and Sam Fogarino in Athens - and so the songs built up via email exchanges. By mid-2021, the band were able to get together in person, to rehearse in the Catskills, before recording began in the autumn of that year. The album saw a more uplifted and positive tone than was normal for them, with the resultant record almost uplifting.
Greenwich (audio only)
10. Simple Minds: Chelsea Girl
You might be forgiven for thinking that this referred to the (by now) trendy part of London, but was actually a tribute to the Chelsea scene of NYC, that spawned Andy Warhol, the Velvet Underground and the Nico record and film, Chelsea Girls. The song was originally on Simple Minds' first demo tape, Chelsea Girl became the second single from their 1979 debut, Life In A Day. It was to be a first sign of the problematic relationship with their parent label Arista; this one was considered the strongest option for a single, but the label held it back, and when it was finally released second, it didn't even chart.
Chelsea Girl (live on the Whistle Test, 1979)
11. The Ramones: Rockaway Beach
Nothing says New York punk like The Ramones, from Forest Hills in Queens. Head a bit further east and you are at Rockaway Beach, the subject of their highest ever charting single (a measly number 66 on the Billboard chart) and a stone cold classic of the era. This beach was a favourite haunt of its writer, Dee Dee Ramone (real name Doug Colvin), who concocted a surf rock meets punk song out of it. Apparently, he was the only one in the band who even liked hanging out at the beach...
Rockaway Beach (live on Musikladen)
Oh go on then....
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