November 26th, 2007
7. Lou Reed and John Cale, "Smalltown"
It took the death of their mentor Andy Warhol to bring Lou Reed and John Cale back into the studio together, 22 years after Cale left The Velvet Underground. The result, 1990's Songs For Drella, probed Warhol's life with tenderness and brutal honesty—especially on the album's opener, "Smalltown," an account of the young artist's struggle to ditch Pittsburgh in favor of New York. Reed, speaking as Warhol, complains about the bigotry and lack of opportunity in Pittsburgh, singing, "If they stare, let them stare in New York City" and ultimately, "There's only one good use for a small town / you hate it, and you know you'll have to leave."
Key line: "Where did Picasso come from? / There's no Michelangelo coming from Pittsburgh."
8. Jim Croce, "New York's Not My Home"
A native Pennsylvanian, Jim Croce spent a short time in New York City at his record label's behest; there, he and his wife recorded and promoted an album together. The album was a flop, and the disillusioned Croce moved back to his home state, where he took odd jobs working construction and driving trucks. During that time, he wrote his breakthrough album, You Don't Mess Around With Jim, which included "New York's Not My Home," a ballad mourning the hectic yet empty interactions of his former big-city life. Croce's short career was typified by this low-key workingman vibe, an aesthetic that clearly couldn't bloom in the concrete confines of Manhattan.
Key line: "Been in so many places / you know I've run so many races / and looked into the empty faces of the people of the night / and something is just not right."
9. Fear, "New York's Alright If You Like Saxophones"
Lee Ving has long been notorious as one of punk's prime assholes, and he certainly proves it with the line "New York's alright if you're a homosexual" on "New York Is Alright If You Like Saxophones." One of the more hate-filled tracks on Fear's debut, The Record, "Saxophone" was infamously taped during the band's 1981 Saturday Night Live appearance, to which a gang of rowdy young punks—including a teenage Ian MacKaye—were bussed in to cause trouble on the set. In a poor attempt at humor, the song blasts The Big Apple for being cold, dangerous, and full of drunks—but Ving, an L.A. native, sounds particularly enraged about the "art and jazz" that apparently ruined the New York scene. John Lurie was surely shaking in his shoes.
Key line: "New York's alright if you wanna get pushed in front of a subway / New York's alright if you like tuberculosis."
10. Soul Coughing, "The Incumbent"
Frank Sinatra famously boasted about New York that "if I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere." That sounds great, but sometimes when a starry-eyed naïf hits the big city, the big city hits back—and it's got a hell of a right hook. For every Sinatra, there's a Ratzo Rizzo; for every A Star Is Born, a Mulholland Dr. On "The Incumbent," Soul Coughing's Mike Doughty chants the embittered mantra of the failed dreamer who now sees New York as nothing but a horrifying "red sucker mouth." Broken ambitions fester like poison, and all he wants now is for the city that never sleeps to stop giving him insomnia. Prophetically, "The Incumbent" was the last song on Soul Coughing's last album; after the band's 2000 breakup, Doughty himself left New York for an extended sabbatical in Asia.
Key line: "New York, New York, I won't go back / indelible reminder of the steel I lack / I gave you seven years, what did you give me back? / a jaw-grind, disposition to a panic attack."
"The Incumbent" by Soul Coughing
11. The Clash, "London's Burning"
Before London called to Joe Strummer and crew, it burned—at least metaphorically—on "London's Burning," one of the strongest tracks from the band's 1977 debut. Still steeped in the punk look and sound, The Clash crafted a raw yet tuneful assault on street-level boredom, that great enemy of angry, disenfranchised youth. Funnily enough, automobile traffic was apparently also a major concern with English punks in 1977—The Jam attacked it with vitriol on that year's "London Traffic," and "London's Burning" bears the line, "What a great traffic system / It's so bright." At its core, though, there's a sadness and hopeful desperation that points to the maturity and complexity the group would soon grow into—even while remaining wary of the stultifying urban landscape.
Key line: "The wind howls through the empty blocks looking for a home / I run through the empty stone 'cause I'm all alone."
12. The Weakerthans, "One Great City!"
"I hate Winnipeg." It doesn't get simpler than the refrain Weakerthans frontman John K. Samson ascribes to a variety of the Canadian city's weary inhabitants—a dollar-store clerk, a bus driver, even a wrecking ball. Samson sarcastically re-appropriates Winnipeg's civic-pride slogan in the song title, then goes on to bash not only the city's favorite sons (The Guess Who) but also its former pro hockey team, the Jets (now the Phoenix Coyotes).
Key line: "Our Golden Business Boy will watch the North End die, and sing "I love this town" / then let his arcing wrecking ball proclaim, "I hate Winnipeg."
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