Top City Planning Songs
City planning is a great story line for songs. There is endless material to craft lyrics about a City’s, neighborhoods, suburbs, sprawl, traffic, police and enjoying the essence of what the urban environment brings to you. This recipe creates songs that are memorable, driving into emotions about once place and how they interact with it. So with that what are these songs? Below is my list of top city planning theme songs. I’m sure there are plenty of other songs out there, and would love to hear from you to build on this list. So enjoy, read some lyrics and of course listen to some music.
Arcade Fire sprawl
The first song is from the Canadian band Arcade Fire. Their whole 2010 album aptly named “The Suburbs” can make the list. But what song identifies the strongest with City planning is sprawl. The suburban sprawl which continues to build in previously untouched lands creates a sprawl phenomenon where there is no interconnection between communities. Thus you’re living in the sprawl. Here are some of the lyrics.
Living in the sprawl
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights
Rush Subdivisions
To build upon the suburban and Canadian origin theme is the song subdivisions. How does one divide up the land to create these suburbs? Well you create subdivisions to lay out the lots. Are they all in geometric order as the lyrics of the song has? Well that’s for you to decide. Here are some of the lyrics.
Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In-between the bright lights
And the far, unlit unknown
Petula Clark Downtown
Written in 1964, before the introduction of the shopping malls that had a negative impact on Main Streets. The lyrics touch on sound and sight as one listens to the traffic of the city and the pretty neon sidewalks. In my opinion, the neon lights of the 1960’s are classics and would like to see more businesses incorporate this signage in today’s signage. Here are some of the lyrics.
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?
Parquet Courts Downtown Pace
Walking is always essential, especially in a downtown. Where else you interact with people, people watch and take in all the sights, smells that encompass a downtown. Walking brings a downtown to you rather then driving. So what’s the right pace to walk in a downtown? Let the band at Parquet Courts teach you.
Seeing my path there, hearing the song I'll sing
And food that I'll taste and all the drinks that I'll consume
Return the smile of an unmasked friend
As we take streets I don't walk down cause I want to avoid
Fighting temptation, walk at a downtown pace
The Strokes New York City Cops
I’m a born and raised New Yorker. Growing up in upper Manhattan in Washington Heights. The relationship of a police force and the neighborhood that they serve shapes the social atmosphere. We’ve seen it recently with the mistrust of a police force and defunding in several municipalities. There are two sides to every story, but this is an essential City Planning themed tune focused on the interaction of the NYC police force and their wisdom as decided by the NYC band the Strokes.
New York City cops, New York City cops
New York City cops, but they ain't too smart
New York City cops, New York City cops
New York City cops, but they ain't too smart
Joni Mitchel Big Yellow Taxi
An essential tune with a line that reminds that you have to find a balance between the built and natural environment. It’s a balancing act with smart growth, new urbanism development and preservation that preserves paradise but also builds new meaningful places that can become paradises in their own right.
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
Weezer My Name is Jonas
How do you build cities, buildings, the infrastructures to support it? Behind the scenes it’s the blue collar workers that shape the built environment. This classic grunge song lyrics touch on the daily drudge of the work day and the misadventures of a building not going as planned.
The building's not going as he planned
The foreman has injured his hand
The dozer will not clear a path
The driver swears he learned his math
The workers are going home
Jay Z – Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind
An ode to my NYC with essential New Yorkers of Jay Z and Alicia Keys. Jay Z lyrics touch on all aspects of NYC to the hustle, to the sports teams, to the clubs, the music that makes it the one and only concrete jungle with 8 million stories. Here are some highlights of the verses.
In New York (Ay, aha) (Uh, yeah)
Concrete jungle (Yeah) where dreams are made of
There's nothing you can't do (Yeah) (OK)
Now you're in New York (Aha, aha, aha) (Uh, yeah)
These streets will make you feel brand-new (New)
Big lights will inspire you (Come on) (OK)
Let's hear it for New York (You welcome, OG) (Uh)
New York (Yeah), New York (Uh)
Jay Z Alicia Key - Empire State of Mind
Pretenders My City was gone
With the bass lines pounding through the song it’s a story of going back to town and your city was gone. Lead singer Chrissie Hynde goes back to her home town in Akron Ohio and her downtown her favorite restaurants her train station was gone. The spirit and all her favorite places have been pulled down to create urban sprawl where her pretty countryside has been replaced by shopping malls. It’s another song of the story of suburban sprawl and the impacts it has on one’s city. Here are some lyrics.
I went back to Ohio
But my city was gone
There was no train station
There was no downtown
M 83 Midnight City
This song made the list because the city changes at night. The day time population goes home and the night creatures of the city come out. It’s not all bad maybe implied by the word creatures and the city is a different soul at night. The clubs and bars may be jumping, the cabs, ubers may be rampant for people to get around but there is a different feel. The midnight city is one that is different during the day.
Waiting in the car
Waiting for the ride in the dark
At night the city grows
Look at the horizon glow
James Taylor Traffic Jam
Who likes to be a traffic jam? No one does. This song gets right to the point with the first verse. ”Damn this traffic jam”. A traffic jam is a common occurrence in cities and its suburban connector nodes. The roadways can-not handle the traffic flow resulting in the ubiquitous traffic jam. No matter where you are in the US, the world. In rush hour there always is a traffic jam. As we must all say together “Damn this traffic jam”.
Damn, this traffic jam
How I hate to be late
Hurts my motor to go so slow
Damn, this traffic jam
Time I get home my supper will be cold
Damn, this traffic jam
Billy Joel Allentown
Billy Joel is a song writer who observes and writes about history. His songs are unique and the reason why he is an essential song writer. The factories were the middle class job of the iron belts in the mid-west, the north east and throughout the US. However when they were being closed down, what was the middle class person to do? This is the song of these times, when the factories shut down and the middle class was left in the middle.
Well we're living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time
So these are my top urban planning songs. As mentioned, I’m sure there are countless more so please let me know so I can add to this list. In the meantime happy listening to the songs of the cities.