SING THE STATES #11: New York

Do you know how many songs there are about New York? Do you? Because there are so many. So so many. True, most of them are about New York City instead of New York State, but still.

New York was the eleventh state to join the Union on July 26th, 1788, and in an effort to throw off any future elementary school kids learning state capitals, New York's capital is not New York City, but is Albany. New York City is, of course, the state's largest city, but many of you might not know that the state's smallest city is Sherrill, NY with a population of just over 3,000. Not far from Sherrill is the city of Oneida, the site of the world's smallest church (it's only 3.5' by 6'!). One more fun fact: the term The Big Apple actually originated with jazz musicians in the 20's, who referred to gigs as 'apples' - and NYC was 'the BIG apple'. Kinda cool.

Man was the running close for this song. Though the competition was fierce, LCD Soundsystem came out on top - mostly because I just love this song. It's pretty obviously referring to the city of New York, but we're going to let it slide. Because when a song's this good, it deserves to break the rules.

Also considered: Ryan Adams - New York, New York; The Strokes - New York City Cops; Mason Jennings - New York City; Jim Croce - New York's Not My Home; Simon & Garfunkel - The Only Living Boy In New York; Frank Sinatra - Theme from New York, New York; The Pogues - The Fairytale of New York

LCD Soundsystem - New York I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down
from the album Sound of Silver (Amazon/iTunes)


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