I made a New York playlist for my iPod. It looks like this:
1. New York, New York / Frank Sinatra
2. Native New Yorker / Odyssey
3. Empire State of Mind / Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys
4. New York Groove / Hello
5. I Love New York / Madonna
6. New York City Boy / Pet Shop Boys
7. Empire State / Fleetwood Mac
8. Englishman In New York / Sting
9. The Boxer / Simon & Garfunkel
10. All the Critics Love U In New York / Prince
11. Across 110th Street / Bobby Womack
12. Take a Walk On the Wild Side / Lou Reed
13. Manhattan Skyline / from Saturday Night Fever [instrumental]
14. Angela (Theme from Taxi) [instrumental]
15. New York Is a Woman / Suzanne Vega
16. I Can't See New York / Tori Amos
17. The Only Living Boy In New York / Simon & Garfunkel
18. This City Never Sleeps / Eurythmics
19. The City / Fleetwood Mac
Amazingly, I had all but two of these songs already in my music library; I only had to purchase two of them: "New York, New York" (which, frankly, I feel would be a crime to be excluded from a playlist like this), and "Empire State of Mind." I don't generally like most modern rap, but I have to admit that this song does a great job of evoking a particular love for the city.
I deliberately organized it so that any more negative songs -- which I included mostly because I just happen to love the songs -- were closer to the end; that way the playlist kind of tells a story, from falling in love to ultimate disillusionment (not that I necessarily think disillusionment is inevitable). "I Can't See New York" is actually Tori Amos's perspective on the people who were riding in the planes that hit the World Trade Center. "The City" is an ode to then-Fleetwood-Mac-singer Bob Welch's hatred of New York ("There's something wrong New York / It's a prison without walls"), but I just really like the song. So I put it at the end.
Incidentally, "Empire State" was apparently Lindsey Buckingham's sort-of apology to New Yorkers who had been put off by the song "The City" eight years before.
I can imagine really enjoying listening to this playlist on my headphones while walking through the streets of Manhattan. Which I may just do one day, if I'm visiting when Shobhit is busy and I'm left to my own devices for much of the time I'm there.
I'm sort of using this music as a way to create positive associations with New York, in spite of my lack of desire to move there. I don't want to develop any resentment toward it. I'm hoping I can condition myself to romanticize it, which, in my case at least, I actually feel would be a good thing.
http://machupicchu.livejournal.com/1360209.html