100 Songs About New York
Great Playlist - And Unsolicited NYC Thoughts
Posted by Charlie Recksieck
on 2026-06-09
NOTE: I get it if you want to skip the talking and jump straight to the playlist.
Some of these themed playlists that I like to make and write about are difficult to get to 100 songs.
When thinking of New York as a category, once I started I immediately saw how easy it was to hit the century mark with great ones.
There are five or six songs here more about New York State than NYC, but I didn't think you'd mind.
I started searching for songs about Buffalo or Rochester, but no such luck.
Which reminds me, just because a song was written or even recorded at Big Pink (Bob Dylan & The Band's house in Woodstock, NY) doesn't make it a song about New York. Being a quintessential New York artist like Talking Heads or Patti Smith also isn’t enough; songs need to be about New York.
What's Special About New York?
That question is actually ridiculous.
A couple of times in my life I've met somebody who wasn't impressed by New York.
That belongs in the Hot Take Hall of Fame alongside edgy contrarian opinions against The Beatles or pizza.
New York City is the center of the earth.
You can feel it when you're walking around in midtown Manhattan.
It's where things happen.
Even in chiller moments in the park, Chelsea or the sleepy Upper East Side, you can't shake the feeling that you're about one short mile away from where the most important decisions in the world are being made and the greatest dinner conversation is happening.
The population is so compressed that it changes the way its people deal with each other - race relations are a little different, celebrities don't need as extensive security details as elsewhere, people can be direct.
Personally, I get so many more hellos and greetings from strangers in Manhattan than I ever get in Southern California.
When I'm walking in Manhattan, I feel 5% more alive.
Maybe that would go away if I could afford to live there full-time - I think there's a formula where you need to either be young or rich to be a resident.
I'm neither.
But when people in California after meeting me are convinced that I'm originally from New York, I take that as a big compliment.
What's a New York Song?
I'm not sure.
But maybe it's something that you hear in your head when you're walking around New York.
Or something that when you hear somewhere else, you picture yourself in New York.
My Most New York Songwriter
When I say "most New York" that's not code for Jewish like some clever anti-Semites would put it.
There are several great candidates.
Lou Reed gets praised as a New York "street poet" which is about as pretentious as it gets.
I can't consider The Ramones seriously.
Bruce Springsteen is synonymous with New Jersey which means frequent excursions to the City but Jersey is a whole thing.
Neil Diamond and Barry Manilow represent a Tin Pan Alley / Brill Building vibe from years ago, but not quite "the best."
I would be tempted to say Paul Simon, who has some killers on the list.
But just take a look at this list and it's pretty clear that the crown goes to Billy Joel.
I shouldn't take the bait and discuss the intentional clickbait idiocy of the NY Times 30 Greatest Living Songwriters list omitting Billy Joel, but I'd love to see a retraction from the "paper of record."
The List
You've read this far.
Enjoy the songs.
I'll say a little something about the first 10 below the playlist.
Some Top 11 Thoughts
1 - Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Most songs about New York succeed if they manage to capture one aspect of the city.
This one captures just about all of it.
Also, it’s the grounded part of the concept album story before it literally goes underground and gets weird.
2 - Billy Joel - New York State of Mind
Like #1, this song namechecks so much of New York, but it's really a love letter to the city.
Billy's Turnstiles and The Stranger albums (along with the TV show Taxi) defined New York for me as a kid, and that really hasn't changed much.
What Tony Bennett and his signature song did for San Francisco, this song did for New York.
3 - Ace Frehley - New York Groove
When I was taking a shot at defining New York at the top of this article, a lot of it was about the feeling of walking around the streets.
With apologies to the opening of Saturday Night Fever and "Staying Alive" - THIS is what walking around the city sounds like.
I don't care that it's a cover version.
4 - Frank Sinatra - New York, New York
I'm not a Yankee fan, but if you've ever been to a Yankee game for a home victory and they blast "New York, New York" and everybody sings along ... you can't help but get chills.
Maybe the best singalong you can do at karaoke.
And I can't deny that I love it also for being the ending of Albert Brooks' Lost in America.
Actually, I think a lot of us have 3 or 4 distinct memories of this song.
5 - Elbow - New York Morning
Leave it to this alternative-art band from Manchester, England to nail so many ethereal feelings about NY.
I've loved performing this song with my band and solo; it's a song that never wants to stop.
"Cause everybody owns the great ideas - And it feels like there’s a big one round the corner" or even better, "It's the modern Rome where folks are nice to Yoko."
6 - Jay-Z - Empire State of Mind
This is the first song on the list I picture driving around New York instead of walking, preferably in a limo.
Alicia Keys wrote it, sent it to Jay-Z, who kept her choruses and changed the verses, and we were left with this classic.
Both of them were music stars already, but this was probably the crowning achievement of both of their careers.
7 - Simon & Garfunkel - The Only Living Boy in New York
This was always my private favorite song as a kid.
We all have special, territorial relationships with album tracks.
Then Zach Braff went and used it perfectly in the movie Garden State, and they gave it to everybody.
I don't care.
Great scene.
Great song.
8 - Nicole Atkins - Brooklyn’s on Fire
We should at least venture into the 21st century a couple of times in the top 10.
Atkins is an incredible vintage pop singer/songwriter disguised as an indie artist.
She's been a Brooklynite for years and it makes me smile thinking of Brooklyn being covered in 4th of July fireworks.
9 - George Benson - On Broadway
This early 60's hit for The Drifters crystallized the feeling of artists with big dreams coming to New York to make it.
Then George Benson did this iconic version in 1978 and took it to another level.
Used prominently in the Bob Fosse movie "All That Jazz" which is a whole other New York thing.
10 - Rufus Wainwright - 14th Street
A big, beautiful song from Rufus about a heart-wrenching crush he had on a straight man, while living in the Village on 14th Street.
Whenever I'm in the Greenwich Village neighborhood, it's either this or "Bleecker Street" in my head.
It's like a breath of fresh air down there.
11 - Steve Forbert - Grand Central Station, March 18, 1977
Apologies for going to 11, but I really wanted to give a shoutout to this song.
The subway is a huge part of my New York City, even when it's 100 degrees in the summer and everything is sweaty and gross.
I love Steve Forbert and this song is his flashback to busking in the train station.
Listen to this song three times and it's going on your playlist too.
