Which song catches the essence of the city you currently live in (OPO!)

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Maybe this has been done before.. The song doesn't have to be specifically about the city itself.
In my case, Tuxedomoon's "Some Guys", with its themes of alienation and expatriation, its fundamental greyness and its implicit longing for an ideal Euro-city, really sums up how I feel about Brussels. I guess this refers as much to the city (where Tuxedomoon had been living for a couple of years when this came out in 1985), as to my state of mind.

― Le Baaderonixx de Benedict Canyon (baaderonixx), Friday, 24 March 2006 13:26 (twenty years ago)

Back In The NY Groove - Ace Frehley (for chicago, I mean-- hahah!)

― Slick Jackass, Friday, 24 March 2006 13:30 (twenty years ago)

Broke in Detroit Again- The Dirtbombs (even though I'm in Ann Arbor)

― js (honestengine), Friday, 24 March 2006 13:40 (twenty years ago)

"New York City (You're A Woman)" -- Al Kooper

"New York City" -- Gil Scott-Heron

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Friday, 24 March 2006 13:52 (twenty years ago)

New York City: Moondog, "Moondog's Theme"

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 24 March 2006 13:57 (twenty years ago)

Though for the little Suffolk County town I'm visiting right now, it's Ambrosia's "How Much I Feel."

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 24 March 2006 13:58 (twenty years ago)

Live - "Shit Town"

― Franklin Trench, Friday, 24 March 2006 14:25 (twenty years ago)

Mario's Cafe - St.Etienne

Outer London/inner suburbs tweeness, oh yes...

― Did I Mention My PAISLEY SOCKS? (kate), Friday, 24 March 2006 14:26 (twenty years ago)

"Bridges, Squares" by Ted Leo & The Pharmacists [Cambridge, MA]

― Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Friday, 24 March 2006 14:27 (twenty years ago)

My current home of Leeds reminds me of:
Who Cares for the City? - John Ylvisaker
Beachy Head - Throbbing Gristle

― Rombald, Friday, 24 March 2006 14:29 (twenty years ago)

Suicide "Super Subway Comedian" (NYC)

(Not current, so I'm cheating - my childhood hometown in the New Jersey suburbs - "Only Life" by the Feelies)

― James, Friday, 24 March 2006 14:38 (twenty years ago)

Columbia MO : Warhammer 48k "Haunted Abortion Castle"

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Friday, 24 March 2006 14:58 (twenty years ago)

sufjan stevens - the predatory wasp of the palisades
most boards of canada tracks

i'm trying to think of another good song about living in the middle of nowhere, where your options are incredibly limited but you never have to deal with city bullshit. i live in orono, maine.

― Emily B (Emily B), Friday, 24 March 2006 22:59 (twenty years ago)

wow - that sounds like my dream...

― Le Baaderonixx de Benedict Canyon (baaderonixx), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:14 (twenty years ago)

Columbia MO : Warhammer 48k "Haunted Abortion Castle"

In other words, you're saying that "Whiskey Bottle" has been replaced?

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:15 (twenty years ago)

as i walk past blocks and blocks of construction i can't help but think of 'I Built This City' - Baxendale (Mayer mix)

― jergins (jergins), Friday, 24 March 2006 23:25 (twenty years ago)

Destroyer's Rubies does Vancouver proud.

― pinder (pinder), Saturday, 25 March 2006 01:37 (twenty years ago)

The Eurythmics - Here Comes the Rain Again.

― Griff Sheridan (Griff Sheridan), Saturday, 25 March 2006 21:48 (twenty years ago)

When walking through the village here in Bloomington, Indiana I look into the eyes of my fellow townspeople and I know that they, too, walk to the beat of "Flip 'N' Fuck" by Racebannon.

― ghost dong (Sonny A.), Saturday, 25 March 2006 22:38 (twenty years ago)

john phillips' Wolfking of LA is an amazing evocation of a specific place at a specific time (LA getting all bummed out & mellow after the 60s burned out)

― timmy tannin (pompous), Saturday, 25 March 2006 22:41 (twenty years ago)

"We built this city on rock n roll" (detroit - don't really live there, just for the thread sake)

― grow to the g, Sunday, 26 March 2006 00:04 (twenty years ago)

Talking Heads -- "Don't Worry About the Government"

(as a newish DC resident, via NY)

― A|ex P@reene (Pareene), Sunday, 26 March 2006 00:51 (twenty years ago)

Supernova, "Costa Mesa Hates Me" (Admittedly I actually rather love it.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 26 March 2006 00:54 (twenty years ago)

"I'm So Bored With the U.S.A."

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 26 March 2006 00:54 (twenty years ago)

Seasonal, but U.S.E.'s "Emerald City"

― Yoo Doo Nut (donut), Sunday, 26 March 2006 00:55 (twenty years ago)

The theme tune from Taggart (Glasgow).

― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Sunday, 26 March 2006 01:39 (twenty years ago)

Spoon, "Small Stakes".

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Sunday, 26 March 2006 02:39 (twenty years ago)

In reference to the aforementioned Bloomington, IN.

Whattup, Sonny?

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Sunday, 26 March 2006 02:40 (twenty years ago)

Columbia, MO -- The I Love You But I'm Not In Love With Yous - "Jimmy Contemplates Time Travel and Dry Humping"

― Tape Store (Tape Store), Sunday, 26 March 2006 03:53 (twenty years ago)

Why would anyone sing about Sacramento? Honestly. Not sure I'd really care for anyone who would commit it to song anyway. I'd rather give my nod to "Leaps And Bounds" by Paul Kelly (Melbourne, Australia).

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 26 March 2006 04:08 (twenty years ago)

This is somewhat related (or maybe it would if the topic was "Which song catches the essence of the high school which you currently attend")...

Yesterday at school, these girls were playing a country song that was written by some guy who went to the same horrible high school as us...He supposedly signed to some sort-of-big country label. Anyway, the song they were playing was about our high school (R0ck Br1dge), and I wanted to throw up. It had brilliant lyrics like "I miss my 4UT [4UT = Altern4t1ng Un4ssigned Time, an hour of free time which basically allows you to leave the school]" spliced with pieces of the school song ("R0ck Br1dge high, r0ck br1dge low, r0ck br1dge, r0ck br1dge rocks wh3rever they go"). The music was painful and inspired me to write a song about how I hate my school...

― Tape Store (Tape Store), Sunday, 26 March 2006 04:23 (twenty years ago)

Charlotte, NC: Any midrange late-90s chart hit that now sounds overproduced and hopelessly dated.

― Mitya (mitya), Sunday, 26 March 2006 12:41 (twenty years ago)

Myke is OTM, exact same for me...

― sublime frequency (sublime frequency), Monday, 27 March 2006 00:46 (twenty years ago)

Del's "Wacky World of Rapid Transit"

― wmlynch (wlynch), Monday, 27 March 2006 02:34 (twenty years ago)

Spod - 2131 (Ride With Me)

― kit brash (kit brash), Monday, 27 March 2006 06:10 (twenty years ago)

Richmond Hill, GA: Big Black - Kerosene

― pennington (M.S.P.), Monday, 27 March 2006 22:36 (twenty years ago)

I've never heard a record that sounds more like New York feels than Yoko Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice"

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 04:55 (twenty years ago)

Ween - "So Many People in the Neighborhood"

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 05:04 (twenty years ago)

there was another thread like this but I can't recall...

Eugene Oregon is definitely either Against Me!'s "Baby I'm An Anarchist" or the Dead's "Ripple".

― sleeve (sleeve), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 05:11 (twenty years ago)

oh and shoutouts to the folks in my former hometown of Bloomington

― sleeve (sleeve), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 05:11 (twenty years ago)

I've never heard a record that sounds more like New York feels than Yoko Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice"

oh yeah. i moved to nyc right when this record came out and it was playing everywhere, its chill elegiac energy provided a haunting soundtrack for my initial forays around the city. 25 yrs ago!

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 11:08 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

And a little bump here

― Das Spiel ist aus für Baaderonixx (baaderonixx), Monday, 7 August 2006 13:36 (nineteen years ago)

Tallahassee: "Waitin' Around to Die" - Townes Van Zandt

― Ryan Osborne (ryeosborne), Monday, 7 August 2006 13:44 (nineteen years ago)

The Pogues - "Dirty Old town", and John Cooper Clark - "Beasley Street". - I don't live in Florida...

― lexurian (lexurian), Monday, 7 August 2006 13:46 (nineteen years ago)

sorry, blatently ignoring the OPO command there.

― lexurian (lexurian), Monday, 7 August 2006 13:48 (nineteen years ago)

Parklife.

(joke)

Nah, it probably has to be Suede's The Asphalt World, so sue me.

― Louis Jagger (Haberdager), Monday, 7 August 2006 13:58 (nineteen years ago)

'that's when i reach for my revolver'

― Bashment Jakes (Enrique), Monday, 7 August 2006 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

Can only be Salako's Hull's Hull's Too Good For England

― winter testing (winter testing), Monday, 7 August 2006 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

should only be one hull there but you get the idea...

― winter testing (winter testing), Monday, 7 August 2006 19:29 (nineteen years ago)

six months pass...

Paris -- Chagrin d'Amour "Chacun fait ce qui lui plait"

― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 11:41 (nineteen years ago)

"The City" - Jamie Lidell

"The city, it don't like you, no, it never did..."

― Tantrum The Cat, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:13 (nineteen years ago)

Blasphemous Potato - "Skirts Over Pants"

― mox twelve, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 21:36 (nineteen years ago)

must be some techno track. don't know any though.

the go-betweens here comes a city was about the city i live close to. it's from the pov of someone who arrives by train from bavaria which i have never done though, iirc.

― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 22:32 (nineteen years ago)

are there any substantial songs about Kudzu?

― latebloomer, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 22:42 (nineteen years ago)

Unfortunately, I live in "Margaritaville".

― Saxby D. Elder, Thursday, 1 March 2007 01:21 (nineteen years ago)

The Clash, "City of the Dead"
The Fall, "Industrial Estate"
Neil Young, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere"

― leavethecapital, Thursday, 1 March 2007 01:42 (nineteen years ago)

"The Spirit Moves Me" (Beck) - Abilene (19 months)

― All-but-Dissertation Tucker Dummychuck, Thursday, 1 March 2007 02:06 (nineteen years ago)

are there any substantial songs about Kudzu?

Is "Polk Salad Annie" close enough?

― Joseph McCombs, Friday, 2 March 2007 02:44 (nineteen years ago)

neil young - l.a.

― strgn, Friday, 2 March 2007 05:35 (nineteen years ago)

If I lived in LA, I would pick "Lonesome L.A. Cowboy". So great....

― Saxby D. Elder, Friday, 2 March 2007 05:42 (nineteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.