Misplaced Pages

New York, New York (So Good They Named It Twice)

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "New York, New York" So Good They Named It Twice – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

"New York, New York (So Good They Named It Twice)" is a song performed and composed by singer-songwriter Gerard Kenny in 1978. The song is an ode to his hometown and state New York, New York.

Kenny wrote the song about myth versus fact and explains that the city is overall a great place ("It was a really nice night for a good street fight or a robbery / But I always knew in my home town that would never happen to me"). The line "So Good They Named It Twice" is a play on the fact the name of the city and state are both "New York".

"New York, New York" (as it is sometimes simply called) was the first hit for Kenny after a number of non-charting singles in the United States. In 1978, after moving to England, the song was released. Although it only reached number 43 on the UK Singles Chart, it remained on the chart for two months. Shirley Bassey later covered the song, as part of her "New York Medley", along with "Theme from New York, New York".

The song was included on the following albums released by Kenny:

  • Made It Through the Rain (1979)
  • The Music of Gerard Kenny (1984)
  • In Concert (2007)

The song was also parodied in the Beautiful South song "Liar's Bar" in which there was the line "singing: 'whisky, whiskey...so good they named it twice'".

On the 1959 album by George Russell, New York, NY (Decca Records), on the first track, Rodgers and Hart's "Manhattan", vocalist Jon Hendricks says at 0:44 "... a city so nice, they had to name it twice..."

References

  1. Discogs (1978). "Gerard Kenny - New York, New York (Vinyl)". Discogs. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  2. "Gerard Kenny - New York, New York". YouTube. March 9, 2011. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  3. Discogs (1986). "Shirley Bassey - New York, New York (CD, Album)". Discogs. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  4. Discogs (1979). "Gerard Kenny - Made It Thru The Rain (Vinyl, LP)". Discogs. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  5. Discogs (1984). "Gerard Kenny - The Music Of Gerard Kenny (Vinyl, LP)". Discogs. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  6. "In Concert - Gerard Kenny | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. November 5, 2007. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  7. LyricsFreak (December 8, 2016). "Liar's Bar Lyrics - Beautiful South". Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  8. Russell, George. "Manhattan (lyrics)". songmeanings.com. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  9. Russell, George. "Manhattan Lyrics". lyricsify.com. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
Categories: