The Soundtrack to My Life

On the Road to New York: Part One

This past week, I took a road trip to New York City with some friends. I always look forward to road trips because I get to listen to music for hours without having a reason to turn it off. There are many songs that remind me of New York City, and I thought I would share a few of them with you.

 

Joni Mitchell uses beautiful imagery to describe waking up in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood in her song “Chelsea Morning.” She creates a vivid picture of the sights and sounds of the city from her apartment window that has “yellow curtains” where “the sun pours in like butterscotch and [sticks] to all [her] senses.” She awakens to “a song outside [her] window” of the traffic below her that “came ringing up like Christmas bells and rapping up like pipes and drums.” The sun shone through the window and made a rainbow on the wall that glittered “Blue, red, green and gold to welcome you.” She then looked out the window to see “a portrait of today” and observes that “the streets are paved with passersby / and pigeons fly / and papers lie waiting to blow away.” Even though forty years have passed since Mitchell wrote this song, she managed to capture New York City’s essence in a song time capsule that we can still relate to and enjoy today.

 

Elton John’s “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” is beautifully composed and written by his longtime collaborator, lyricist, Bernie Taupin. This song is written after the speaker’s initial first visit to New York City, where he is overcome with hope that his dreams will come true in the magical city that never sleeps. He soon realizes that “Spanish-Harlem are not just pretty words to say,” which means that underneath all of the bright lights and big “trash can” dreams, the fast pace of the city will run you over, which brings me to the line, “You stand at the edge while people run you through.” This reminds me of the book, The Catcher in the Rye, which also takes place in New York City; Holden has a dream that he is standing at the edge of a cliff, catching children before they go over the edge and lose their innocence. The speaker in this song seems to have lost his innocence of the city, and now only sees Mona Lisas, which are fake, selfish people, and Mad Hatters, who are crazy bums on the street. The Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters “know not if it’s dark outside or light,” which means they are living life fast and ignoring their surroundings, and are not seeing the real beauty of life and the city. Along with the realization of the harshness of the city, the speaker sees hope and light – “I’ll go my way alone / grow my own / my own seeds shall be sown in New York City.” Even though he has seen the darkness of the city, he also thanks “the Lord for the people I have found.”

 

With every visit to New York City, I can see why it has been written about in so many songs, novels, and books of poetry. The city can inspire and extinguish the dreams of many people. These are just a few of the songs that have influenced me in my journeys through the city of New York. Stay tuned next week for Part Two!