You Didn’t Ask, But We Listened: A Musical Walking Tour of the Upper West Side 

By Lily Seltz

New York, greatest-city-in-the-world such as it is, has been the subject of far too much music to enumerate (although some, of course, have tried). Think, for starters, of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” The Pogues’ “Fairytale in New York,”  Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind,” or, more recently, Taylor Swift’s “Welcome to New York,” and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind.”

It’s a noble canon. But doesn’t the greatest neighborhood in the greatest city in the world deserve some special, individual, musical treatment? This author thinks so — and, apparently, so do a fair number of songwriters and composers.

What follows is a non-comprehensive list of songs that specifically mention the Upper West Side or places on the Upper West Side — or bear some other strong connection to the neighborhood. (But note: this is NOT a list of songs written by people who have lived on the Upper West Side; that would be another innumerable list.) Each song is paired with a UWS locale (intersection, store, monument) to which its lyrics refer (another note: these connections are sometimes partly, if not entirely, speculative). 

This glorious fall weather should be with us for a little while longer. If you’re in a walking mood, put on some headphones, cue up the playlist, and use this guide for a musical tour of the neighborhood. (Alternatively—or additionally—squabble in the comments about this article’s most egregious omissions.) 

Let’s begin….

“Sunflower” by Vampire Weekend featuring Steve Lacy. Zabar’s, 2245 Broadway.

Ezra Koenig, the Upper West Side–born lead singer of the indie-rock group Vampire Weekend (which formed when Koenig and his bandmates were students at Columbia University) had this to say to Variety’s Chris Williams of his choice to set the first minute of the “Sunflower” music video at the iconic Broadway deli: “There is totally a beach-and-palm-trees version of that video we could have done too. But a cold, gray day on the Upper West Side outside of Zabar’s spoke to me more spiritually.” Me too, buddy. 

“Sunflower” (part 2). Barney Greengrass, 541 Amsterdam Avenue.

If you can believe it, Koenig’s music video only gets more Upper West Side as it goes on: a minute in, the setting switches to Barney Greengrass, the only local restaurant I know of featuring an entire menu section for herring. And then Jerry Seinfeld shows up. 

Speaking of Seinfeld… 

“Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega. Tom’s Restaurant, 2880 Broadway at West 112th Street. 

A shoo-in for the list: The cover art for “Tom’s Album” features a mock diner slip for Tom’s Restaurant (precise street address included). Tom’s may be better known as the diner whose exterior frequently served as an establishing shot in “Seinfeld,” but I’d argue that Vega’s song is just as worthy a claim to fame. Even if you don’t know “Tom’s Diner” (though you should), you would probably recognize its wordless, oft-sampled chorus. (A bonus: The lyric “The bells of the cathedral” refers to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, at West 111th Street and Amsterdam.) 

“Zephyr & I” by Suzanne Vega. The Fireman’s Memorial, West 100th Street and Riverside Drive. 

Yvonne Vávra wrote in WSR last month: “The Upper West Side is soaked in leftover feelings… all pressed into a kind of emotional fossil bed.” Suzanne Vega would surely agree. “Zephyr & I” is all about the traces of Upper West Sides past — the things that time and water wash away, but never completely. (“The graffiti’s gone,” Vega sings, but “the walls complain.”)

Anyone who’s lived here awhile knows what it’s like to watch each version of this neighborhood turn from substance to shadow, making way for the solidity of the new. And where better to contemplate the shifting of the ground under one’s feet than on the perpetually splintering cobblestones of Riverside Park’s upper promenade—or just east across the street, as Vega suggests, “out on the corner by the Fireman’s Monument”?

“False Hope” by Laura Marling. From Riverside Drive, walk on West 100th Street to Central Park West.  

English folk artist Laura Marling released “False Hope” in 2015—a song about, among other things, homes with thin walls and ceilings. 

“We stay in the apartment on the Upper West Side / And my worst problem is I don’t sleep at night,” she sings. There’s a “woman downstairs [who] just lost her mind,” and she can hear her roommate’s “baying through the wall.” 

We all know how that song goes…

“Central Park West” by John Coltrane. The Central Park View, 415 Central Park West (between West 101st and 102nd streets.) 

The legendary jazz composer released “Central Park West” in 1964. He plays saxophone on the record; Elvin Jones, a onetime resident of the Central Park View, is on the drums. 

Jones was in good company at the Central Park View—the building boasts a long list of celebrated musicians as former residents, including fellow jazz drummers Max Roach and Art Blakey. Just around the corner is Park West Village, home to another batch of greats (Ray Charles, Tito Puente, and Billie Holiday among them). 

“Columbus & 89th” by Sarah Jarosz. West 89th Street and Columbus Avenue. 

The egregiously underappreciated Americana singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz wrote this song at the end of a seven-year stint on the Upper West Side (she lives in Nashville now). “Once in awhile / the stars will align,” she sings, “on the corner of Columbus and 89th.” ’Nuff said—give it a listen. 

“Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” by Paul Simon. The Dakota, 1 West 72nd Street. 

In my mind, no list like this could be complete without a song by the beloved guitarist and singer Paul Simon (whom Malcolm Gladwell has called the “perfect Upper West Sider”). Simon’s New York City repertoire is broad—from “America” to “The Boxer” to “The 59th St. Bridge Song” to “American Tune.” But I can make the best argument for “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,” with its reference to “the bodegas and the lights on Upper Broadway,” as a bona fide West Side number. Unfortunately, it’s not a watertight case, especially absent input from the songwriter himself. The bodega in question could well be in Washington Heights or even further north. 

Given the dearth of available information here, I’ll direct you to the Dakota instead, where Paul Simon once lived; while you’re there, why not put on a Beatles song of your choosing? (I hardly need to tell you why.) 

“Upper West Side” by King Princess. 72nd Street 1/2/3 subway station. 

Another no-brainer. King Princess (stage name of Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Mikaela Straus), released “Upper West Side,” about a reluctant infatuation with a girl from the other side of town, in 2018. 

“I’m doing fine / Even though you’re still on my mind / Train rides to the Upper West Side,” she sings. 

Straus, whose latest album “Girl Violence” came out on September 12, was unavailable to comment on the specific geography of the song—leaving this author no choice but to speculate that much of the train traffic from Brooklyn to the UWS runs through the 72nd Street 1/2/3 subway station. (One might take the A/B/C/D via 59th Street, too.)

“West Side Story: Act I: Dance at the Gym” by Leonard Bernstein. St. Paul the Apostle Church, 405 West 59th Street. 

The iconic dance scene in “West Side Story” was filmed in this church, but while you have the infectiously catchy soundtrack in your ears, it’s also worth wandering a few blocks uptown, to the stretch between West 63rd and 68th streets. “West Side Story” is set in the San Juan Hill community. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, here’s why: In 1955, the neighborhood, home to many Puerto Rican and Italian residents, was designated for “urban renewal” by Robert Moses’ Slum Clearance Committee, paving the way for the construction of the performing arts complex we now know as Lincoln Center. While the 1961 film doesn’t address gentrification, Steven Spielberg’s 2021 remake of the 1961 film emphasizes the specter of looming displacement.

“Forever” by Noah Kahan. Walk from Columbus Circle to the West 72nd Street Baseball Field in Riverside Park.  

“We can’t make rent / so we window shop in the Upper West Side (sic) / Can you imagine that?” the indie-pop phenom Noah Kahan sings in “Forever.” In a 2024 interview, Kahan clarified that the “window shopping” lyric isn’t about peering into store displays. “People just leave their curtains open,” Kahan said. “You can just look into their lives… It’s not my fault, they’re right next to the street.

“I’m walking my dog, and I’m like, that person has a sweet stove. I want that,” he continued. “I wrote that line about that feeling of, can you imagine living this life in this beautiful apartment in New York?… What a crazy life that would be.” 

For obvious reasons, this author will not encourage readers to peer into their neighbors’ homes, let alone suggest a particular building or intersection to scrutinize. But (if you can get over Kahan’s grating choice of preposition) it’s a great song to accompany you during your walk to this tour’s final destination. 

“Walk Backwards” by Maude Latour. West 72nd Street Baseball Field, Riverside Park. 

In her ode to the gray area between platonic and romantic love, Columbia graduate Maude Latour sings: “Sun slipping down / on the West Side / and it’s only a quarter to nine / You live east, so I walk backwards.” 

In a message to the Rag, Latour confirmed that she had a specific spot in mind when she wrote the song—West 72nd Street and Riverside Drive, where she would often watch the sunset on summer nights. 

The season of 8:45 p.m. sunsets is already a distant memory, but why not drink up the last dregs of summer at 72nd and Riverside? Then (Latour would say) you can walk east, but backwards, if you want to keep your eyes on the sky. 

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