Songs About New York City

On By Amy Lordan-TrippIn Music

I love making playlists. I used to look forward to making year’s end “Best of …” mix CDs for all my friends every December. And of course, I adored making mix tapes! I made mixes with various themes (sleepytime, vitamins, places).

Recently, I sought to add to my already five-hour-long NYC playlist because the husband and I were driving down to see Waiting for Godot, starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, on Broadway. I posted ten random songs from my playlist and asked folks to share their favorite NYC tunes. I ended up with a bunch of recommendations, so I thought I’d share my whole NYC playlist here, since I don’t do streaming*. I use what used to be iTunes and have been putting my CD collection and digital Bandcamp purchases on it. When I can’t get something from Bandcamp, I’ll buy the digital version from Apple Music.

*Update: I now use Apple Music and my NYC playlist can be found here!

Here’s my NYC playlist!

  • “Manhattan Skyline” – a-ha
  • “New York, New York” – Ryan Adams
  • “My Blue Manhattan” – Ryan Adams
  • “New York” – Richard Ashcroft
  • “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” – Beastie Boys
  • “An Open Letter to NYC” – Beastie Boys
  • “Working Boy In New York City” – Belle and Sebastian
  • “New York’s In Love” – David Bowie
  • “Manhattan” – Cat Power
  • “New York City” – The Chainsmokers
  • “Another Rainy Day In New York City” – Chicago
  • “Manhattan” – Cinerama
  • “9th Ave. Limbo” – Julee Cruise
  • “Diet Mountain Dew” – Lana Del Rey
  • “Brooklyn Baby” – Lana Del Rey
  • “Brooklyn Roads” – Neil Diamond
  • “N.Y.” – Doves
  • “N.Y.C.” – Steve Earle
  • “New York Morning” – Elbow
  • “New York City” – Emigrate
  • “New York” – Ex:Re
  • “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones” – Fear
  • “Survival Car” – Fountains of Wayne
  • “Acela” – Fountains of Wayne
  • “New York Groove” – Ace Frehley
  • “New York Town” – Woody Guthrie
  • “You Said Something” – PJ Harvey
  • “Brooklyn Is Burning” – Head Automatica
  • “Bridge and Tunnel” – Holy Ghost!
  • “NYC” – Interpol
  • “P.S. New York Is Burning” – Jawbreaker
  • “Empire State of Mind (Explicit)” – Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys
  • “New York City” – The Jesus and Mary Chain
  • “New York State of Mind” – Billy Joel
  • “Cousin In the Bronx” – Kaiser Chiefs
  • “NYC Baby” – Karen O
  • “What New York Used to Be” – The Kills
  • “N.Y. Hotel” – The Knife
  • “New York” – Alex Lahey
  • “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” – LCD Soundsystem
  • “My My Metrocard” – Le Tigre
  • “Stars of New York” – Look Park
  • “I Love New York” – Madonna
  • “The Luckiest Guy On the Lower East Side” – The Magnetic Fields
  • “Brooklyn” – Jesse Malin
  • “Silver Manhattan” – Jesse Malin
  • “Brooklyn, You’re Killing Me” – Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness
  • “Remember Manhattan” – Richard Marx
  • “Central Park East” – Mercury Rev
  • “Going to Queens” – The Mountain Goats
  • “N.Y. State of Mind” – Nas
  • “Little Faith” – The National
  • “Chelsea Girls” – Nico
  • “I Guess the Lord Must Be In New York City” – Harry Nilsson
  • “O’Oh” – Ono feat. Shitake Monkey
  • “Breakfast In NYC” – Oppenheimer
  • “New York City Boy” – Pet Shop Boys
  • “ABCs of New York” – Princess Nokia
  • “53rd & 3rd” – Ramones
  • “New York Was Great” – The Raveonettes
  • “Coney Island Baby” – Lou Reed
  • “Walk On the Wild Side” – Lou Reed
  • “New York Telephone Conversation” – Lou Reed
  • “Brooklyn” – Silverbird
  • “Bleecker Street” – Simon & Garfunkel
  • “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” – Simon & Garfunkel
  • “The Only Living Boy in New York” – Simon & Garfunkel
  • “(Theme From) New York, New York” – Frank Sinatra
  • “New York Blackout” – Soul Asylum
  • “New York” – St. Vincent
  • “New York City Cops” – The Strokes
  • “Ever Since New York” – Harry Styles
  • “Welcome to New York” – Taylor Swift
  • “Maroon” – Taylor Swift
  • “Coney Island” – Taylor Swift feat. The National
  • “Long Island” – that dog
  • “New York City” – They Might Be Giants
  • “Summer In New York” – Sofi Tukker
  • “I’m Waiting for the Man” – The Velvet Underground
  • “I Love New York City” – Andrew W.K.
  • “A Madman From Manhattan” – Jack White
  • “You Took the Sunshine From New York” – The Wildhearts
  • “Across 110th Street” – Bobby Womack
  • “New York Rain” – Ken Yates
  • “Yeah! New York” – Yeah Yeah Yeahs

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