Symbolic Cities

Songwriting tip: Symbolic cities can be a person

“Sweet Home Alabama,” “New York State of Mind,” “Ventura Highway”–these are three memorable songs that capture themes about a place we all can share. Writing about a city is a helpful tool for the songwriter to make lyrics memorable.

Sometimes a song not only needs a setting, but a symbolic city. Places are the landscapes around the people we know–or knew–there, and using a metaphorical city to represent a person can add depth to a static tune. I borrowed this strategy when writing “Kalamazoo.” The last verse invokes the memory of walking on that herringbone bricked street found at Kalamazoo Mall years after I had graduated from WMU. Revisiting my college town was like revisiting the steps of my past. Even though most of the people I knew there had moved too, the memories of those people came rushing back to me.

Let’s consider another song with a symbolic city, Ryan Adam’s hit “New York, New York.” The song became an anthem for NYC after 9-11 because of the chorus’s optimism: “I still love you New York!” However, the song is really addressing lost love, a girl associated with the city. I love how the verses nostalgically walk through the memory of the unnamed person as much as the memory of the named city, with such odd lines that only Ryan Adam could find.

Symbolic cities help us to add depth to a song and give us a palate of details to use. If you get stuck during the Noreastr 24 Hour Song Challenge, revisit a place from your life and a person you knew there.

“New York, New York”

Well, I shuffled through the city on the 4th of July
I had a firecracker waiting to blow
Breakin’ like a rocket who makin’ its way
To the cities of Mexico
Lived in an apartment out on Avenue A
I had a tar-hut on the corner of 10th
Had myself a lover who was finer than gold
But I’ve broken up and busted up since

Chorus
And love don’t play any games with me
Anymore like she did before
The world won’t wait, so I better shake
That thing right out there through the door
Hell, I still love you, New York

Found myself a picture that would fit in the folds
Of my wallet and it stayed pretty good
Still amazed I didn’t lose it on the roof of the place
When I was drunk and I was thinking of you
Every day the children they were singing their tune
Out on the streets and you could hear from inside
Used to take the subway up to Houston and 3rd
I would wait for you and I’d try to hide

And love won’t play any games with me
Anymore if you don’t want it to
The world won’t wait and I watched you shake
But honey, I don’t blame you
Hell, I still love you, New York
Hell, I still love you, New York
New York

I remember Christmas in the blistering cold
In a church on the upper west side
Babe, I stood their singing, I was holding your arm
You were holding my trust like a child
Found a lot of trouble out on Avenue B
But I tried to keep the overhead low
Farewell to the city and the love of my life
At least we left before we had to go

And love won’t play any games with you
Anymore if you want ’em to
So we better shake this old thing out the door
I’ll always be thinkin’ of you
I’ll always love you though New York
I’ll always love you though New York, New York, New York

Adams, Ryan. “New York, New York.” Gold. Lost Highway, 2001.