Making the mix (NJ-NY-TX style)

September 21, 2005 10:44 AM

Help me make a mix CD about New Jersey, New York and Texas...

My brother's getting married in two weeks, and we're putting together "welcome boxes" for all of the guests coming in from out of town who'll be staying in hotels. I thought it might be fun to include a mix CD of songs about NJ (where we're from), NY (where he and his fiancee met), and TX (where she's from), and/or definitive songs by artists from those locations. I've got a short list already developing in my head, but I know that the experts of AskMe can come up with a better selection than I could hope to assemble on my own.

Help me, AskMetaFilter, you're my only hope...

posted by MsVader to media & arts (43 comments total)

New York City by They Might be Giants (originally by Cub, but I don't know what that recording sounds like). It'd be great for this purpose; lists all the sights.
posted by artifarce at 10:47 AM on September 21, 2005

Here are some songs about Texas.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 10:50 AM on September 21, 2005

TMBG - New York City.
Springsteen - 4th of July, Asbury Park.

Hm, Texas. String Cheese Incident? Haha.
posted by thejoshu at 10:50 AM on September 21, 2005

I know that TMBG has a song about the Thomas Edison Museum, which is located in our hometown, so I'll definitely be including that as well.
posted by MsVader at 10:52 AM on September 21, 2005

May not be right for the occasion, but no Texas list would be complete without "All my exes live in Texas"
posted by grateful at 10:53 AM on September 21, 2005

Definitely Lyle Lovett's That's Right (You're Not From Texas).
posted by MsMolly at 10:54 AM on September 21, 2005

"Only New York Going On" by Francis Dunnery from the Tall Blonde Helicopter album.
posted by gfrobe at 10:55 AM on September 21, 2005

"New York" by some group called the Sex Pistols.
posted by scratch at 11:02 AM on September 21, 2005

"Like Wow, Wipeout!" by the Hoodoo Gurus contains the line "I kiss the city of New York, where I first met you."
posted by scody at 11:02 AM on September 21, 2005

'I Love NYC' by Andrew WK
'Lone Star Queen' by The New York Dolls (ironically)
'Hoboken' by Operation Ivy
posted by jacobjacobs at 11:04 AM on September 21, 2005

Is Sinatra too obvious?
posted by jozxyqk at 11:06 AM on September 21, 2005

"Bullet" by the Misfits, for the chorus:

Texas isn't average when your husband is dead,
Texas isn't average when they pick off his head,
Texas is the reason, that the President's dead...

Then, the song devolves into Glenn Danzig talking dirty to Jackie Kennedy.
posted by saladin at 11:10 AM on September 21, 2005

U2's New York would be wildly inappropriate here, but keep it in the back of you're mind should you make a mix CD when they're getting divorced. :-)
posted by fvw at 11:11 AM on September 21, 2005

The Sex Pistol's 'New York' is just a slam of The New York Dolls! You can't include that!!
posted by jacobjacobs at 11:12 AM on September 21, 2005

We know that we'll have some Sinatra and some Bruce and some TMBG. Trying not to resort to Bon Jovi. And I'd prefer nothing too derogatory. Also nothing too... offensive... as some of these folks are on the (much) older side.

The suggestions are great so far - keep them coming! Though - a little less on the NY and more on the NJ and TX. (Yeah, yeah, I know, beggars can't be choosers.)
posted by MsVader at 11:19 AM on September 21, 2005

My immediate thought was "T for Texas" as sung by Johnny Cash, but it's not very optimistic for relationships...
posted by Robot Johnny at 11:22 AM on September 21, 2005

as always with these types of questions, look at allmusicguide, great resource
posted by edgeways at 11:24 AM on September 21, 2005

'Jersey Girl' by Tom Waits... ah, but he is from Jersey not she.
posted by jacobjacobs at 11:27 AM on September 21, 2005

Stupid Texas Song - Austin Lounge Lizards
Atlantic City - Springsteen
posted by rocket88 at 11:28 AM on September 21, 2005

Oh, and New York State of Mind by Billy Joel
posted by rocket88 at 11:29 AM on September 21, 2005

Back in the New York Groove by Ace Frehley off of his Kiss solo album. It's kinda funky, a bit jazzy, definitely not too out there for old folks.
posted by spicynuts at 11:37 AM on September 21, 2005

Hackensack - Fountains of Wayne
posted by azlondon at 11:38 AM on September 21, 2005

Fairy Tale of New York, The Pogues
"yer a bum, yer a punk" "yer an old slut on junk, lying there almost dead with a drip in your arm"
posted by Capn at 11:44 AM on September 21, 2005

New San Antonio Rose - Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys
posted by mds35 at 11:50 AM on September 21, 2005

"New York's Alright If You Like Saxaphones" by Fear and then there's "New York City" by the Cult.

I think there's a song on Lloyd Cole's self-titled album with a line about "it's raining on Bleeker street." Is it "Downtown?" Maybe another MeFi-er can help close the loop on that one.
posted by Atom12 at 11:50 AM on September 21, 2005

Big Black - Texas
Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers and Queers

You're having a punk rock wedding, right? Right?
posted by boo_radley at 11:53 AM on September 21, 2005

El Paso - Marty Robbins (or Grateful Dead)
When I Die, Just Let Me Go to Texas - Ed Bruce
posted by mds35 at 11:55 AM on September 21, 2005

saladin: You gotta suck! Suck, Jackie, suck!
posted by mds35 at 11:57 AM on September 21, 2005

Bowling for Soup - Ohio (Come Back To Texas)
posted by smackfu at 11:58 AM on September 21, 2005

I must second Exes and That's Right (You're Not From Texas) for Texas songs.
posted by therealadam at 11:58 AM on September 21, 2005

Personally, I love "the best ever death metal band in Denton" off of The Mountain Goats' fantastic album "All Hail West Texas" which, as you might've guessed, has other texas and texan related songs on it.

I can't think of them off the top of my head right now, and a quick check of the song db shows none with obvious titles, but I know he's also got some songs about New York (and I wouldn't be surprised if there was one about Jersey too since geography and character play such a vital role in his music).

Good luck with the mix!
posted by safetyfork at 12:09 PM on September 21, 2005

Red House Painters - New Jersey

Amazon sample
posted by shortfuse at 12:20 PM on September 21, 2005

Joe Jackson's Night and Day is purportedly all about NYC from different points of view. Plus its a great album.
posted by grateful at 12:41 PM on September 21, 2005

Grant Lee Buffalo - "Lone Star Song"
posted by scody at 12:48 PM on September 21, 2005

Oh, and how about "Luchenbach, Texas" by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Excellent freakin' song.

Yeah, mds35, I guess that choice little line disqualifies it from this particular mix. Too bad.
posted by saladin at 1:24 PM on September 21, 2005

saladin: still a great song, though, eh?
posted by mds35 at 1:31 PM on September 21, 2005

John Gorka - I'm From New Jersey

I'm from New Jersey
No I don't talk that way
I watched too much TV
When I was young
posted by octothorpe at 1:37 PM on September 21, 2005

A few more from TX:

Little Feat - "Texas Twister"
Chris Rea - "Texas"
Stevie Ray Vaughan - "Pride and Joy", "Texas Flood"
Joe Ely - "Dallas"
Lyle Lovett - "She's No Lady (She's My Wife)"
Timbuk3 - "A Hundred Lovers"

New Jersey songs? Egads, that's gotta be a toughie. Something by Fountains of Wayne, maybe? (wink)
posted by skyboy at 2:10 PM on September 21, 2005

... which azlondon already covered above, I now see.
posted by skyboy at 2:13 PM on September 21, 2005

The Promise Ring - Jersey Shore
I don't know why, but I think Yo La Tengo has a song about Hoboken. Or maybe I am just thinking that.

Old 97s - El Paso

I might come up with more later.

or right now...PJ Harvey - You Said Something - it's a very romantic song that references many NY locales.
posted by jetskiaccidents at 3:13 PM on September 21, 2005

You've absolutely got to include a few songs by Texan James McMurtry (the son of Larry McMurtry, author of such ultra-Texan classics as Lonesome Dove). He's written and recorded several songs that don't just describe Texas, they make you feel like you're there; My favorites of the bunch are "Levelland" and "Twelve O'Clock Whistle," but if you want something a little more upbeat, try "I'm Not From Here" which has been described as the National Anthem of Austin or maybe "Poor Lost Soul" which is actually more about leaving Texas. And as an added bonus, he's also got one about a Texan trying to survive in New Jersey; it's called "Down Across The Delaware".

There a couple from Lyle Lovett that spring to mind: "That's
Right, You're Not From Texas" and "This Old Porch".

There's "The Vines" by Hammel on Trial, which is an autobiographical thing about Hammel's move from New York to Austin. He's even got that tough guy New York accent.

Steve James has one about a woman returning to her small Texas hometown; "Talco Girl". Toni Price sings about leaving a small Texas town after the oil bust; "Tumbleweed".

Seems like you really ought to include Robert Earl Keen here - the man is Texas just walking around - but I'm not sure which of his songs would be the best. So I'll just go with "The Road Goes on Forever"; it's just a classic all the way around.

Charlie Sexton's "Sunday Clothes" and Michelle Shocked's "Memories of East Texas" are both about growing up in the lone star state. In the same vein, Stephen Doster has a song about moving to Abilene as a child; "Sleepwalking".
posted by Clay201 at 3:29 PM on September 21, 2005

And perhaps the most annoying jazz vocal of all time, John Pizzarelli's 'I Like Jersey Best'...
posted by Sonny Jim at 6:20 PM on September 21, 2005

Forgive me if I missed this above, but the ultimate New Jersey songs have to be on Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run (1975). New Jersey's most famous rock song, the title track is, of course, about the getting out of the Garden State as fast as you can. This kept it from being made the state song, a short-lived project of WPLJ DJ Carole Miller in the late '70s. "Backstreets" is a great evocation of "the shore" More low-rent is Bon Jovi entire album New Jersey (1987). Patti Smith and Lou Reed are both from NJ. How about the Theme from The Sopranos?
posted by Toolshed at 9:29 PM on October 10, 2005