"Empire State" was a grower for me. I don't think I warmed to it very much on the first listens, but I quite like it now, which is also how I felt about the
Mirage album as a whole. "Eyes" and "Gypsy" and "Hold Me" were immediate favorites, but the others initially struck me as a little cold, which is strange because I now think of
Mirage as a sunny, warm, summertime album. But anyway, as for "Empire State", any rock song that finds a way to make good use of a harp is okay in my book.
There's his song on
Law & Order (one of those solo albums that apparently no one hears
) - called "That's How We Do It In L.A" - where he jokingly pokes at L.A. a little bit, feeling restless and a little distressed about his town. Feeling lonely, but compelled to stay there because it's the "only place" he can conceive of being. But in "Empire State" he seems to be flirting with New York, appreciating its energy and differences from L.A., and wondering if he could feel comfortable there.
I've always imagined that he wrote these two songs at about the same time or maybe when he was in a very similar state of mind, because "Empire State" just seems like the continuation of the thought he started with his L.A. song. He indirectly quotes from his L.A. song in "Empire State" with the line about how life in N.Y. is "not like we do in L.A." I know I always associate the two when I play one or the other.