Up on the Roof, which evokes New York (even though I've never been there). I somehow describes the energy and restlessness of a great city and the isolation of the individual.

I think the Beatles were trying to steal a little of that buzz, when they wrote Theres a Place.

Similarly the Paul Simon song, Late in the Evening, has that New York vibe, '...when its late in the vening.....and all the girls out of the stoops'.

Even though Paul probably never came from an area like that it has all that poetry of the brownstone buildings (in every film about NY since Angels with Dirty Faces), and that hint of sexual longing that hints at the energy of the place.

Both songs so much more subtle than 'I was born in the city of...........,' that starts so many bloody songs.

Okay shoot me down in flames and tell me it was actually about Milwaukee.

Ralph McTEll's exquisite song 'Summer Girls' from his suite of songs about Dylan Thomas is one of the best songs about the British seaside. the best written evocation, since Graham Greene's Brighton Rock. Obviously written about Swansea, but in my mind it's always Exmouth - the young man is walking through.

all the best

al