“I grew up in New York City in the '80s, and it was the epicenter of hip-hop. There was no Internet. Cable television wasn't as broad. I would listen to the radio, hear cars pass by playing a song, or tape songs off of the radio. At that time, there was such an excitement around hip-hop music.” SongCitiesCarNew YorkTelevisionGrewInternetGrew UpHip HopRadioHipsExcitementHopsBroadsNew York CityTape80sCablesHip Hop Music Author:Michael Rapaport
“This is the city that taught me how to write all of these cool songs. Yeah, you guys definitely need a royalty.” NeedsWritingGuySongCitiesTaughtYeahRoyaltyNashville Author:Katy Perry
“I was doing these performance art pop music pieces in the city. And they were a bit on the eccentric side I suppose. So people started to call me Gaga after the Queen song 'Radio Gaga.'” PeopleArtSongBitsSidesCitiesPiecesPerformancesRadioPopsQueensCall MeEccentricPop MusicGagaPerformance ArtQueen Song Author:Lady Gaga
“In Middle America men are awakening. Like awkward and untrained boys we begin to turn toward maturity and with our awakening we hunger for song. But in our towns and fields there are few memory haunted places. Here we stand in roaring city streets, on steaming coal heaps, in the shadow of factories from which come only the grinding roar of machines. We do not sing but mutter in the darkness. Our lips are cracked with dust and with the heat of furnaces. We but mutter and feel our way toward the promise of song.” MenWayFeelsAmericaSongTurnsMemoriesCitiesBoysDarknessStreetsMiddleFieldsPromiseShadowMachinesTownsLipsHungerAwakeningDustMaturityHeatFactoriesAwkwardCoalCrackedRoaringFurnacesOur TownCity StreetsMiddle America Author:Sherwood Anderson
“I am pregnant with song. My body aches but do not betray me. I will sing songs and hide them away. I will tear them into bits and throw them in the street. The streets of my city are full of dark holes. I will hide my songs in the holes of the streets.” BodySongBitsDarkCitiesStreetsTearsHolesBetrayPregnantAche Book:Mid-American Chants Source: Mid-American Chants
“For us the Dresden Dolls were porcelain dolls that were made in that city at the time, that is what they were to us, and also a reference in Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut, and in a song by The Fall.” MadeSongFallCitiesDollsDresdenSlaughterhousesSlaughterhouse 5Porcelain Author:Brian Viglione
“For all its material advantages, the sedentary life has left us edgy, unfulfilled, even after 400 generations in villages and cities, we haven't forgotten: The open road still softly calls like a nearly forgotten song of childhood.” StillsSongLeftCitiesGenerationsChildhoodHavensMaterialsAdvantageForgottenVillageEdgySedentaryOpen Road Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space Source: Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
“He [Alan Lomax] started right off trying to find people who could introduce folk songs to city people. He found a young actor named Burl Ives and said, "Burl, you know a lot of great country songs learned from your grandmother, don't you know people would love to hear them?" He put on radio programs. He persuaded CBS to dedicate "The School of the Air" for one year to American folk music. He'd get some old sailor to sing an old sea shanty with a cracked voice. Then he'd get me to sing it with my banjo.” PeopleKnowsTryingYearsSaidCountrySchoolYoungSongActorsFoundVoiceCitiesAirSeaProgramFolksRadioGrandmotherIntroducingSailorCrackedFolk MusicGreat CountryYoung ActorsBanjosYour GrandmotherFolk Songs Author:Pete Seeger