Songs About New York, London, Paris or Munich?

new york: u2, richard ashcroft - "new york" frank sinatra - "(theme from) new york, new york" "new york, new york (it's a helluva town)" - from on_the_town "42nd street" - from 42nd_street pet shop boys - "new york city boy" prince - "all the critics love u in new york" ella fitzgerald - "autumn in new york" harper's bizarre - "59th street bridge song (feelin' groovy)" bruce springsteen - "tenth avenue freeze-out" wallflowers - "6th avenue heartache" drifters - "on broadway" goo goo dolls - "broadway" lou reed - "coney island baby" boogie down productions - "south bronx" mc shan - "the bridge" bob & earl - "harlem shuffle" duke ellington - "take the a-train" any v.u. song leonard cohen - "first we take manhattan" a-ha, "manhattan skyline" magnetic fields - "i'm the luckiest guy on the lower east side"

and many more, i'm sure.

And I'd submit the entire Blur catalog, excepting the last two albums, under the "London" subheading ;)

the empire diner namechecked in 'the great wall of china' has the grossest hashbrowns on earth, but the juekboxes are great. (it's in my hometown.)

I wonder if all cities require this kind of circumlocution. Or is it just because I'm drunk?

Marshall Hain's "Dancing in the City" remains the greatest urban utopian pop single created in Britain during the 70s, with the London Boys' "London Nights" representing the late 80s pretty well (the stifling heat and pumped-full-of-it sticky hedonism of the late Thatcher era; I was there, and even aged 8 I could feel it).

Oh, and the other three cities? Stephin Merritt probably comes closest to informing my idealised view of New York (as Saint Etienne once did with London), though the tightness and concentration of the Wu-Tang Clan's first album (especially something like "Clan In Da Front") represents another high point. Paris? Nothing I can specifically think of at the moment, though Momus's only album recorded there was his blandest and his most loungecore. Draw your own conclusions :).

As for Munich, I can say in all honesty that I have never heard one song that could be said to evoke it :).

-- "And the English air would soon be reeking with petrol fumes."

If only the rich hadn't taken over the Village. All it has now is history, not anything that really exists down there.

"And our kid got back from Munich
He didn't like it much" (Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul)

There's also the "for jobs in Holland, Munich, Rome" line in 'English Scheme'.

Robyn Hitchcock's 'Cynthia Mask' has this err.. biting piece of political satire: "Chamberlain came crawling from Munich with one piece of paper he waved at the camera / Peace in our time / Oh thank you Herr Hitler / Tell that to the Polish /Tell that to the Jews"

And would could forget the Falco masterpiece 'Munich Girls (Lookin' For Love)', with its baffling opening lines "My name is Johnnie Walker / And I won't wanna make any advertising / You know?". Was this co-written with MES?

Can't help but mention the Style Council's constant attempts to evoke Paris in their early days. The obvious examples being the peerless "The Paris Match" and "Down in the Seine" - all accordion-tastic and full of Gallic chords and references, and Weller's comedy French.

Antonelli Electr. featuring Miss Kittin - The Vogue

Pop Music by M

cant' see a mention of it yet,

Either this is a very funny joke or truly the world has gone through a full circle in the last five years.