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Wednesday 16 January 2019

State of the Union - New York



George writes

It appears that I am continuing with the series, and today it’s New York. Unfortunately, according to the rules of the game (the song must include the name of the state itself or a city or town therein) I cannot post Big Apple by Kajagoogoo, a single I bought when it came out and still have. And there’s more than a plethora of songs that could be included but won’t be. But never mind this song nonsense, did you know, and I include any readers from the United States, that each state has an official State Fish? And some states have two – I assume that only the landlocked states have one State Fish. Well all states barring last week’s Indiana, and Ohio and  Arkansas.  New York has the Striped Bass and the Brook Trout. I am unable to discover why the majority of states need an official fish.




 And from fish to cats (what a seamless link) to Cat Power and a cover version of a rather well known song, of course it is far far superior to any other version, including that one by Gerard Kenny.....

And an offering by Loudon Wainwright III,  recounting part of his upbringing in Westchester County, hence the name of the song:

A quick request: if anyone has a decent copy of Loudon Wainwright’s song Jesse Don’t Like it as performed for a John Peel session, can you send it my way?. Not the album version, the Peel Session one.




And in my increasingly desperate search for something interesting about New York, I found that someone tried to kill themselves by jumping from the 86th floor of the Empire State building.......only to be blown back into the building on the 85th floor.

Enjoy the music.



CC writes - as I was downloading this someone on the radio was saying there are at least 161 songs since 1960 which feature New York. It was Tam Cowan on Off the Ball so it may not be entirely accurate.
The first that sprung to my mind was

Ryan Adams - New York, New York

So good, they named it twice

5 comments:

  1. Oh. New York I love you. But you are getting me down.

    Sometimes I think that your cops ain't that smart.

    Guessing that when I'm down in Tribeca it's all to do with that Empire State of Mind.

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  2. Glad someone else is running with this idea for a series as I always thought it was a good one. Took me a week to write each post though so wore myself out!

    As for New York songs, mine can be found here (bit of shameless self-promotion to follow).
    https://jukeboxtimemachine.com/2017/08/24/an-american-odyssey-in-song-new-york-boroughs-bridges-and-feelin-groovy/

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  3. "increasingly desperate search for something interesting about New York"?
    Not sure that reads the way it's intended...

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  4. Too many ro choose from, so I'll just say New York State Of Mind and drop the mic...

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  5. Spoilsport - I had Union City Blue in mind and also Loudon Wainwright's affecting No Sure Way about post 9/11 New York subway stations https://tinyurl.com/yaxsmkyg Dylan did Talkin' New York on his debut album which he reworked a few times with different titles. Always liked Everything But The Girl's cover of Only Living Boy In New York and someone's already mentioned Strokes' New York City Cops.

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