New York I Love You, But Your List Is Bringing Me Down

Okay, so the title of this post isn't exactly accurate, but I paraphrased a lyric from James Murphy in an earlier post from this week, and I figured the title was there, why not? Keep the Murphy thing going -- maybe make it a theme for the week. I don't know. We'll have to wait and see. Anyway, Time Out New York has compiled a list of the 100 best songs about New York, and while the list doesn't actually bring me down, there are some unfortunate omissions that we need to address. But before we do, just to be clear, overall this list is really great: it's very diverse, with music from various genres and tunes from all eras stretching back to the '40s. And any list that includes both Andrew W.K. and Jerry Orbach is all right with me. But we blog writers are a pissy, parasitic bunch. Any chance we get to point out holes in other peoples' lists we have to take. It's who we are, it's what we do. Without this we'd have nothing -- certainly no basis for our smug, superior attitudes about culture. But, hey, I better save some of this for my therapist. Without further ado, let's look at some songs about the Big Apple that I would add to the list. You'll find those songs after the jump. And be sure to check out Time Out New York's list here.

I'm not going to comment on these, but I will just say that I was most bummed by the omission of Cub's "New York City," followed closely by the omission of the New Pornographer's "Myriad Harbour." They are both Vancouver bands, not exactly household names in the States, so it makes sense that they were left off a list from a New York City blog. Time Out New York's writers have probably never heard these songs. Or maybe they just hate Canadians, or at the very least people from Vancouver. Or, in the case of the New Pornographer's song, maybe they didn't even understand what a "harbour" is -- they saw the "u" and got spooked. It makes sense. Seeing a "u" where you're not used to seeing one can be very dramatic.

Anyway, Cub and the New Pornographers come first, the rest are in no particular order. Please leave your suggestions for other NYC songs in the comment section, keeping in mind that these are simply songs that were left off Time Out New York's list and it is not meant to be a comprehensive list.

Cub, "New York City"

New Pornographers, "Myriad Harbors"

Conor Oberst, "NYC - Gone, Gone"

Elliott Smith, "Amity"

The Mountain Goats, "Lovecraft in Brooklyn"

Mercury Rev, "Coney Island Cyclone"

The Jesus and Mary Chain, "New York City"

Jonathan Richman, "Springtime in New York"

Beirut, "East Harlem"

R.E.M., Leaving New York

Elvis Costello, "New Amsterdam"

Lou Reed, "Hold On"

Saturday Looks Good to Me, "When You Got to New York"

Chatham County Line, "Alone in New York

Billy Joe Shaver, "New York City"

John Lennon, "New York City"

Justin Townes Earle, Harlem River Blues