# A musical map of New York City **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316 "2014-01-08T21:32:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/41 "2014-01-09T16:06:30Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Looks like there’s a couple of songs named after “Grand Central Station.” The Mary Chapin Carpenter one mentions “I made my way out onto forty-second street.” That reminds me of one I should have thought of earlier: “42nd Street Psycho Blues” by Janis Ian…from her third album _For All the Seasons of Your Mind._ ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/42 "2014-01-09T16:46:46Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > That’s a popular street, musically. In “Shattered,” the Stones sing “I can’t give it away on 7th Avenue.” 7th Ave passes trough Times Square, the former sleaze and prostitution capital of the western world. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/43 "2014-01-09T16:52:46Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > 7th Ave passes trough Times Square, the former sleaze and prostitution capital of the western world. Tell me about it! I grew up in New York, and was a theater buff. I used to pass porn theaters and hookers on the way to Broadway plays all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/44 "2014-01-09T17:00:20Z")
“Across 110th Street Pimps trying to catch a woman that’s weak” etc. -Bobby Womack ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/45 "2014-01-09T17:47:15Z")
> [@davidw](#): > > You might appreciate this: > > [Street Art Project Maps Rap Lyric Shout Outs Around NYC](http://gothamist.com/2013/03/25/rap_quotes_project_brings_rap_lyric.php#photo-1) Is the OP actually making a map? In Google maps perhaps with annotations? If you throw out the posts that just mention a street or avenue and make it with locations it could be pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/46 "2014-01-09T19:24:11Z")
I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand. Walking through the streets of **Soho** in the rain ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/47 "2014-01-09T19:46:12Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > 7th Ave passes t[h]rough Times Square, the former sleaze and prostitution capital of the western world. > [@astorian](#): > > Tell me about it! I grew up in New York, and was a theater buff. I used to pass porn theaters and hookers on the way to Broadway plays all the time. Years ago David Letterman joked, in a Top Ten list about how to have fun in NYC, “Rent a hotel room overlooking Times Square. Take the Gideon’s Bible, look out the window, and cross off the Ten Commandments as you see them being violated.” As to songs, “New York Minute” by Don Henley begins: “Harry got up Dressed all in black Went down to the station And he never came back They found his clothing Scattered somewhere down the track And he won’t be down on Wall Street In the morning…” And of course there’s George Benson’s “On Broadway.” ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/48 "2014-01-09T19:51:17Z")
> [@Labtrash](#): > > I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand. Walking through the streets of **Soho** in the rain Er, that’s referring to [the Soho neighborhood of London](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soho), which you might have guessed due to the song being “Werewolves Of London” 🙂 Similarly, “West End Girls” by the Pet Shop Boys is not about girls who live on West End Avenue in Manhattan. Most of the ones that come to mind have been mentioned already - except maybe Bruce Springsteen’s “Tenth Avenue Freeze-out”, unless I missed it. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/49 "2014-01-09T20:23:11Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > And of course there’s George Benson’s “On Broadway.” Uh no…there’s **The Drifters’** “On Broadway.” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/50 "2014-01-09T20:48:06Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > There’s “Washington Square,” the instrumental by The Village Stompers. For songs that actually mention Washington Square, there’s Joan Baez’s “Diamonds and Rust”: “\*Now you’re smiling out the window of that crummy hotel over Washington Square.” \* ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/51 "2014-01-09T20:54:18Z")
Ace Fehley’s 'New York Groove" (I forget who did it originally) mentions a specific corner in Manhattan: “Stop at\*\* 3rd and 43,\*\* exit to the night. It’s gonna be ecstacy, this place was meant for me.” ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/52 "2014-01-09T21:37:21Z")
From _Angel of Harlem_ by U2: “Birdland on fifty-three The street sounds like a symphony We got John Coltrane and a love supreme Miles, and she’s got to be an angel” ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/53 "2014-01-09T22:58:26Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Ace Fehley’s 'New York Groove" (I forget who did it originally) mentions a specific corner in Manhattan: > > “Stop at\*\* 3rd and 43,\*\* exit to the night. > It’s gonna be ecstacy, this place was meant for me.” You know, I’m visualizing 43rd and Third, and I really can’t see what got Ace all that excited. It’s just a street corner in midtown. Nothing special there. Now, if the song mentioned 8th and 43rd, that might be a bit more understandable. I know Ace didn’t write the song, but he’s from the Bronx – you’d think he’d know better. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/54 "2014-01-10T03:31:44Z")
Thought of another: > [@](#): > > Ah you’ve got a great future behind you > But you’re goin’ nowhere fast > Just up and down the Bowery from Canal Street to old St Marks From _40 Shades of Blue_, Black 47. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/55 "2014-01-10T05:21:13Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > Uh no…there’s **The Drifters’** “On Broadway.” These days I’d say Benson’s cover is better-known, but whatevs. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/56 "2014-01-10T05:28:45Z")
“There’s music on Clinton St [Brooklyn] all through the evening” --Leonard Cohen, “Famous Blue Raincoat” And there’s a Black 47 song that mentions some street names in the Bronx (thank you, **Saintly Loser** , fr quoting the song I originally named and saving mefrom being Wrong). ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/57 "2014-01-10T05:42:17Z")
> [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](#): > > “There’s music on Clinton St [Brooklyn] all through the evening” --Leonard Cohen, “Famous Blue Raincoat” [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Blue_Raincoat) says it’s the [Clinton Street](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Clinton+St,+Manhattan,+New+York,+NY&hl=en&sll=40.697488,-73.979681&sspn=0.631991,1.005249&oq=clinton+st,+manhatt&hnear=Clinton+St,+New+York&t=m&z=15) in Manhattan. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/58 "2014-01-10T06:18:15Z")
Either way, in New York ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/59 "2014-01-10T06:37:26Z")
Chelsea Hotel has already been mentioned, but it also occurs in Bob Dylan’s “Sara” > [@](#): > > Sara, Sara > It’s all so clear, I could never forget > Sara, Sara > Lovin’ you is the one thing I’ll never regret > > I can still hear the sounds of those Methodist bells > I’d taken the cure and had just gotten through > Stayin’ up for days in the Chelsea Hotel > Writin’ “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” for you. Dylan also names some specific places in “Joey”: > [@](#): > > Born in Red Hook Brooklyn in the year of who knows when > … > Then he staggered out into the streets of Little Italy. > … > The sun turned cold over President Street and the town of the Brooklyn mourned. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316/60 "2014-01-10T16:12:45Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > For songs that actually mention Washington Square, there’s Joan Baez’s “Diamonds and Rust”: > “\*Now you’re smiling out the window of that crummy hotel over Washington Square.” > \* The Hotel Earle at the time. Now the Washington Square Hotel. My hotel of choice when I go to NYC. Not so crummy any more and not cheap. Great location though. My contribution: Don’t you wanna ride in my Survival car We can take the long way home Through Central Park Funny how the ground can find my wheels I’m going where the road ain’t there And only riding on the path we made To Union Square Survival Car - Fountains of Wayne [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-musical-map-of-new-york-city/678316.md?page=4)