Andrew Eames
“Start spreading the news”, Sinatra sang. “I’m leaving today, I want to be a part of it, New York, New York!”
Most people heading for the Big Apple want to be part of it, too, to wake up in the city that doesn’t sleep, to go king of the hill and top of the heap.
Or you could take a more mature, measured approach, not trying to blend in but instead being a ‘legal alien’ just like Sting, strolling down Fifth Avenue with your walking cane: “I like my toast done on one side. And you can hear it in my accent when I talk, I’m an Englishman in New York.”
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When you head for the House of the Rising Sun, sang The Animals, be careful how you go. “There is a house in New Orleans, they call the rising sun. And it’s been the ruin of many a poor boy, and god I know I’m one.” So beware the ruination of gambling, you young things who may be drawn to the bright lights, the Mardi Gras and all that jazz of this alluring city in the swamplands of Louisiana.
Other singers focus on the city’s buzzing musical scene, with Chuck
Berry celebrating local boy Johnny B Goode, who “never ever learned to read or write so well, but he could play a guitar just like a-ringin’ a bell. Go go, Go Johnny go, go.’
You shouldn’t need any more encouragement than that!
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It’s fair to say that singersongwriters have a love-hate relationship with the City of Angels.
The Eagles expressed it well. “Welcome to the Hotel California, such a lovely place… They livin’ it up at the Hotel California, what a nice surprise, bring your alibis.”
Then the killer line: “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!”
Others, such as The Mamas and the Papas in California Dreamin’ were more inclined towards a rosetinted view: “I’d be safe and warm, I’d be safe and warm, if I was in LA, if I was in LA”.
But The Beach Boys were crystal clear as to what piqued their interest: “I wish they all could be California girls!”
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