I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City

"I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City" is a song written and recorded by singer-songwriter Nilsson in 1969. It became his second hit record in the U.S., reaching No. 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart[1] and No. 7 on the Easy Listening chart.

"I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City'"
Single by Nilsson
from the album Harry
B-side
  • "Maybe" (U.S.)
  • "Rainmaker" (Intl.)
ReleasedOctober 1969
Format7-inch 45 rpm
GenreSoft rock
LabelRCA Victor
Songwriter(s)Harry Nilsson
Producer(s)Rick Jarrard
Nilsson singles chronology
"Everybody's Talkin'"
(1969)		 "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City'"
(1969)		 "Waiting"
(1970)

The song was a bigger hit in Canada, where it reached No. 25 on the Pop chart[2] and No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart.[3]

Background

The song was written for, but not included in, the movie Midnight Cowboy. The same recording was reissued in 1972 as by Buck Earl. (Jon Voight's character in the movie was Joe Buck.) The track was used in a film – 1971's La Mortadella (US title: Lady Liberty), starring Sophia Loren. It was also featured in the 1998 movie You've Got Mail starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

Chart performance
Chart (1969–70) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart 66
Canada RPM Top Singles[4] 25
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary[5] 3
New Zealand (Listener)[6] 23
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[7] 34
U.S. Billboard Easy Listening[8] 7
U.S. Cash Box Top 100[9] 35

Cover versions

"I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City" was covered by Sagittarius in 1969. Their version reached #135 on the U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart.[10]

Roslyn Kind released a version on her second album This is Roslyn Kind on RCA Victor in 1969.

The song has also been covered by The New Yorkers and Wayne Newton. In 1969 a popular cover version of the song was released in UK by Eternal Triangle on the Decca Label.[11][12][13][14]

Richard Barone covered the song with Gary Lucas on guitar and Don Dixon on bass for the tribute album For The Love of Harry: Everybody Sings Nilsson in 1995.

In 1998, the song was covered by Sinead O'Connor. Although the original was chosen for the movie, her rendition was included on the soundtrack of (OST) You've Got Mail.

References
  1. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  2. RPM Top Singles, December 6, 1969
  3. RPM Adult Contemporary, December 6, 1969
  4. RPM Top Singles, December 6, 1969
  5. RPM Adult Contemporary, December 6, 1969
  6. "flavour of new zealand - search listener". Flavourofnz.co.nz. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  7. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  8. Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 177.
  9. Cash Box Top 100 Singles, December 6, 1969
  10. [Joel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100 1959-2004]
  11. "Eternal Triangle". 45 Cat Music Source.
  12. "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City - Eternal Triangle". Leftandtotheback.
  13. "Eternal Triangle". Eternal Triangle. Early Morning Henry.
  14. "I Guess the Lord Must be in New York City Nilsson Cover". Nilssonschmilsson.
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