CLUTCH CITY QUOTES
Houston has inspired both derision and celebration over the years. It has been the subject of songs by a variety of performers, from Drake and Beyoncé to R.E.M. and Coldplay. With a new year upon us, let’s take a look back at some of the most famous zingers and hosannas about H-town.
“Houston is a cruel, crazy town on a filthy river in East Texas with no zoning laws and a culture of sex, money and violence. It’s a shabby, sprawling metropolis ruled by brazen women, crooked cops and super-rich pansexual cowboys who live by the code of the West — which can mean just about anything you need it to mean, in a pinch.” — Hunter S. Thompson
“Houston is filled with promise.” — R.E.M., “Houston”
“This is a place where you really are what you achieve in Houston, and that’s a tremendous boon to this town. I think you’ll find people who have succeeded because of that kind of open culture.” — Richard Kinder
“I grew up poor in east Houston. I used to be ashamed of it, but I’m not anymore. It’s kind of a badge of courage now.” — Rodney Crowell
“From my limited time in Houston, I’ve come to believe it has some of the best Vietnamese (food) in the country, if not the best.” — Anthony Bourdain
“Houston is kind of a melting pot. There are many different cultures and ethnicities represented out there, even on my team. It’s really cool. You’ll see so many different things.” — J.J. Watt
“Bright lights, Houston is hot tonight/Arabian sheiks and money, up in the sky/Now I don’t mind, a bloodbath, when I’ve got oil, on my breath.” — Iggy Pop, “Houston Is Hot Tonight”
“Like H-town in the summertime, I keep it 100.” — Drake, “Too Much”
“In Houston, everyone owns guns and uses ’em — sometimes just for the hell of it.” — Shelley Duvall
“Houston is a wretched little town composed of about 20 shops, and a hundred huts, dispersed here and there, among trunks of felled trees. It is infested with Methodists and ants.” — Emmanuel-Henri-Dieudonné Domenech, 1848 “Most of Houston will spend eternity in hell.” — Billy Graham
“Houston has three seasons. July, then August, followed by summer.” — Stan Musial
“Houston is an example of what can happen when architecture catches a venereal disease.” — Frank Lloyd Wright
“When I first arrived in Houston, I was fascinated with the elaborate styles of cowboy boots and thought they were incredibly exotic. They also seemed to be a central part of a specifically ‘Texan’ identity, one distinct from being ‘American.’ ” — Shahzia Sikander
“I am dreaming of when I get back to Houston/I am dreaming of that fair and special place/I am dreaming of when Houston has no problems/In that city where they send you into space.” — Coldplay, “Houston #1” “It’s not as bad as you think.” — Everyone at one point or another