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For a city to be considered great, it needs to inspire
two things—fine
architecture and classic songs. The rest is just town planning. Mike Pattenden
takes you on a guided musical tour of Europe's finest cities.
ABERDEEN
Perhaps Scotland's granite city is too darn cold to inspire the locals,
because there's no recognised home-grown song. Texan singer-songwriter
Nanci Griffith penned the acappella number 'Road To Aberdeen' while
travelling on a bus from Glasgow to the city. Simon and Garfunkel's 'Rose
Of Aberdeen' should be the most famous, but the song—one of several
that owe much to Paul Simon's stay in Britain and exposure to English
folk music—was left off the duo's 1966 breakthrough album.
AMSTERDAM
Musicians love the Dutch Venice and not just for its 'relaxed' approach
to life. Chris Martin wrote the despairing 'Amsterdam' from A Rush
Of Blood To The Head during a stay there. However, the most famous number about
the old city was written by cult Belgian troubadour Jacques Brel, whose 'Amsterdam' is
populated by drunken sailors and whores 'who've given their bodies
to a thousand other men'. It was given a standing ovation when he first
performed it in 1964 and was subsequently covered by David Bowie and Scott Walker.
ATHENS
Most songs about Athens are about the American town that's home to REM
and the B-52s, not the ancient Greek capital. One notable exception is 'White
Rose of Athens', a ballad in which Greece's most famous bespectacled
chanteuse Nana Mouskouri bids goodbye to her lover 'till the white rose
blooms again'. Incidentally, the Athens Olympics official song was written
by a Croatian—presumably because it was feared a Greek might not finish
it on time.
BARCELONA
The Catalonian capital's exotic architecture and hedonistic nightlife
has inspired numerous musicians, including Rufus Wainwright, Eddi Reader and
Jewel.
Matt Sharp of The Rentals celebrated its nightlife in 'Barcelona',
which reels off a list of clubs including the Pipa, the Panam and Bikini. The
city's most famous tribute is the camp pop-opera hit celebrating the city's
hosting of the 1992 Olympics by Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe. The song
was never performed at the ceremony and Caballe refused to sing lines like 'Barcelona!
It was the first time that we met/Barcelona! How can I forget?' with anyone
else.
BELFAST
Van Morrison, Belfast's most celebrated musical son, wrote a string of
songs about his hometown ('Cypress Avenue', 'It Stoned Me', 'On
Hyndford Street' and 'Orangefield'). Don Fardon penned a
tribute to George Best, 'Belfast Boy', while Simple Minds had a
number one-hit with 'Belfast Child'. Special mention should be
made of Boney M's fearless deconstruction of the troubles on 'Belfast' (''Cause
the people are leavin'/It's the world that's deceiv'n');
the post-acid house generation may prefer to recall Orbital's shimmering,
mellifluous techno-hymn 'Belfast'.
BERLIN
The city's bohemian reputation and fractured history has been a magnet
for songwriters going back to Kurt Weill. Nick Cave, David Bowie, U2 and Depeche
Mode have all written and recorded there. Lou Reed named his oppressive 1973
album after it (it was actually recorded in Willesden). Queen of the city is
Marlene Dietrich, whose rasping vibrato wraps itself round smoky numbers such
as 'In The Ruins of Berlin'.
BUDAPEST
Jethro Tull was famous for looking like a homeless pixie and standing on one
leg while playing the flute. He also wrote one of the few English language songs
about Budapest in existence, inspired by a chance encounter at a gig in the city
with 'a woman who wore a perfect smile in Budapest'. Turns out
she was 'a middle-distance runner' whose 'legs went on for
infinity'. Bet she ran a mile when she saw the state of him.
EDINBURGH
Edinburgh gave popular music the post-punk indie labels Postcard Records (Orange
Juice/Josef K) and Fast Product (Gang Of Four, Fire Engines). It's also
the hometown of Garbage's Shirley Manson but, for an unlikely but affectionate
tribute to its streets, there's 'Edinburgh Man' by The Fall's
cantankerous lexicographer Mark E Smith. It is, for him, a remarkably straight
tribute to the city's cosy appeal: 'I wish I was in Edinburgh/
Keep me from the Festival/And just give me a warm quarter gill.'
GENEVA
Clean, Swiss and decidedly un-rock'n'roll, Geneva has still inspired
a few musical tributes. Austrian doom-metal act Jack Frost penned a portrait
of its airport in the middle of the night, 'Geneva 4am'. Van Morrison's 'Goin' Down
Geneva' is partially about British rocker Vince Taylor (Brand New Cadillac),
who ended up in a little town on the lakeside. But the most famous song about
the area is Deep Purple's legendary 1972 riff-monster 'Smoke on
the Water', which was written about a fire at the lakeside casino during
a Frank Zappa gig that the band were attending while recording their album Machine
Head.
IBIZA
Not a city but certainly a state of mind. It comes as no surprise to find that
the little isle of Ibiza has inspired more tunes than the rest of the Mediterranean.
Ibiza was responsible for the genre that became known as Balearic house—so
why, then, is the first song to come to mind about it the Vengaboys' dire
cash-in 'We're Going To Ibiza'? (Sample lyric: 'Whoah!
We're going to Ibiza/Whoah! we're gonna have a party/Whoah! In
the Mediterranean sea') A more tasteful choice might be Energy 52's
tribute to the legendary chillout club, CaféDel Mar.
GLASGOW
Birthplace of Alex Harvey and Bobby Gillespie and home to the likes of the Jesus
and Mary Chain, the Proclaimers, Snow Patrol and the Delgados (who named an album,
The Great Eastern, after a local flop house). Jim Kerr wrote 'Waterfront' after
a stroll along the quayside, but Glasgow's folk scene has inspired many
songs, notably 'I Wish I Was in Glasgow' and 'Glasgow Lullaby'.
Perhaps the definitive city song is 'I Belong to Glasgow', written
by Will Fyffe and performed by any local who has ever had a dram too many ('and
Glasgae belongs to me!').
LONDON
There's no shortage of tributes to the big smoke, but Ray Davies's
lyrics for The Kinks read like a musical streetfinder to London in the Swinging '60s; 'Waterloo
Sunset' was written after a childhood spell in St Thomas's hospital
on the banks of the Thames; 'Willesden Green' describes his search
for a home in the city: 'Well I tried to settle down Fulham Broadway /And
I tried to make my home in Golders Green /But I gotta get that train/And go back
home again /Oh how I miss the folks back home in Willesden Green.' And 'Victoria'?
That was about the queen.
LIVERPOOL
No point in not starting with The Beatles' two classics about the city
they helped put on the map: 'Penny Lane' (a quiet residential area)
and 'Strawberry Fields' (a Salvation Army hostel). Other local
bands to pay tribute to their city include Echo and the Bunnymen ('Villiers
Terrace') and Pete Wylie ('Heart Big As Liverpool'). Jimmy
Osmond's 'Long-Haired Lover From Liverpool' is the worst
song about the city ever and The Bangles' 'Going Down to Liverpool' the
least likely. But there is, and will only ever be, one definitive Liverpool anthem—'You'll
Never Walk Alone' aside—by a Liverpudlian: Gerry and The Pacemakers' 'Ferry 'Cross
The Mersey' (''Cause this land's the place I love/And
here I'll stay').
NAPLES
Elvis Presley had a 1966 hit with a cover of Dean Martin's 1957 single 'Write
to Me From Naples'. Coincidentally, German easy-listening guru Bert Kaempfert—who
co-wrote 'Wooden Heart' on Elvis's GI Blues—had a
hit with the instrumental 'Moon Over Naples'. The focus moved from
Italy to the Iberian peninsula when it was later rerecorded with lyrics; it became 'Spanish
Eyes' in 1966, sung by Al Martino.
PARIS
Paris has intoxicated musicians for centuries. Haydn and Mozart dedicated entire
symphonies to the city, and several other composers (Wagner, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy,
Ravel...) chose to settle there. In the 20th century, as jazz poured onto the
boulevards, Cole Porter wrote 'I Love Paris', while the gentle 'Under
Paris Skies' became a staple. However, Edith Piaf—surely the city's
most famous singer—sang its praises loudest with 'Amants de Paris', 'Sous
le Ciel de Paris', 'Notre Dame de Paris' and 'Chevalier
de Paris'. No wonder Paris loves her back.
ROME
Discounting trip-hoppers Morcheeba, whose 'Rome Wasn't Built in
a Day' is more proverb than tribute, Rome has produced a very mixed musical
bag. Robbie Williams penned 'Rome Munich Rome' for his Escapology
album and Pixies frontman Frank Black wrote the excellent 'Back to Rome' for
the Frank Black and the Catholics album. Perhaps the city's most famous
song should be one that originated there. 'Arrivederci Roma' was
originally written for the Mario Lanza movie Seven Hills of Rome and became a
1966 hit for Perry Como with English lyrics ('City of a million moonlit
places/City of a million warm embraces').
WARSAW
David Bowie's moody 'Warszawa' co-written by Brian Eno,
is the finest song about the Polish capital by a British rock star. That it's
the only Western pop song ever written about it is neither here nor there. Strangely,
its plangent lyrics were sung not in Polish but an invented language.
VENICE
The classical city provided inspiration for Rossini operas and Mendelssohn's 'Venetian
Gondola Song'. Folk singer Ralph McTell and axe-god Robin Trower both
wrote songs titled the 'Bridge of Sighs'. Duran Duran observed 'Venice
Drowning' in 1990 ('fills your hands with breasts of marble,' if
you please). As for Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Venice Queen',
it's about a girl on the LA beach.
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