"Theme from New York, New York"Single by Liza Minnelli

from the album New York, New York

Released June 21, 1977

Genre Traditional pop

Length 3:16

Label Capitol

Writer(s) Fred Ebb, John Kander

"New York, New York"

Single by Frank Sinatra

from the album Trilogy: Past Present Future

Released 1980

Format 7" single

Recorded 1979

Genre Jazz

Length 3:26

Label Reprise

Writer(s) Fred Ebb, John Kander

Producer(s) Sonny Burke

Frank Sinatra singles chronology

"Night andDay" (1977)

"New York,New York" (1980)

"You and Me(We Wanted It

All)"(1980)

Theme from New York, New YorkFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Theme from New York, New York" (or "New York,New York") is the theme song from the MartinScorsese film New York, New York (1977), composedby John Kander, with lyrics by Fred Ebb. It waswritten for and performed in the film by LizaMinnelli. It remains one of the best­rememberedsongs about New York City. In 2004 it finished #31on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes inAmerican cinema.

Contents

1 History2 Certifications3 In popular culture4 Parodies5 See also6 References7 External links

History

In 1979, it was recorded by Frank Sinatra, for hisalbum Trilogy: Past Present Future (1980), and hassince become closely associated with him. Heoccasionally performed it live with Minnelli as a duet.Sinatra recorded it a second time for his 1993 albumDuets, with Tony Bennett.

The first line of the song is:

Start spreadin' the news, I'm leavingtoday I want to be a part of it: New York, NewYork.

The song concludes with the line:

If I can make it there, I'm gonna make itanywhere, It's up to you, New York, New York.

Minnelli's original recording of the song (also used in the Tony Bennett version in Duets) uses thefollowing closing line:

If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere, Come on come through, New York, New York.

It should not be confused with the song "New York, New York", from Leonard Bernstein/AdolphGreen/Betty Comden's musical On the Town (1944), which features the lyric "New York, New York, it’sa helluva town / The Bronx is up and the Battery's down..."

Composers Kander and Ebb stated on the A&E Biography episode about Liza Minnelli, that theyattribute the song's success to actor Robert De Niro, who rejected their original theme for the filmbecause he thought it was "too weak".

The song did not become a popular hit until it was picked up in concert by Frank Sinatra during hisperformances at Radio City Music Hall in October 1978. (It was not even nominated for the AcademyAward for 'Best Song'). Subsequently, Sinatra recorded it in 1979 for his 1980 Trilogy set (RepriseRecords), and it became one of his signature songs. The single peaked at #32 in June 1980, becoming hisfinal Top Forty charting hit. Sinatra made two more studio recordings of the song in 1981 (for his NBCTV special The Man and His Music) and 1993 (for Capitol Records). From the latter, an electronic duetwith Tony Bennett was produced for Sinatra's Duets album.

The lyrics of the Sinatra versions differ slightly from Ebb's original lyrics. Notably, the phrase "A­number­one", which does not appear at all in the original lyrics, is sung twice at the song's rallentandoclimax. (Ebb has said he "didn't even like" Sinatra's use of "A­number­one").[1] The phrase is both thefirst and fourth on a list of three superlative titles the singer strives to achieve — "A­number­one, top ofthe list, king of the hill, A­number­one" — where Ebb's original lyrics (performed by Minnelli) were"king of the hill, head of the list, cream of the crop, at the top of the heap."

Despite Sinatra's version becoming more familiar, original singer Minnelli had two of the tune's mostmemorable live performances – during the July 4, 1986 ceremony marking the rededication of the Statueof Liberty after extensive renovations, and in the middle of the seventh inning of a New York Metsgame, that was the first pro sports event in the metro area after the September 11, 2001 attacks. She alsosang it in the Olympic stadium during the 1984 Summer Olympics, accompanied by 24 pianos andstrobe lights.

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments

United Kingdom (BPI)[2] Silver 250,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone

In popular culture

The song has been embraced as a celebration of New York City, and is often heard at New York­areasocial events, such as weddings and bar mitzvahs. Many sports teams in the New York area have playedthis song in their arenas/stadiums, but the New York Yankees are the most prominent example. It hasbeen played over the loudspeakers at both the original and current Yankee Stadiums at the end of everyYankee home game since July 1980. Originally, Sinatra's version was played after a Yankees win, andthe Minnelli version after a loss.[3] However, due to a complaint from Minnelli, the Sinatra version isnow heard regardless of the game's outcome.[4] As of the 2005 season, at the Richmond County BankBallpark following Staten Island Yankees games, the Sinatra version is heard regardless of the game'soutcome, and was formerly done at Shea Stadium at the end of New York Mets games after theSeptember 11, 2001 attack. Previously, Mets fans felt it was a "Yankee song", and began booing it whenit was played. It actually first had snippets of the song played after World Series home runs by RayKnight and Darryl Strawberry during Game 7 of the 1986 World Series. The song is also sometimesplayed at New York Knicks games. The Sinatra version is played at the end of every New York Rangersgame at Madison Square Garden. It was played at the opening faceoff of Game 7 of the 1994 StanleyCup Finals at the Garden.[5] The song has also been the post parade song for the Belmont Stakes from1997 to 2009,[6] and again from 2011 to the present.[7]

The song was the musical basis for Jimmy Picker's 1983 three­minute animated short, Sundae in NewYork, which won the Academy Award for Best Short Film (Animated) that year, with a likeness of then­mayor Ed Koch somewhat stumbling through the song, with clay caricatures of New York­basedcelebrities (including Alfred E. Neuman) and finishing the song with "Basically I think New York isvery therapeutic. Hey, an apple a day is...uh...great for one's constitution!" and burying his face in a bigbanana split with "THE END" written on his bald head. (Koch used the same rallentando climax Sinatraused, albeit with one big difference: "A­number one, top of the list, king of the hill..." followed by hisimpression of Groucho Marx completing, "...and incidentally a heckuva nice guy!")[8]

An instrumental version of the song is used as the main theme music for NBC's broadcasts of the Macy'sThanksgiving Day Parade. The song is also played a few seconds after the ball drop in Times Squareevery New Year's, after "Auld Lang Syne".[9]

In DreamWorks' Madagascar (2005), the song is introduced in Central Park Zoo, and Marty later singsthe song in the midst of Alex the Lion's delirium.[10]

Professional wrestling trio New Day performed their own version of the song during the August 24,2015 episode of WWE Raw from Brooklyn, New York, while they were making their entrance.

In the 2015 James Bond film Spectre, the instrumental introduction of the song was played inside theAston Martin DB10 for a few seconds, when Bond presses one of the control buttons during a car chasescene in Rome.

Parodies

Swedish comedy group Galenskaparna och After Shave made a version of the song in 1985, called"Borås, Borås", about a town that is the mail order center of Sweden.Martin Short sang a parody named "North Pole, North Pole" during the 2006 theatrical featurefilm The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause.Stephen Colbert sang a parody of the song on the 10 June 2014 episode of The Colbert Report.His version talked about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's role in the state's success in a hockeytournament.The New Day sang a parody on an episode of WWE Raw the night after they won the Tag Team

Championships at SummerSlam.

See also

"I Love L.A." by Randy Newman"My Kind of Town", composed by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn

References1. NPR: 'New York, New York', Present at the Creation (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1137093)

2. "British single certifications – Frank Sinatra – New York New York". British Phonographic Industry.Retrieved June 25, 2013. Enter New York New York in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by.Select single in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search

3. Knight, Graham (2005­09­24). "Yankee Stadium". Baseballpilgrimages.com. Retrieved 2014­04­17.4. "10 Facts About Yankee Stadium". Mentalfloss.com. 2008­09­23. Retrieved 2014­04­17.5. Hockey Night in Canada: Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals (television). CBC. 1994­06­14. "And Bob(Cole), they're hollering out all the artillery just for you, Sinatra, before the opening faceoff. It can't get anybetter than that for an excitement standpoint." Dick Irvin, Jr. told Bob Cole just before the opening faceoff,when Sinatra's song was played over the PA system.

6. "Belmont Stakes Traditions". Horseracing.about.com. 2010­06­15. Retrieved 2010­10­07.7. The Associated Press (June 4, 2011). "Sinatra's voice returns to Belmont Stakes". boston.com. RetrievedJune 19, 2012.

8. "Sundae in New York video". Zappinternet.com. Retrieved 2014­04­17.9. Ball Drop 2011 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAsCa­X­7kI) on YouTube10. Laurie, Timothy (2015), "Becoming­Animal Is A Trap For Humans", Deleuze and the Non­Human eds.

Hannah Stark and Jon Roffe.

External linksPresent at the Creation (https://web.archive.org/20050211211152/http://www.npr.org:80/programs/morning/features/patc/newyorknewyork/) (segment of NPR radio show Morning Edition about thesong)

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Categories: 1977 songs 1980 singles Liza Minnelli songs Frank Sinatra songsMichael Bolton songs Songs about New York Songs with music by John KanderSongs with lyrics by Fred Ebb Traditional pop soundtracks Songs from films New York YankeesNew York Mets New York Rangers New York Knicks Belmont Stakes

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