How ‘New York, New York’ Went to the Top of the Heap

The main competition for “New York, New York,” he added, is the Billy Joel song “New York State of Mind,” which the Mets used to play after every home game but stopped in 2008.)

Gee, stooped in 2008, right after the Madoff scandal, guess they couldn't afford the rights fees. Please God, for the sake of all Mets fans, sell the team!

I don't think the Kander/Ebb song was written with the Bronx in mind...

I think that the Yankees' theme song should be "Money" by Pink Floyd.

As a lifelong Baseball fan and longtime Yankee hater, I happened to be in Yankee Stadium the day the Yankees won the Pennant in 1980. I have to admit there were tears in my eyes when they played "New York" and to this day, I still get emotional when I hear it. It also makes me wonder what would have happened if Mr. Steinbrenner had put his money and energy into his hometown INDIANS, instead of the Yankees.

Oooops....I guess I had the wrong team. In 1986 in Phoenix Az, watching the Mets win game 7 in a sports bar full of Red Sox fans, I drunkenly sang the song at the top of my lungs, butchering the words and adding my own. It's a wonder I got out of there that night.

Liza Minelli covered this song better than Sinatra. Why don't they ever use her recording? It was from the film she made with Robert DeNiro before Sinatra covered it.

Great article, even with one or two inaccuracies, but I take issue with the author's negative description of Sinatra's "Trilogy." In addition to the "Theme from New York, New York," it contains several other gems, including Sinatra's best version of "It Had To Be You," which was featured prominently toward the end of "When Harry Met Sally." The first LP (disc) is the three-LP set - "The Past" - is the best and contains many notable Sinatra renditions from the American songbook.

I think I read somewhere that "New York, New York" was recorded in Los Angeles.

Having followed Joe Nocera's work since his days at Texas Monthly I'm pleased to see him take on the sports business beat in the NY Times. Great start!

Why is "New York, New York" the perfect theme song for New York City? Obviously it's a powerful piece, filled with bombast and ego, and tells the tale of a great city. But when it has such New York icons as Sinatra and The Yankees attached to it, symbols that epitomize that bombast and ego, the legend of this crazy, kooky, gaga helluva town is fused forever into what makes NYC the greatest city in the world.

DD
Manhattan

Sitting outdoors at a cafe in Christchurch New Zealand, maybe 15 years ago. The next table to us had 4 or 5 gents of Maori descent. They were enjoying beers and a bit on the loud side. Upon hearing my US/NY accent the one closest to me pats me on the shoulder to ask where I was from. "Originally from New York". " I Iove New York" he says. And with that he breaks into a rather loud and somewhat animated rendition of the song. It made me smile.

I loved this article! My fondest memory of the song was after Game 5 of the 2001 World Series, the second straight game where a 9th inning homer run (this one Scott Brosius) tied the game in the ninth, landing right in front of me and brother. When the Yankees won the game a few innings later, we joined the fans in left field singing "New York, New York" over and over - noone wanted to leave. Never saw a happier crowd and the song's defiant tone was perfect. It was also the last home game of the year and the song put an exclamation point on it!

CENT' ANNI Happy 100th Birthday Frank. We'll be singing your songs today and always! New York, New York stirs up so much feel-good energy. Joy. Pride. Togetherness. On a good day, you can sing forever. Thanks for the Memories, Frank. Oops, that was Bob Hope. Bravo!

It's a thousand times better than Kate Smith's version of God Bless America.

I heard different: It seems it got back to Minelli herself that her version was played after losses, and she herself asked it be removed. (But I could be wrong.)

As I recall, at the time he recorded the song, he would be singing from cue cards. The recording seems to be from his television special where he forgot the ending lines, and repeated "A #1" twice.

So, could it be that the Yankees just keep repeating a mistake?

It's cool to learn that the great New York actor, Robert De Niro, played a role in the creation of "New York, New York" by holding songwriters Kander & Ebb to a high standard.

Wonderful piece, but James Kaplan is wrong about the ferry from Hoboken to New York City. As the Port describes in its history of the PATH system and its precursors http://www.panynj.gov/path/history.html -- "The first trains ran in 1907 and revenue service started between Hoboken and 19th Street at midnight on February 26, 1908." Sinatra may have taken the ferry, but the trains also were running before he was born.

The Belmont Stakes plays Sinatra's "New York, New York" as the horses move onto the track.

In the '50s when I was a kid the Belmont played "East Side, West Side (The Sidewalks of NY)."

Comden and Green's song from "On The Town" plays better when you have the movie visual. I really like the lyrics about the subway and the Battery.

One other song I would use is "Summer in The City" by the Loving Spoonful.

That would play well in July and August up in the Bronx.

I still hate Steinbrenner. Billy Martin was right. He was a liar and a convicted felon.............and a bully.

In his 36 seasons the Yankees won & World Series. In the 36 seasons before they won 14. His teams vastly underachieved considering the resources he had.

Too bad the Yankees don't use a song written about NYC (in real life) by a native NY (Andy Shernoff) and performed by real NYr's (the Bronx and Queens), New York, New York by hometown boys, The Dictators.

I attended the last two World Series games against the San Diego Padres in 1998. The games were in San Diego. After the Yanks swept the Padres for the championship, all the New York fans (And there were lots of us) started to sing "NYNY." The party continued in the parking lot as just about all of us had cued up NYNY on our car cassette players. After about an hour, the Yankee busses pulled up and the Yanks joined us in a chorus. I love the Yankees and I love that song.

It was not just Jonathan Schwartz - a Red Sox fan - who noted the Frank/winner v Liza/loser versions; every fan in the Stadium knew what we were in for if the NYY dropped a game. Something special has been lost in hearing Frank after every game. It's just not the same without Liza. Can we bring her back? And drop "God Bless America" in the 7th inning while we're at it?

Loved this article. And I am a Red Sox fan. I miss George Steinbrenner. Great song for those damn Yankees.

It's clear that the Sinatra version has taken over from Liza's (which is great, in a great film), but actually, rather than the Yankees, I associate the song with the Belmont Stakes, where it has been adopted as the local equivalent of "My Old Kentucky Home" and "Maryland, My Maryland," performed at the two other Triple Crown races.

"New York, New York" was also our graduation song at Columbia.

Emerald City? O these provincial New Yorkers. Anyone who has ever read the Wizard of Oz should know that the Emerald City refers to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It has nothing whatsoever to do with New York....

The Yankees can have "New York, New York", "Meet the Mets" is a better song.

What about "east side west side"? I seem to remember that.

Let's not forget that Sinatra earlier sang another song with the same title, this from the Bernstein/Comden and Green show "On the Town." You can watch Sinatra sing it with Gene Kelly and Jules Munshin in the film version on YouTube (featuring a great tour through the city). The film-makers softened the opening line to please censors (this was 1949, after all), but the original words are a more emphatic statement than "Start spreadin' the news." You can't beat "New York, New York, it's a helluva town." Says it all...

I remember hearing New York, New York at Shea Stadium, after a Jets' loss, in either 1980 or 1981. I haven't been to any NFL games in New York in a couple decades now, but is the song now exclusively for baseball?

Though this is a nice history of this song being used for the Yankees, unfortunately the main premise is completely incorrect, since the Yankees frequently do not play New York, New York at the end of the game.

As another poster commented, a different version is frequently played after losses. Additionally, there were some seasons where other songs were used after Wins, such as the song "We're not Gonna Take It," in the 1994 and 1995 seasons.

Please trust me on this, I'm such a fan of the Yankees that New York, New York was played as the final song at my Wedding!

The Yankees do not pipe "Frank Sinatra’s last great hit" after the final out of every game. In fact, they often play Liza Minelli's version.

At the old Yankeee Stadium, Liza was played after losses, and Frank after wins. This changed when they moved across the street to the new building. I suppose this was viewed (understandably) as a slight to another pretty iconic New Yorker in Liza. But if nothing else, it made for one of those quirky little fun facts that was fun to explain to Stadium newcomers.

Perhaps the change makes sense, given that "quirkiness" is a pretty bad fit for the sterile new stadium.

Wasn't the Daily News headline "Ford to CITY"?

I strongly take issue with the quote of Koch's calling striking transit workers "bums" to describe organized labor demanding a fair wage. My father walked those picket lines in 1980 as a NYC bus driver who drove the M104 up and down Broadway.

Believe me it wasn't organized labor, or those on public assistance, who created the fiscal crisis in NYC during the 1970s.

And who benefits from blackmailing the city into giving it tax breaks, threatening to leave New York City if things don't benefit them financially - it's the NY Yankees.

The Darwinian aspects of the song fit Steinbrenner perfectly and actually clash with the vision of a New York for all not just those, "King of the hill, top of the heap."

Happy Birthday to Frank Sinatra whose politics were more than just liberal but progressive at one point - he campaigned for Henry Wallace - but after the JFK snub, and his dive into Republican politics he seemed to be just cranky and paid his dues by ushering Nancy Reagan every other weekend to some black tie affair. At that point I guess it became an anathema to even hum, "The House I Live In."

I laugh when I read Randy Levine say, "The song is an anthem to the city, and the hard working people who live here." He should graciously add, "and who for the most part can't afford a ticket to see the team they love so much."

Not a baseball fan but I remember walking on Broadway at the edge of 125th street in 2009 and hearing raucous, loud renditions of the song acapella from outside the bars after the Yankees won the final game.

New York..a great city and great people....on 9/11 New Yorkers took it on the chin and just kept comin'...ya gotta respect that ...I tip my hat to New York and its people....

My recollection was that if they lost, the Yankees would play Liza Minnelli's version. At least that's what they used to do...doesn't matter, in Boston, we rock out to "Dirty Water" by the Standells, a group, it is said, that had never been to Boston.