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From: IGN Every good city (or town) deserves a good song. Here's 10 we think are the coolest of the crop. As long as there have been cities there have been musicians and poets paying homage, tribute, and generally laying out their love of these thriving metropolises (or in some cases quaint little burgs) in words and music. Nothing short of a beautiful woman has managed to conjure up so many laudatory declarations as the thousands of big cities and little one-horse towns that dot this great wide world of ours. From New York all the way to Shangri-La, the concept and atmosphere of the city and town is virtually inescapable. Everyone from Randy Newman ("I Love L.A") to Elvis Presley, The Allman Brothers ("Hot'lanta"), Willie Nelson, and countless others have penned memorable songs about equally memorable cities and towns. Needless to say, we had a tough time paring our list down to an essential 10, but we did. Here they are: 10. 4-Way TIE: "New York, New York" as sung by Frank Sinatra / "Viva Las Vegas" as sung by Elvis Presley / "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" as sung by Tony Bennet / "Do You Know The Way To San Jose?" as sung by Dionne Warwick What really needs to be said about the above listed quartet of songs? "New York, New York" has been sung by many, but only immortalized by one: Old Blue Eyes himself. "Viva Las Vegas" has been sung by many, but only immortalized by one: The King. "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" has been sung by many, but immortalized by only one: Mr. Anthony Dominick Benedetto. And "Do You Know The Way To San Jose?" pretty much put the often maligned city to the south of San Francisco on the map thanks to Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach. 'Nuff said, indeed. 9. "One Night In Bangkok" - Benny Andersson/Tim Rice/Bjorn Ulvaeus (taken from the 1996 release Chess) Okay, forget the fact that this was a concept musical crafted by former ABBA members Anderssson and Ulvaeus who teamed up with frequent Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborator Tim Rice. And forget the fact that it's a thematic love triangle centered around an international chess tournament. Scottish rocker Murray Head, who sings "One Night In Bangkok" helped catapult the track into the charts in the mid-80s and make it a post-disco classic. 8. "Detroit Rock City" - KISS (taken from their 1976 classic Destroyer) D-Town has always been a world class rock 'n roll city. From the soulful sounds of Motown on down to the honky-tonk rap variations of Kid Rock and the mutated blues of The White Stripes, Detroit has rocked, rolled, and clawed its way to the top of the heap of cities who can lay claim to true rock 'n roll greatness. Yet despite (or perhaps in spite) of all the great bands that have hailed from Detroit, none have captured the essence of the city's rock 'n roll heritage half as much as the make-up covered, leather clad maniacs known as KISS. Universally hailed as the band's crowning achievement (thanks in part to producer Bob Ezrin's guiding hand), Destroyer gave us this seminal classic penned by PAUL STANLEY. Besides, you gotta give kudos to a song that the Mighty Mighty Bosstones covered, don't you? 7. Cleveland Rocks" - Ian Hunter (from his seminal 1979 solo effort You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic) / The Presidents of the United States (found on their b-side/rarities collection Pure Frosting) Most instantly recognized as one of the main theme songs for The Drew Carey Show during its television run, "Cleveland Rocks" was actually written by British rocker Ian Hunter (best known for his stint in Mott The Hoople) and appeared on his fourth solo effort, the aforementioned You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic, an album that reunited Hunter with former Mott guitarist extraordinaire Mick Ronson. Why is it that the Brits often write the best songs about the cities in the States? Go figure. 6. "LA, LA' - Capone-N-Noreaga (taken from their 1997 album The War Report) New York duo Capone-N-Noreaga teamed up with the infamous Mobb Deep for this diss record that came in response to Snoop and the Dogg Pound's remake of the Grandmaster Flash classic "New York, New York," which was seen as a smack in the face to the birthplace of rap (thanks mostly to the over-the-top video which featured Snoop and crew pulling a Godzilla on New York). While the opening verse shows less than love for the City of Angels, it no less is one of the more memorable non-odes to the city ever penned. Despite the dissing nature of the words, C-N-N actually capture some of the faux mystique of the city and the allure it has on people around the world. "L.A. L.A. big city of dreams/But everything in L.A. ain't always what it seems/You might get fooled if you come from outta town/Cuz we comin from Queens and gets down…" 5. "Katmandu" - Bob Seger (taken from his 1975 classic Beautiful Loser) " I think I'm going to Katmandu/That's really, really where I'm going to/ If I ever get out of here/That's what I'm gonna do/K-k-k-k-k-k Katmandu..." Who can neglect that classic phrasing from one of America's most beloved rock 'n rollers of all time? Bob Segar may just be the king of writing songs about cities. "Hollywood Nights," "Get Out Of Denver," just to name a few. But seriously, when you boil it all down to the essence, it's "Katmandu" that gains him entry to our exclusive list. 4. "The Guns of Brixton" - The Clash (taken from their classic 1979 double album London's Calling) As with most of the artists on this list England's crown kings of progressive punk have penned and performed a number of classic songs about classic cities. "London Calling" and "Rock The Casbah" come to mind the quickest (the latter due to that annoying "stomp the cat box" Cingular commercial that never seems to stop playing on television or the radio). With this little ditty, penned and sung by the band's bassist Paul Simonon, the band captured the gritty dissent that was about to burst wide open in Simonon's hometown. True to form, the band tapped into the socio-political climate of the time and pre-dated the race riots that eventually took place in Brixton with the chilling refrain: "You can crush us/You can bruise us But you'll have to answer to/Oh-the guns of Brixton..." 3. A Bar In Bakersfield - Merle Haggard (found on several of his albums including Blue Jungle) The town of Bakersfield is legendary in and of itself in terms of churning out such legends of Country as Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakum. Country legend Haggard has sung many a tune about many a city, but this one stands out due to his ties to the dusty Central Valley of California farming community where he grew up. In true Hag fashion, this song is pure, swaggering honky-tonk about being stuck in the small 'burb of Bakersfield and dreaming about the good life that lies out there in the great beyond. 2. "One Great City" - The Weakerthans (taken from their 2003 Epitaph Records release Reconstruction Site) The plaintive vocal refrain of "I hate Winnipeg…" might not seem like a love song to a city, but under the watchful lyricism of The Weakerthans' frontman and chief songwriter John Sampson, it becomes one of the most heartfelt and personal reflections of a city ever committed to paper and then tape. The band, hailing from the aforementioned city within the province of Manitoba, wrote and performed some of their most introspective and mature music on this album. Sampson's poetic and bittersweet reflection on his hometown really hits - excuse the obvious - home: "Late afternoon, another day is nearly done/A darker grey is breaking through a lighter one A thousand sharpened elbows in the underground/That hollow hurried sound, feet on polished floor And in the dollar store, the clerk is closing up/And counting loonies trying not to say …I hate Winnipeg…" 1. "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" - They Might Be Giants (taken from their 1990 major label debut Flood) Popular music historians may cry foul at our choice of versions of this classic which over the years has been performed by the likes of Danny Kaye, Frankie Vaughn, The Four Lads, Bette Midler, and Lee Press-On & The Nails. Originally written by Jimmy Kennedy and Nat Simon, the song was first recorded by The Four Lads, whose version cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard charts in 1953. Without question, doubt or argument, though, it's TMBG's faster tempoed, up-beat, and eccentric interpretation of the classic that has become ingrained within the sonic receptors of the modern popular culture zeitgeist. Besides, who can forget their zany video for the song? Exactly. |
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