{"id":2189775,"date":"2025-12-07T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2189775"},"modified":"2025-12-07T04:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T04:00:00","slug":"the-40-best-songs-about-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-40-best-songs-about-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"The 40 best songs about New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

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(Credits: Far Out \/ Press)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A great French existentialist once said, \u201cThere is something in the New York<\/a> air that makes sleep useless\u201d, and despite its contrasts and controversies, this city has inspired many before and many after Simone de Beauvoir, birthing entire genres and musical movements by rage, rebellion, or remarkable ambition.<\/p>\n

The most populated city in the US is rich in history as much as it is in squalor, \u201cSomething like a circus or a sewer,\u201d as Lou Reed put it, with eight and a half million hopes and dreams facing a stark reality as they are confronted with the obscene cost of living crisis, queues of tourists and rats, which naturally offers a perfect breeding ground for music revolution. <\/p>\n

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Besides being the birthplace of Sonic Youth and Jay-Z, the five boroughs were the first home of disco, punk-rock, and of course, the Bronx\u2019s own hip-hop, its immigrant melting pot hosting significant developments for bebop jazz, salsa, and the onstage musical.<\/p>\n

Between its dramatic changes of season to its enigmatic reputation as a stardom factory, artists of all kinds have flocked<\/a> to its Chelsea Hotel and its Rockaway Beach to pledge homage to the city they venerate or to twist the narrative to raise awareness that it\u2019s all a scam. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all grown up with Hollywoodifications of somewhere we might some day or another end up visiting, and then realising that the place isn\u2019t all that, but the soundtracks to those movies, to the musicals, to the Gossip Girls<\/em> are what keep us dreaming. <\/p>\n

No one romanticises New York better than Frank Sinatra or Madonna, and their lyrics of devotion made us all want to go and see it for ourselves, but a lot of the best music coming out of New York depicts its very real struggles of police brutality, racial inequality, crime, illegal work and unemployment. In a place where everyone wants to be somebody, there are nobodies piling up in the shadows, living in overpopulated buildings with other outcasts, as was the true living of many pop music icons to be. <\/p>\n

Hopes are high with a new mayor in town, but high rents have forced iconic music venues like the punk scene\u2019s own CBGB<\/a>\u2019s to shut down, and gentrification has shoed away those that made Bronx rap authentic. <\/p>\n

Independent artists struggle in the increasingly corporate music climate, and with financial constraints, are effectively unable to continue \u2018New York sound\u2019, the city\u2019s most timeless tradition. But here we attempt to capture the ones that did a great job of holding on to time\u2019s test, and celebrate the good and the bad so that future listeners won\u2019t miss out. <\/p>\n

From Christmas songs to Broadway, here\u2019s an ageless Far Out 40 rundown of those that best captured the city. <\/p>\n

The 40 best songs capturing New York:<\/h2>\n
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  • <\/svg>Sting \u2013 \u2018Englishman in New York\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>LCD Soundsystem \u2013 \u2018New York, I Love You, but You\u2019re Bringing Me Down\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Lou Reed \u2013 \u2018Walk on the Wild Side\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>U2 \u2013 \u2018Angel of Harlem\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz \u2013 \u2018Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Louis Prima \u2013 \u2018Brooklyn Boogie\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>The 1975 \u2013 The City<\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Tom Waits \u2013 \u2018Downtown Train\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Wu-Tang Clan \u2013 CREAM <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Stevie Wonder \u2013 \u2018Living for the City\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Bad Bunny \u2013 \u2018Nuevayol\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Frank Sinatra \u2013 \u2018New York, New York\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Nas \u2013 \u2018NY State of Mind\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Leonard Cohen \u2013 \u2018First We Take Manhattan\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Billy Joel \u2013 \u2018New York State of Mind\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>The Strokes \u2013 \u2018New York City Cops\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico \u2013 \u2018Un Verano en Nueva York\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Genesis \u2013 \u2018The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Simon & Garfunkel \u2013 \u2018The Only Living Boy in New York\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Jay-Z with the Notorious BIG \u2013 \u2018Brooklyn\u2019s Finest\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>The Velvet Underground \u2013 \u2018I\u2019m Waiting For The Man\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>The Strokes \u2013 \u2018New York City Cops\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Bob Dylan \u2013 \u2018Talkin\u2019 New York\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Madonna \u2013 \u2018I Love New York\u2019<\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>The Ramones \u2013 \u2018Rockaway Beach\u2019<\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Lenny Kravitz \u2013 \u2018New York City\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Jim Croce \u2013 \u2018New York\u2019s Not My Home\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Beastie Boys \u2013 \u2018No Sleep Till Brooklyn\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>The Insect Trust \u2013 \u2018The Eyes of a New York Woman\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Ella Fitzgerald \u2013 \u2018Manhattan\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Steely Dan \u2013 \u2018Daddy Don\u2019t Live in That New York City No More\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Joni Mitchell \u2013 \u2018Chelsea Morning\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Goo Goo Dolls \u2013 \u2018Broadway\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Le Tigre \u2013 \u2018My My Metrocard\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Purple Mountains \u2013 \u2018Snow Is Falling In Manhattan\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Leonard Bernstein \u2013 \u2018West Side Story\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Gil Scott-Heron \u2013 \u2018New York Is Killing Me\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Billie Holiday \u2013 \u2018Autumn in New York\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>Alicia Keys \u2013 \u2018Empire State of Mind Part II (Broken Down)\u2019 <\/li>\n
  • <\/svg>The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl \u2013 \u2018Fairytale of New York\u2019 <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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