There’s nothing better than having a good song about your hometown. The folks at ign.com put together a list of their “Top 10 Songs About Wonderful Cities,” kicking off with a four-way tie at #10, and listing the artist’s rendition they most love. (Thanks Mike!)
10. “New York, New York” – Frank Sinatra
10. “Viva Las Vegas” – Elvis Presley
10. “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” – Tony Bennet
10. “Do You Know The Way To San Jose” – Dionne Warwick
09. “One Night In Bangkok” – Benny Andersson / Time Rice / Bjorn Ulvaeus
08. “Detroit Rock City” – KISS
07. “Cleveland Rocks” – Ian Hunter / The Presidents Of The United States
06. “LA, LA” – Capone-N-Noreaga
05. “Katmandu” – Bob Seger
04. “The Guns Of Brixton” – The Clash
03. “A Bar In Bakersfield” – Merle Haggard
02. “One Great City” – The Weakerthans
01. “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” – They Might Be Giants
Additions? We’re glad they went “LA, LA” and not “I Love L.A.”; that man gets enough nominations.
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sufjan gets NO love?
I would prefer The Fall’s “L.A.”
i prefer “motor city is burning” by the mc5
no “Miami” by Will Smith?
C’mon, Will can’t feel a drip on the strip f’rrreal!
How about Tony Christies’ “(Is This The Way) To Amarillo”
these don’t all tie directly to the cities in their titles, but they would be my picks anyway…
“i left my wallet in el segundo” by tribe
“dear chicago” by ryan adams
“brooklyn’s finest” by jay-z & biggie
The windy city has two great songs about it, “Chicago” (that toddling town) and “My Kind Of Town”, how did it not make the list?
You guys have dissed “I Love L.A.” TWICE in the last two days. I don’t get it. It’s a fucking great song. It’s my favorite song about L.A. period.
Randoms – Lets Get Rid of New York
I grew up in Kansas City and I’m baffled that the song 75% of any artists I’ve ever seen there covers or jokes about isn’t on the list.
Where the hell is “Dirty Water”?!?!?!?
Oh! Oh!
Movie Script Ending (bout Bellingham, WA)- DCFC
The Boss aka Bruce -The Streets of Philadelphia
Hall and Oates- Fall In Philadelphia
A few off the top of my head:
“Washington D.C.” – Magnetic Fields
“Chat in Amsterdam, Winter 2003″ – Arab Strap
“Detroit Has A Skyline” – Superchunk
“Chickamauga” – Uncle Tupelo
Oslo in the summertime – Of Montreal!
doesn’t matter whether it’s buddy guy or the blues brothers–sweet home chicago captures that city like no other song can.
The Weakerthans – One Great City. Maybe I’m biased, since it’s about my hometown.
“Train from Kansas City” – Shangri-las
“Lake Shore Drive” – Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah
“Stratford-on-Guy” – Liz Phair
I second “Washington, D.C.” – Magnetic Fields.
And, of course, “Bear Down, Chicago Bears.”
No “Light Rail Coyote” by Sleater-Kinney? I know it’s probably too underground for ign to notice, but it’s a great song on a great album about a great city (PDX).
And I Heart PDX
I’m going with Talking Heads’ “Cities”. The platonic grandaddy of the genre
frank black – los angeles
BRIXTON ISN’T A CITY, YOU FUCKTARDS!
“Blue Skies Over Dundalk” by Mary Prankster
“Walking in LA” by Missing Persons
l.a. – asleep in the sea
welcome to atlanta – luda feat. jermain dupree
welcome to the jungle – guns n’ roses (which i believe is also about l.a.)
other songs to consider
i agree with akrnyc
l.a. by the fall is an amazing song
“New York City” by They Might Be Giants has always given me chills. Also, Bruce’s “Jersey Girl” SHA LALA lala Lalala….
oh yeah, and “Fuck L.A.” by Goldfinger
marty robbins – el paso
for LA – “Walking in LA” by Missing Persons. duh.
“New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” should be the New York bid come March.
Sufjan’s “Chicago” is such a perfect song, but it’s only sort of about Chicago. So maybe “Chi City” by Common.
And Subtle’s “I Love L.A.” is my personal favorite song about Los Angeles.
I submit Elliott Smith’s “LA” and Loretta Lynn’s “Portland, Oregon”.
The windy city has two great songs about it, “Chicago” (that toddling town) and “My Kind Of Town”, how did it not make the list?
Posted by: Darrin at January 24, 2007 2:51 PM
They must have been taking stupid pills to leave either of those songs out.
I second the vote for Frank Black “Los Angeles” and I do love Doves “NY” and “London” by The Smiths.
Along with the suggestion of Talking Heads ‘Cities” how about “In The City” by The Jam?
Bad Religion’s “Los Angeles Is Burning”
Pogues “Fairytale of New York”
Andrew WK “I Love New York City”
U2 “New York”
The lack of Chicago songs makes me weep.
Sweet, One great city was on the list…Fuck You Winnipeg, the rest of Canada hates you (…less than Toronto of course)!
X – Los Angeles
Choice might be cliche, but how could they leave out “London Calling”?
and put in brixton instead (STILL NOT A CITY…)
heart of rock n’ roll – huey lewis & the news
What no blah blah blah…. c’mon, no one is ever satisfied with list like these!
meh & blah.
BORN IN EAST LA? cheech
DON’T GO BACK TO ROCKVILLE! rem
NIGHT TRAIN! james brown (he name drops several cities)
hotlanta, the allman bros.
wtf, no chicago songs?
I’ve been trying to compile a chicago mix tape for a while, entries other than those mention include:
via chicago – wilco
chicago at night – spoon
BREAKING NEWS:
BRIXTON – STILL NOT A CITY!
more on this as it comes in……
For missing LA songs I’m torn between the previously mentioned efforts by Missing Persons and X.
And Neil Young’s “Philadelphia” (also from the movie) is a beautiful saddo
The Rosebuds – “Back To Boston” and Spoon- “Chicago At Night” are probably my favorite city songs.
But I like city songs in general, so I’m not going to bother listing more. Hooray for “Istanbul (Not Constantinople),” though!!!
That Weakerthans track is ace, but the ‘Peg is a shit hole.
Perry Como – The Bluest Skies You’ve Ever Seen Are In Seattle
The Rosebuds – “Back To Boston” and Spoon- “Chicago At Night” are probably my favorite city songs.
But I like city songs in general, so I’m not going to bother listing more. Hooray for “Istanbul (Not Constantinople),” though!!!
Silver Jews do a song about Dallas called “Dallas”. They manage to rhryme steers with mirrors instead of the usual queers.
“Oakland, California” – Too $hort…bitches.
i’ll see sarah’s pick and raise her a new orleans, also by the joos.
Stretching the definition of “wonderful cities” a little far, aren’t they? I live in San Jose, and I would call it neither wonderful nor a city.
My hometown of New Orleans, however, has about a gazillion songs written about it, and not a single one made this list?
Stretching the definition of “wonderful cities” a little far, aren’t they? I live in San Jose, and I would call it neither wonderful nor a city.
My hometown of New Orleans, however, has about a gazillion songs written about it, and not a single one made this list?
no london calling? bah, i say, BAH!
also in the should-have-been-included category: miss sarajevo (U2 & pavarotti), rio (duran duran — though, technically, the song is named after the rio grande and not rio de janeiro) and fairytale of new york (pogues & kirsty mcoll). and oh–OH! life in tokyo (japan). and one more … still in hollywood (concrete blonde).
I’d add on Graham Parsons cover of “Streets of Baltimore.”
how many times did bob wills sing about tulsa?
uh huh.
how many times did bob wills sing about tulsa?
uh huh.
That list sucks.
What about:
DCFC – Why You’d Want To Live Here (LA)
Lucinda Williams – Minneapolis
Blues Brothers – Going Back to Miami
Village People – San Francisco
Little Feat – Oh Atlanta
Ryan Adams – New York, New York
I could go on all night.
L.A. WOMAN.
YES
L.A. WOMAN.
YES
59 posts and no Tom Waits? W/T/F?
“Postcard from a Hooker in Minneapolis”
Dude. No Interpol – NYC love? Screw you guys.
Vancouver, BC – The Smugglers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EewEH8VrnY0
Seriously, Kasey. If San Jose was such a great city, Ms. Warwick probably wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to leave she forgot one of her INTERNAL ORGANS.
“baltimore” by nina simone
Piss poor. “London Calling,” for example…. Or many, many others…
thank you john doe for bringing up x – los angeles. if no one had said it in 68 comments i would have lost my faith!
one great city, hells yes. It isnt like Winnipeg is ever going to have another song about it written. unless burton cummings makes that “tribute to the great City:Winnipeg”
try playing the weakerthans OGC driving down Portage Ave in the middle of the day, feels great.
ALSO
Chicago by Sufjan Stevens.
I think someone may have mentioned that Brixton isn’t a city and London Calling is a more appropriate choice given London is a city and Brixton is a suburb.
Welcome to Atlanta – Dupri with Luda….
Still in Hollywood – Concrete Blonde
Vienna – The Jazz Butcher
“I love N.Y.C” by Andrew W.K. is an instant classic.
Also, “I’m from Duval” by Duval Boyz. Representin’ the nine oh fo’.
while i love that sufjan album, “chicago” isn’t really about chicago very much….
my vote goes for “true dreams of wichita” by soul coughing (and no, i’m not even from kansas).
why is the decemberists “los angeles, i’m yours” not on any lists, ever? blender did the same kind of shitty list and it wasn’t on there..
Elliott Smith-L.A.
Doves-N.Y.
The Smiths-London
L.A.-Elliott Smith
N.Y.-Doves
London-The Smiths
Chicago-Frank Sinatra
wait a second, since when are san jose and cleveland “wonderful cities”? livable cities, maybe, but isn’t wonderful a bit of a stretch. and i’m not even gonna the bakersfield submission…
“LDN” – Lily Allen
“Streets of Philadelphia” – Bruce Springsteen
“Miami” – U2
“frank black – los angeles”
That song’s not about the one in Los Angeles. No, not the one in South California. They got one in South Patagonia.
Elliot Smith – Rose Parade
Portland being the best city in the world.
San Jose is about as lively and energetic as Terri Schiavo…or “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.”
Someone at IGN is getting paid by the word.
um… Walking in Memphis by Mark Cohn
The Night Chicago Died by Paper Lace
and for giggles…
We Built this City by Starship
My kind of town… (chicago is)
chicago is an essential city and should have made that list!!
! k u stupid people winnipeg is the best fricken city in the world, its no shithole..u wouldnt even know how great the people are here…
BAM:
“New York City” is by Cub and was simply a cover done by They Might Be Giants. They sound pretty similar stylistically, tho.
Brixton isn’t a city….