List of songs about cities

Cities are a major topic for popular songs.[1][2] Music journalist and author Nick Coleman has gone as far as to say that apart from love, "pop is better on cities than anything else."[1]

Popular music often treats cities positively, though sometimes they are portrayed as places of danger and temptation. In many cases, songs celebrate individual cities, presenting them as exciting and liberating. Not all genres share the tendency to be positive about cities; in Country music cities are often portrayed as unfriendly and dehumanizing, or seductive but full of sin.[1][2] However, there are many exceptions, for example: Lady Antebellum's song ‘This City’, Danielle Bradbery's ‘Young in America’, and many others.

Lyricist and author Sheila Davis writes that including a city in a song's title helps focus the song on the concrete and specific, which is both more appealing and more likely to lead to universal truth than abstract generalizations. Davis also says that songs with titles concerning cities and other specific places often have enduring popularity.[3]

The following is a list of songs about cities, from both traditional and pop music: the list should not be considered complete.

Algeria

Algiers

Oran

Tizi Ouzou

Armenia

Yerevan

Argentina

Buenos Aires

Rosario

Córdoba

Azerbaijan

Baku

Australia

Adelaide

Alice Springs

Ballarat

Bathurst

Bendigo

Brisbane

Broken Hill

Cairns

Canberra

Coffs Harbour

Darwin

Gladstone

Gold Coast

Hobart

Kalgoorlie

Melbourne

Mount Isa

Newcastle

Perth

Port Lincoln

Queanbeyan

Sydney

Tamworth

Toowoomba

Townsville

Austria

Friedberg

Fürstenfeld

Salzburg

Wien (Vienna)

Belgium

Aalst

Antwerpen (Antwerp)

Bruges/Brugge

Bruxelles/Brussel (Brussels)

Knokke

Liège

Ostende

Waterloo

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Sarajevo

Brazil

Brasília

Fortaleza

  • "As Velas do Mucuripe" by Fagner

Londrina

Porto Alegre

Recife

Rio de Janeiro

Salvador

São Paulo

Canada

Calgary

Gaspe, Quebec

Halifax

Montreal

Saskatoon

Toronto

Vancouver

Winnipeg

Sudbury

Chile

Santiago

Valparaíso

China

Beijing

Shanghai

Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Kinshasa

Colombia

Barranquilla

  • "En Barranquilla me quedo" by Joe Arroyo
  • "Hombre caimán (Se va el caimán)" by José María Peñaranda

Bogotá

Buenaventura

Cali

Medellín

Croatia

Rijeka

Sinj

Split

Vukovar

Cuba

Guantánamo

Havana

Santiago de Cuba

Czech Republic

Prague

Cyprus

Limassol

Denmark

Copenhagen

Holsterbro

Skanderborg

Dominican Republic

San Pedro de Macorís

Ecuador

Guayaquil

Egypt

Alexandria

Cairo

Finland

Helsinki

France

Ajaccio

Amiens

Angers

Annecy

Avignon

Biarritz

Bordeaux

  • « La belle endormie » by Faycal

Brest

Caen

Calais

Cherbourg-Octeville

Clermont-Ferrand

Dijon

  • "Dijon" by Yves Jamait

La Rochelle

  • "La Ville de La Rochelle" by Tri Yann
  • "Les Tours de La Rochelle" by Les Binuchards

Le Havre

Lyon

Marseille

Montpellier

Nancy

Nantes

Nice

Orléans

Paris

Pau

Reims

Rouen

Saint-Étienne

St. Tropez

Strasbourg

Toulouse

Vesoul

Germany

Berlin

Bochum

Chemnitz

Delmenhorst

Detmold

  • "Lippe-Detmold eine wunderschöne Stadt"

Dresden

Düsseldorf

Frankfurt

Frankfurt (Oder)

Göttingen

Hamburg

Hamm

  • "Hamm, Sweet Hamm" by Der Obel

Hanover

  • "Stadt mit Keks" by Matthias Brodowy

Heidelberg

Kassel

  • "Direkt aus Kassel" by Cheech & Iakone

Cologne

Königswinter

Krefeld

Leipzig

Ludwigshafen

Mannheim

  • "Meine Stadt" by Söhne Mannheims
  • "Meine Welt" (Jubilee song of 400 years of The City of Mannheim, by Joy Fleming, Rolf Stahlhofen and others)

Marienbad

München

Nürnberg

  • "Nürnberg" by Hoelderlin
  • "Nürnberg" by Herr Nilsson

Oberhausen

  • "Oberhausen" by Missfits

Rostock

Stuttgart

Wolfenbüttel

Guinea-Bissau

Bissau

Greece

Athens

Piraeus

Thessaloniki

Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hungary

Budapest

Iceland

Reykjavík

Ireland

Dublin

Cork

Israel

Jerusalem

India

Amritsar

Calcutta

Chandigarh

Chennai / Madras

Delhi

Goa

Jaipur

Jalandhar

Kanpur

Mumbai / Bombay

Varanasi

Italy

Bologna

Genoa

Milan

Modena

Naples

Pompeii

Rimini

Rome

Turin

Venice

Verona

Ivory Coast

Abidjan

Jamaica

Kingston

Montego Bay

Japan

Fukuoka

Hiroshima

Kyoto

Nagasaki

Nara

Tokyo

Yokohama

Kenya

Mombassa

Latvia

Riga

Lebanon

Beirut

Liechtenstein

Vaduz

  • "Vaduz" by Erstes Wiener Heimorgelorchester

Luxemburg

Luxemburg

Mali

Mexico

Acapulco

Atotonilco

Culiacán

Guadalajara

Guanajuato

  • "Caminos de Guanajuato" by José Alfredo Jiménez

Juarez

Mexico City

Sinaloa

Tampico

Tijuana

Veracruz

Moldova

Bălți

Morocco

Marrakesh

Casablanca

Tanger

Agadir

Nepal

Kathmandu

Netherlands

Amsterdam

Delfzijl

Den Haag (The Hague)

Eindhoven

Nijmegen

Rotterdam

Utrecht

Zwolle

Zoutelande

New Zealand

Auckland

Hastings

Wellington

Nicaragua

Managua

Nigeria

Lagos

North Korea

Pyongyang

Norway

Oslo

Pakistan

Lahore

Panama

Peru

Lima

Philippines

Manila

Poland

Bydgoszcz

Cracow

Gdańsk

Gdynia

Łódź

Piła

Poznań

Rybnik

  • "Karliku, Karliku" by traditional folk song.

Sopot

Szczecin

Ustrzyki Dolne

  • "Ustrzyki" by KSU

Warsaw

Wrocław

Portugal

Coimbra

Lisbon

Peniche

Porto

Puerto Rico

San Juan

Republic of Iraq

Baghdad

Romania

Bucharest

Timișoara

Medgidia

Russia

Moscow

Saint Petersburg

Sevastopol

Rwanda

Gisenyi

Kigali

Senegal

Mbignona

Serbia

Belgrade

South Africa

Cape Town

Durban

Johannesburg

Margate

Port Elizabeth

Pretoria

  • "Trein na Pretoria" versions by Stefan Lubbe, Die Briels, Die Grafsteen Sangers, Dozi, Peter Senekal.
  • "We are marching to Pretoria" (traditional)

Soweto

South Korea

Seoul

Busan

  • Dorawayo Busan Hang E (돌아와요 부산항에) sung by Cho Yong Pil

Spain

Almería

Barcelona

Bilbao

Cadiz (Cádiz)

Cordova (Córdoba)

Granada

Huelva

Málaga

Madrid

Murcia

Salamanca

San Fernando, Cádiz

San Sebastián/Donostia

Santiago de Compostela

Seville

Soria

Toledo

Torremolinos

Valencia

Valladolid

Sweden

Stockholm

Gothenburg

Uppsala

Switzerland

Bern

Montreux

Wallisellen

Tanzania

Zanzibar

Tajikistan

Dushanbe

Thailand

Bangkok

Chiang Mai

  • "Above Chiangmai" by Harold Budd & Brian Eno
  • "បុបា្ផឈាងម៉ៃ" (Bopha Chiang mai, บุปผาเชียงใหม่) by ស៊ិន ស៊ីសាមុត (Sinn Sisamouth, สิน ศรีสมุทร)

Chonburi

Tunisia

Tunis

Turkey

Ankara

Bodrum

Istanbul

Izmir

Ukraine

Kiev

Odessa

United Arab Emirates

Abu Dhabi

United Kingdom

Aberdeen

Belfast

Birmingham

Bradford

Brighton

Coventry

Dover

Edinburgh

Glasgow

Liverpool

London

Derry

Manchester

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newport

Salford

Sheffield

Southampton

Wakefield

United States

Aberdeen, Maryland

Abilene

Akron

Albuquerque

Allentown

Amarillo

Anchorage

Arlington, Virginia

Atlanta

Asbury Park, New Jersey

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Austin

Avalon (Catalina Isl.), California

Bakersfield, California

Baltimore, Maryland

Bangor, Maine

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Beaumont, Texas

Birmingham

Bossier City

Boston

Brownsville, Texas

Buffalo, New York

Charleston, South Carolina

Chattanooga

Chicago

Cincinnati

Cleveland

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Commerce City, Colorado

Danville

Dallas

Decatur, Illinois

  • "Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!" by Sufjan Stevens

Denver

Des Moines, Iowa

Detroit

Doraville

El Paso

Eugene

Flagstaff

Flint

Folsom, California

Fort Lauderdale

Fort Worth

Galveston

Garden Grove

Gary

Greensboro, North Carolina

Hackensack, New Jersey

Holland, Michigan

Honolulu

Highland, Illinois

  • "Concerning the UFO Sighting near Highland, Illinois" by Sufjan Stevens

Houston

Indianapolis

Jackson, Mississippi

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville, North Carolina

Juneau

Kalamazoo, Michigan

Kansas City

Kent, Ohio

Knoxville, Tennessee

La Grange, Texas

Laredo

Las Vegas

Laurel, Mississippi

Lincoln, Nebraska

Little Rock

Llano, Texas

  • "Midnight Run to Llano" by Already Gone

Los Angeles

Louisville

  • "Home Away from Home" by Pokey LaFarge
  • "Flora" by Peter, Paul and Mary
  • "Louisville K-Y" by Ella Fitzgerald

Lubbock, Texas

Luckenbach, Texas

Malibu, California

Manti, Utah

Mayberry, North Carolina

Marina del Rey

Marshalltown, Iowa

Memphis

Memphis holds the distinction of being the most mentioned city in the world when it comes to commercially recorded songs. As of July 2013, this list has made it up to 1074 songs and counting. The list is maintained at the Memphis Rock and Soul Museum website. The ones listed below are some of the better known songs:

Miami

Milwaukee

Minneapolis

Mobile

Montgomery

Muncie, Indiana

Muskegon

Muskogee, Oklahoma

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Nashville

New Orleans

New York City

Olema, California

Olympia

Omaha

Palestine, Texas

Panama City, Florida

Pasadena

Peoria, Illinois

Philadelphia

Phoenix

Pittsburgh

Pittsfield

Portland, Maine

Portland, Oregon

Reno

Richmond, Virginia

Sacramento, California

Saginaw, Michigan

Saint Louis, Missouri

Salt Lake City, Utah

San Angelo, Texas

San Antonio

San Diego

San Jose

Santa Fe

San Francisco

Sausalito, California

  • "Sausalito Summer Night" by Diesel

Savannah

Seattle

Simi Valley

Sioux City, Iowa

Springfield, Illinois

  • "Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in his Hair" by Sufjan Stevens

St. Paul, Minnesota

Tacoma, WA

Tallahassee

Telluride, Colorado

Thibodaux, Louisiana

Topeka, Kansas

Tucson

Tucumcari

Tulare, California

Tulsa

Washington, D.C.

Wichita

Wildwood, New Jersey

Winslow, Arizona

Ypsilanti

  • "For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti" by Sufjan Stevens

Youngstown, Ohio

Uruguay

Montevideo

Venezuela

Caracas

Cumaná

Vietnam

Hanoi

Saigon

References

  1. 1 2 3 Cohen, Sara (2007). Decline, Renewal and the City in Popular Music Culture. Ashgate Publishing. pp. passim, esp. p1-3. ISBN 0754632431.
  2. 1 2 Cornell, John (2002). Sound Tracks : Popular Music, Identity and Place. Routledge. pp. 71–117. ISBN 0415170281.
  3. Davis, Sheila (2001). The Songwriter's Idea Book. F&W. p. 39. ISBN 0898795192.
  4. http://www.musica.com/letras.asp?letra=2172933
  5. Niemann, Ruby (17 November 2012). "Live Review: Ben Folds Five + Phebe Starr – Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide". The AU Review. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  6. Wallen, Doug (15 May 2014). "Dick Diver: "I'm conflicted about everything in the band"". The Vine. Missing or empty |url= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  7. Stafford, Andrew (2004). Pig City. St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press. pp. 173–174. ISBN 978-0702233609.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Colasimone, Daniel (29 June 2013). "Songs About Brisbane". thurbanlist.com. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  9. Mengel, Noel (19 February 2009). "Brisbane story for Charles Jenkins, Bad Seeds for Ed Kuepper". news.com.au. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  10. Seymour, Mark (2009). Thirteen Tonne Theory. Penguin. ISBN 9780143010609.
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  12. Dave Wright (15 April 1992). "Kev Carmody launches new single". Green Left Weekly. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  13. Kruger, Debbie (2005). Songwriters Speak. Balmain, New South Wales: Limelight Press. p. 285. ISBN 0-9757080-3-1.
  14. http://www.paroles.net/benabar/paroles-bruxelles
  15. "End of an era: Halifax reacts to the Palace closing". CBC.
  16. "Songs of Melbourne". The Age.
  17. "Joel Plaskett Performs 'Love This Town' While Driving Around Halifax". CBC.
  18. http://demo.tunegenie.com/music/drazen-zanko/_/sinju-grade/_lyric/
  19. http://www.cafe.ba/tekstovi/14559_Oliver-Dragojevic-Cvit-Mediterana.html
  20. http://tekstovi.net/2,186,9199.html
  21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usxFrsX1a6U
  22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UprW6v5ICs
  23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD-ZNY42aaw
  24. hr:Marjane, Marjane
  25. http://www.tekstovipjesamalyrics.com/tekst-pjesme/8069-tereza-kesovija-nima-splita-do-splita
  26. http://cuspajz.com/tekstovi-pjesama/pjesma/dino-dvornik/nista-kontra-splita.html
  27. http://tekstovi.net/2,186,11343.html
  28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdRLqGVobmI
  29. Singh, Navjeevan "These 7 Punjabi Songs Immortalised Chandigarh! I Bet You’ll Love Them"
  30. Naig, Udhav [htp://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/madras-375-madras-by-day-by-night-and-by-song/article6332571.ece "Madras by day, by night and by sonpm
  31. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPp_H-64FWs
  32. http://entretenimiento.terra.com.pe/musica/siete-canciones-que-hablan-bien-y-mal-sobre-nuestra-lima,078d8f7af5e4c310VgnVCM5000009ccceb0aRCRD.html
  33. http://lyricstranslate.com/en/que-fazes-ai-lisboa-what-do-you-do-over-there-lisbon.html
  34. 1 2 3 Park, Jeong-ho (박정호) (2008-05-30). "(BOOK북카페) 가요로 되돌아본 `서울~ 서울~ 서울` 70년" [(Book cafe) Looking back into Seoul~Seoul~Seoul during the past 70 years with popular songs] (in Korean). Ilgan Sports.
  35. Kim, Gyu-won (김규원) (1998-06-25). 늘 우리 곁에 있는 ‘영원한 오빠’ ['Forever Darling' Always with Us] (in Korean) (213). Hankyereh 21.
  36. http://www.coveralia.com/letras/almeria-tierra-noble-david-bisbal.php
  37. http://www.pastoriproducciones.com/canailla.html
  38. es:Principio de incertidumbre (álbum)
  39. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXHcc12kWYY
  40. Edward Sharp-Paul (19 April 2013). "Crime And The City Solution – American Twilight". Faster Louder. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  41. http://300songs.com/2010/09/28/55-james-river-cracker-and-camper-van-beethoven-richmond-virginia/
  42. http://www.songlyrics.com/avail/scuffle-town-lyrics/
  43. http://www.chathamcountyline.com/IV_Lyrics.htm
  44. We Are Marching On To Richmond lyrics for the song on musicanet.org
  45. We Are Marching On To Richmond (on youtube)
  46. Three years in camp and hospital by E.W. Locke Free ebook showing lyrics with sheet music for We Are Marching On To Richmond.
  47. Lyrics with sheet music for We Are Marching On To Richmond hosted on the Library of Congress
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