Summer playlist request

May 17, 2018 9:50 AM

What songs say "love, NYC, and summer" to you? New and classics welcome.
posted by captainscared to Media & Arts (39 answers total)

Up On The Roof - I like the Drifters version the best
posted by dawkins_7 at 9:51 AM on May 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

TMBG, New York City
posted by praemunire at 9:58 AM on May 17, 2018 [5 favorites]

Nicole Atkins - Brooklyn's On Fire!
posted by bananana at 10:00 AM on May 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Rockaway Beach by the Ramones
posted by griphus at 10:01 AM on May 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

Ace Frehley—New York Groove
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:07 AM on May 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Summer in the City by the Lovin' Spoonful
posted by Caz721 at 10:07 AM on May 17, 2018 [5 favorites]

Amerie - Why Don't We Fall in Love
posted by icy_latte at 10:08 AM on May 17, 2018

Pavement - Summer Babe
Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes
posted by saladin at 10:09 AM on May 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

It's not about NYC, but Arthur Russell lived in NYC and I always feel like his music is city music by a country person - I mean, you can't really imagine Arthur Russell without New York: Tell You Today.

Also, the remix of I'll Play The Fool - Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, who were from the Bronx. The non-remix is also very good but for some reason this one is the one I like.

You And Me And The Moon, by the Magnetic Fields, breathes of summer, and some of the members of the Magnetic Fields have lived in New York.
posted by Frowner at 10:13 AM on May 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

It is a little subdued but so wonderful: Regina Spektor's Summer in the City.
posted by Smearcase at 10:16 AM on May 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side also by the Magnetic Fields
posted by griphus at 10:18 AM on May 17, 2018 [7 favorites]

I mean Regina Spektor has lots of songs about weird kinds of love in NYC come to think of it.
posted by Smearcase at 10:19 AM on May 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

You Said Something by PJ Harvey [lyrics] is my all-time "summer love in NYC" song.
posted by mykescipark at 10:33 AM on May 17, 2018 [6 favorites]

Harlem River Drive (I like Bobbi Humphrey's version)
posted by box at 10:36 AM on May 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Minnie Riperton - Les Fleurs. I don't know why.
posted by corvine at 10:44 AM on May 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

The original version of New York City (TMBG version is a cover) by Cub
posted by neroli at 10:52 AM on May 17, 2018 [4 favorites]

Two classics from 1977.

Spanish Stroll, Mink Deville

Native New Yorker, Odyssey
posted by essexjan at 11:05 AM on May 17, 2018 [4 favorites]

Tom Tom Club — Pleasure of Love
posted by 1970s Antihero at 11:07 AM on May 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

Patti Scialfa, 23rd Street Lullaby
posted by Catseye at 11:11 AM on May 17, 2018

Herb Alpert, Rise
posted by palominopearl at 11:12 AM on May 17, 2018

Cruel Summer, Bananarama.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:17 AM on May 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

The National, The Geese of Beverly Road
posted by ferret branca at 11:32 AM on May 17, 2018

LCD Soundsystem - New York I Love You
Jay Z, Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind
posted by BeHereNow at 11:53 AM on May 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

Cat Power "Manhattan"
posted by sestaaak at 11:58 AM on May 17, 2018

The LCD Soundsystem song (full title, "New York, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down") is an extended mope about grappling with how much NYC supposedly sucks now that it's cleaned up.
posted by praemunire at 12:01 PM on May 17, 2018

Little Jackie - The Stoop

And PJ Harvey was mentioned upthread - her whole "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea" album was written in NYC. A little more rocking than laid-back summer (IMO), but This is Love and Good Fortune are some more great ones from that fantastic album.

Was Santana's Smooth filmed in NYC?
posted by jillithd at 12:59 PM on May 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

Thirding PJ Harvey’s You Said Something, as well as the whole Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. Such a good album.
Lovin Spoonful- Summer in the City
Ryan Adams- New York, New York
If I may add Rhett Miller- Most in the Summertime
It’s not expressly about New York, but it’s such a great summertime song and I think it fits the bill.
posted by Champagne Supernova at 1:14 PM on May 17, 2018

Switched on Pop promised that Cardi B (+Bad Bunny, J Balvin)'s song I like it would soon become a NYC summer staple.
posted by batter_my_heart at 2:07 PM on May 17, 2018

Groove Is In The Heart by NYC's own Deee-lite.

Dr. Octagon Blue Flowers.

Iggy Pop Lust for Life.

Talking Heads Life During Wartime.

The Late Mistake by the Comateens.

A certain version of Frankie Knuckle's The Whistle Song that is impossible to find. Here's a taste, but it's wrong and not the version from summer of 1991.

Everything Beastie Boys.
posted by jbenben at 2:41 PM on May 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Downtown Train
posted by Ideefixe at 3:41 PM on May 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

The Doves N.Y.
posted by Red Loop at 6:14 PM on May 17, 2018

Shocked it hasn't come up yet, but Dire Strait's Romeo and Juliet.

Indigo Girls' cover (which I prefer)
posted by Mchelly at 6:41 PM on May 17, 2018

Mel Tormé: New York on Sunday (or is it "Sunday in New York"?)
posted by Rash at 6:47 PM on May 17, 2018

And of course, anything and everything (and even Anybodys!) from West Side Story.
posted by Rash at 6:49 PM on May 17, 2018

Springsteen, Incident on 57th Street
posted by Miko at 9:44 PM on May 17, 2018

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Do The Get Down
posted by lasagnaboy at 1:55 AM on May 18, 2018

Matt Nathanson - Gold in The Summertime
posted by ersatzkat at 7:02 AM on May 18, 2018

Aloe Blacc – Brooklyn In the Summer
posted by wemayfreeze at 8:00 AM on May 18, 2018

Brooklyn Blurs by The Paper Raincoat (this live version with Vienna Teng is good)
posted by colorblock sock at 2:36 PM on May 18, 2018