Not to get all John Cole on you, but I am in a funny mood. I could tell you a lot but it’s not in a gentleman’s code.
So before I head out, I’d like to start a thread on gritty-but-romantic urban songs, so I’ll have a fun list to read and listen to when I get back. Rules for your list: at most one song per artist (though you can count Lou Reed solo and VU separately). My list:
“Coney Island Baby”
“Suzanne”
“Waiting For The Man”
“Across 110th Street”
“Dirty Water”
“Sights and Sounds of Londontown”
“Shattered”
“Boogie Chillun”
“People Who Died”
“Eggs and Sausage”
I feel like there should be a lot of hip-hop songs in this mold too but none are coming into my head.
LanceThruster
X – Los Angeles
Valdivia
Just reading the list and imagining listening to that and I want a drink. I dig that you are such a gentleman DougJ. I am hoping I am not going to have to make use of this list while in Shanghai…
May I suggest you also read some Neruda sonnets? Always works for me (though I usually accompany them with some boleros too).
LanceThruster
Los Lobos – One Time One Night
MikeJ
My World is Empty Without You – Afghan Whigs version
Back of a Car – Big Star
nellcote
“Madame George” -Van Morrison
Valdivia
I’ll add: Six Underground by Sneaker Pimps.
LanceThruster
Steve Earle – Copperhead Road
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Dire Straits: “Romeo and Juliet”
A lovestruck Romeo sings the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a lovesong that he made
Finds a streetlight steps out of the shade
Says something like you and me babe how about it?
LanceThruster
@nellcote:
An all-time favorite.
Gin & Tonic
DougJ’s got a hot date.
Rex Everything
“Renee” by the Lost Boyz! Damn!
encephalopath
Lana Del Rey
“Off to the Races”
Violet
Waterloo Sunset, The Kinks. Maybe not gritty enough, but urban.
cathyx
Doug J-
You must have a woman on your mind today.
FlipYrWhig
How about Joe Jackson, “Steppin’ Out”? The song isn’t gritty at all, but the words sure are.
beltane
@Violet: That is one of my favorite songs of all time.
Is it OK to mention Patti Smith again? If so, I’ll go with “Dancing Barefoot”. Also Bruce Springsteen’s “4th of July Asbury Park”.
nellcote
“Backsteet Girl” -Rolling Stones
MikeJ
Not very gritty, but a fave:
She May Call You Up Tonight – Left Banke
Chuck
Black Steel in the hour of chaos.
eemom
So he takes the ladder, steals the stars from the sky, puts on Sinatra and starts to cry….
dance around in your bones
@LanceThruster:
Oh yeah, baby.
beltane
Beth Orton’s “Central Reservation”.
In situations of severe emotional turmoil Joni Mitchell’s Blue come in handy.
Comrade Mary
Sorry, Doug. That sucks.
Willy DeVille – Spanish Stroll
Garland Jeffreys – Wild in the Streets
Dennis SGMM
“Pepper” – Butthole Surfers
“People Who Died” – The Jim Carroll Band
Citizen_X
Well, it’s not gritty-but-romantic urban, it’s more a gritty-but-romantic road song: Merle Haggard’s I’m a Lonesome Fugitive.
I was just playing guitar, and I thought, “Hey, I should finally learn that song.” Turns out it’s real simple: just G, C, and D chords, though I feel like throwing a D7 in there.
Mnemosyne
Technically I suppose it’s a Christmas song, but “Fairytale of New York” fits here, too, especially since the big fight in the song happens while she’s in the hospital recovering from a heroin overdose.
Seonachan
The Dogmatics – Cry Myself to Sleep
Chuck
St. James Infirmary.
driftglass
Tom Waits, “Hold On”
“Well, go ahead and call the cops /
You don’t meet nice girls in coffee shops”
That’s the stuff.
Joel
“You Got Me” by the Roots qualifies as gritty, romantic, and hip hop. It’s better with Jill Scott, too.
You could also make a case for “You’re All I Need” by Method Man/Mary J. Blige.
Depending on your interpretation, I would say that “Thunder Road” is a bit gritty, romantic, and possibly urban.
Seonachan
Bill Morrissey – Love Song/New York 1982
kilks
She’s the One by Bruce Springsteen
fuddmain
Dirty Old Egg-Suckin’ Dog – Johnny Cash
LanceThruster
Mike Nesmith – Cruisin’
(Lucy and Ramona and Sunset Sam)
Citizen_X
@Mnemosyne: speaking of the Pogues, their version of Dirty Old Town is right up the ol’ alley.
dance around in your bones
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: OMG. I remember hearing that song on the radio when I was pulling into my driveway and just sitting in the car crying.
Ok, I can be sentimental at times.
Felinious Wench
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – 666 Conducer
Felinious Wench
Velvet Acid Christ – Slut.
What? You wanted gritty!
eclecticbrotha
Hmmmm. We must be adding to your list, not creating our own. In that case, I’d add “Go See the Doctor” by Kool Moe Dee to DougJ’s list.
I would’ve picked a different Clash tune from the one already listed upthread, by the way. Guess I can use it for my own list…
nellcote
@driftglass:
Pretty much his whole early catalogue would qualify.
Not that that’s a bad thing.
Comrade Mary
Billy – Levi Stubbs’ Tears
Arcade Fire – Power Out
Mos Def – Leavin’ On A Jet Plane / Travellin’ Man
Dennis SGMM
Oh and “The Gift” – Lou Reed
The mixture of John Cale’s matter of fact recitation on the left side and Velvet Underground’s rock on the right side still nails me to the wall.
Comrade Mary
Sorry, Doug, but something in my previous comment put it into moderation. It did have some hiphop, though.
Sad_Dem
Nas, New York State of Mind
JCT
@LanceThruster: Yes! #1 with a bullet on my spotify list and I *still* have my vinyl copy from when I left Los Angeles for college back in 1980. Must have worn out my cassette copy by the end of my first quarter. Only saw them live twice…
Maude
I heard Only Love Can Break A Heart by Gene Pitney a few weeks ago. I’d forgotten how good it was.
Not gritty, but after a few drinks, you could be bawling like a baby.
piratedan
Summer in the City – Lovin’ Spoonful
Rebel Rebel – David Bowie
What Do You Have To Do – Red Rider
Driver’s Seat – Sniff ‘n the Tears
Tom S
Dead End Street–Kinks
Four in the Morning–Jesse Colin Young
Midnight to Six Man–Pretty Things
piratedan
le sigh…. le moderation…..
Bruce S
Fourth of July – Dave Alvin
realbtl
why d’ya do it- Marianne Faithful
You said gritty.
JWL
No song title, much less the singer’s name; circa 1970-
“You think I’m psycho
Don’t you mama?…
[Final stanza]: “Mama, why don’t you get up off the floor”?
nellcote
“Visions Of Johanna” – Bob Dylan
eclecticbrotha
Guess I can throw in my “little sis” as well, singing a song that should sound eerily familiar to NBC Sunday Night Football fans: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts “I Hate Myself For Lovin’ You.”
Pappy G
Common People – Pulp
Tonight The Streets Are Ours – Richard Hawley
Independence Day – The Comsat Angels
A Sheffield trifecta.
AliceBlue
“96 Tears” – Question Mark and the Mysterians
“Ramona” – The Ramones
dance around in your bones
@realbtl:
why d’ya do it- Marianne Faithful
That whole fucking album was stellar, whiskey/cigarette voice and all.
tmol
other than almost the entire afghan whigs catalogue, their successors, the twilight singers’ annie mae…especially live versions or Decatur st. Yeah, so I broke the rules…why I have lurked since before Cole’s conversion. ha!
A Ghost To Most
“One of these Days” – DBT
burnspbesq
“Oldest Story in the World,” The Plimsouls
“Dark Night,” The Blasters
“Oil Man’s War,” Kathleen Edwards
“Behind the Wall of Sleep,” The Smithereens
“The Golden State,” John Doe (if you prefer the Eddie Vedder/Corin Tucker version, I won’t argue with you)
The saddest, best song Springsteen wrote but never recorded, “Hearts of Stone” by Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes
Dennis SGMM
@dance around in your bones:
“Broken English” – Marianne Faithful (Live version)
C.S.
Pogues — Rainy Night In Soho
Waldo
In the City — The Jam
Sonic Reducer — Dead Boys
Alternative Ulster — Stiff Little Fingers
Stuart Katz
That word “romantic,” I do not think it means what you think it means. In what way is “People Who Died,” Waiting for the Man” and “Sights and Sounds of London Town” romantic?
Here are some suggestions:
“1952 Vincent Black Lightning”
“Tattler” (Ry Cooder)
“Debonair” (Afghan Whigs)
“Waltz #2 (XO)” (Elliott Smith)
“I’ve Been Wrong Before” (Dusty Springfield)
“Green Eyes” (Husker Du)
“Jailbird” (Jim White)
burnspbesq
“You Can Sleep While I Drive,” Melissa Etheridge
MikeJ
Switchboard Susan by Nick Lowe?
Kim the Waitress – Material Issue (or for the truly hip, Green Pajamas)
Dennis SGMM
@Stuart Katz:
Thanks for explaining the rules to us and fuck you.
LanceThruster
David Bowie – Panic in Detroit
Mnemosyne
If you want gritty urban love for the Balloon Juice crowd, I don’t think you can do better than the poem that made me take a second look at Charles Bukowski:
The History of One Tough Motherfucker
Waldo
On Broadway — Drifters version
25th Floor — Patti Smith
burnspbesq
Not exactly gritty or urban, but two of the great sad-romantic songs of the last decade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjLc_b6utWE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ME8UiA_CxM
Comrade Mary
@JWL: Ahh! That’s “Psycho”, written by Leon Payne.
Costello’s version
The original by Eddie Noack
dance around in your bones
As long as we are talking about Marianne Faithfull, how about The Ballad of Lucy Jordan?
Plus the Thelma and Louise version.
MikeJ
Soft Serve by Soul Coughing
Hell, add in Janine and I Miss the Girl and have an excuse to play the first three albums
Phantom kisses buzzin’ like the insects
Beads of sweat drippin’ down on the rent check
My candy land melted down to syrup while I watch the water roll down
dedc79
Wild West End, dire straits
Tunnel of love, Bruce springsteen
Kiss me on the bus. The replacements
Lord I’m discouraged. The hold steady
Comrade Mary
@Comrade Mary: And then there’s the cover by (wait for it!) Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer.
snabby
“Cosmic Slop” – Funkadelic
“Am I Black Enough For You” – Billy Paul
“I’ve Got A Secret (Shake Sugaree)” – Fred Neil
“The Bottle” – Gil Scott Heron
“Love’s In Need of Love Today” – Stevie Wonder (not really urban exactly, but sure is nice)
piratedan
also too….
Nick Lowe – Heart of the City
Elvis Costello – Hand in Hand
Holly and the Italians – You better tell that girl to shut up
snabby
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
Hell yeah.
LanceThruster
@Dennis SGMM:
We don’t need to follow no stinkin’ rules (I don’t care if my songs fit – I just like throwing them out there on the chance they might).
Ramones – 53rd & 3rd
Gritty? Check!
Romantic? Depends on your definition of romance.
xD
melior
Major points for “People Who Died” — that one sure brings me back.
Both Lou and VU are really hard to pick only one…
VU: “Oh Sweet Nuthin’ (Ain’t Got Nuthin’ At All)”
Lou Reed: “(You Need A) Busload of Faith (To Get By, Baby)”
… f*ck it, let’s just go with “all of them, Katie.”
and cause that’s the kind of mood I’m in,
B.B. King: “Nobody Loves Me But My Mother (And She Could Be Jivin’ Too)”
Onkel Fritze
The Passenger – Iggy Pop
Driver’s Seat – Sniff ‘N’ The Tears
Soul Kitchen – The Doors
That’s Entertainment – The Jam
SarahT
“New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” – LCD Soundsystem
Doodah
Jungleland
melior
Oh, and X mentioned upthread is perfect, I suggest their doubletime cover of the Doors’ “Soul Kitchen”
LanceThruster
I can do gritty with urban, or urban without romance, or romance without gritty.
Do gritty small town songs count?
Do gritty romantic (w/o urban) count?
I’m confused.
Tonio K. – H-A-T-R-E-D
LanceThruster
Angel City – Marsailles
freelancer
I just had sex – Lonely Island
SarahT
“Date With The Night” – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Alan
Gritty, romantic hip-hop?
Don’t TELL—H.Y.M.N.
melior
Gear Daddies: “(Sittin’ Downtown Cryin’ ‘Neath the) Statue of Jesus”
Mnemosyne
“Ever Fallen In Love with Someone You Shouldn’t Have Fallen In Love With” — Buzzcocks
dance around in your bones
@piratedan:
Holly and the Italians – You better tell that girl to shut up
I knew the girl this song was based on. Fer reals.
Folks, ya gotta link!
ETA: I was in India once when I saw a corpse being transported down to the Ganges for cremation….I broke into tears…my …ahem…partner at the moment said “Wait! Isn’t he just one of The People Who Died, Died?”
Talk about laughing through my tears.
SarahT
“Wolf Like Me” – TV On The Radio
LanceThruster
Mojo Nixon – Positively Bodies Parking Lot
melior
Violent Femmes: “Kiss Off”
‘I look at your pants and I… need a kiss’
SarahT
“Fountain & Fairfax” – Afghan Whigs
melior
Violent Femmes: “Add It Up”
‘I look at your pants and I… need a kiss’
Sammi
I Need Love by LL Cool J
melior
@Mnemosyne:
Win.
SarahT
“She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit) ” – Spiritualized
LanceThruster
@LanceThruster:
With the wonderful line…
Crazed couples are pumping away behind the Dipsey Dumpster of love
FlipYrWhig
@dedc79: I LOVE “Kiss Me on the Bus.” Ooh, ooh! “Within Your Reach,” also by the ‘Mats.
piratedan
@dance around in your bones: I did before in my first entry and it’s STILL in moderation, so I just called out the references this time, but I had listed in my first pass….
Summer in the City – Lovin’ Spoonful
Rebel Rebel – david Bowie
What do you got to do – Red Rider
Driver’s Seat – Sniff n’ the Tears
Sammi
R. Kelly, (I don’t see nothing wrong with a little) Bump n Grind
ckc (not kc)
It’s Hard to Kiss the Lips at Night That Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long – Notorious Cherry Bombs
Far From Me – John Prine
dance around in your bones
Ok – Mojo – how about “Girlfriend in a Coma” ?
What? too un-PC?
I used to go see him in little clubs in SD and LA. I even kissed him once :)
RSA
I don’t know if these quite fit, but here are a few possibiliites:
Pretenders, Back On the Chain Gang.
Wallflowers, One Headlight.
Tracy Chapman, You Got a Fast Car.
My Lou Reed entry would be Romeo Had Juliet, from New York.
burnspbesq
“Consequences,” The Robert Cray Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilZPZawbw5w
jayackroyd
Romeo had Juliette
Onkel Fritze
Bob Dylan – Mr. Tambourine Man
Best lyrics ever.
dance around in your bones
@RSA:
Oh gawd, one of my favoritist songs.
Tracy Chapman, You Got a Fast Car.
I’m linkin’ for all y’all.
1badbaba3
Pogues – Transmetropolitan
The Smiths – London
gorillagogo
Let’s do one song per decade starting in the 60s
Killing Floor – Howling Wolf
Another Man – Dr Feelgood
Could You Be the One – Husker Du
Summer Babe – Pavement
Fell In Love With a Girl – White Stripes
Calamity Song – Decemberists
skyway
I wanna be your boyfriend — The Ramones
Skyway — The Replacements
Judy and the Dream of Horses — Belle and Sebastian
True Love / King’s Crossing — Elliott Smith
Going to Queens — The Mountain Goats Goats
And, at number one —
This Charming Man– The Smiths
Dennis SGMM
@Onkel Fritze:
Damn, I thought that I was the only one who remembered that song.
In thanks I offer you “Warm Leatherette” – The Normal
Johnny Coelacanth
Concrete Blonde, Happy Birthday
and
Buffalo Tom Velvet Roof
eclecticbrotha
The Romantics – Talking In Your Sleep
Oran “Juice” Jones – (Walking In) The Rain
Erykah Badu – Call Tyrone
The Police – Can’t Stand Losing You
Digital Underground – Freaks of the Industry
LL Cool J – I Need Love
Blondie – One Way Or Another
Donna Summer – Love to Love You, Baby
Steeplejack
Tyrone Davis, “Can I Change My Mind.”
For gritty-romantic-urban, you can’t do better than mine the mother lode of early ’70s soul.
How ’bout the Dramatics tearing it up on Soul Train with “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get”?
Raptor Fence
“Downtown Train” by Tom Waits and
“It’s Probably Me” by Sting/Eric Clapton (tho the Sting solo version has a cool jazz-club vibe to it)
Gustopher
“Wedding Vows In Vegas”, by Was (Not Was)
Onkel Fritze
@Dennis SGMM: Sorry, doesn’t quite do it for me.
Did remind me of Anne Clark’s ‘Sleeper in Metropolis’ though (Music starts at 1:20).
The original is hard to find. Usually you get the club mix, and that’s absolute rubbish.
ZenHousecat
That’s Entertainment–The Jam
Everybody Knows–Leonard Cohen
casswriter
You’ve got to include most, if not all, of the Mink/Willie DeVille catalog!
Steeplejack
DougJ mentioned Bobby Womack’s “Across 110th Street” at the top. Hell, yes!
“Harry Hippie” also is gritty and urban. Romantic, too, although not in a true-romance love-story way.
Marvin Gaye, “Trouble Man.”
The Moar You Know
You’re Crazy – Guns N’ Roses
Heartbreaker – Pat Benetar
Barracuda – Heart
Bitch is Back – Elton John
I used to love sneaking these in at wedding gigs, but that’s just the kind of asshole I am.
angelfoot
“You Said Something” – PJ Harvey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LORGWrKw60
Hawes
Oh, crap, Downtown Train made it in three posts earlier.
I guess I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You by Mssr Waits.
TB Sheets by Them/Van Morrison
It’s kind of countrified, but Nebraska by Springsteen.
SarahT
“Get Ur Freak On” – Missy Elliott
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
1952 Vincent Black Lightning
Steeplejack
Simply Red with Sly and Robbie, “Ghetto Girl.”
(Couldn’t find the Sly and Robbie version that I like better.)
SarahT
“Powder Blue” – Elbow
JerryN
@casswriter: two thumbs up on Mink DeVille. Also, just about anything from the first Black 47 album.
burnspbesq
This is the Richard Thompson song that should be on this list.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dk2G0yCvR8
smintheus
“I’ll Take Manhattan”. My favorite recording is by Dinah Washington.
dollared
“I Hope You Get Fat” by the Violent Femmes
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
“Out In the Streets” – Shangri-Las
dnfree
Relatively early Dylan, http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/love-minus-zero-no-limit
Jackson Browne, Call It a Loan, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mygbFX8_ucA
Forgiving yourself, Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes, Song of Bernadette, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZIFavgLd38
Steeplejack
@Citizen_X:
Can country music be gritty, romantic and urban? Yes, for values of “urban” black.
Bobby Bare, “Detroit City.”
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
And if you want really really gritty:
“Atlantic City” – Bruce Springsteen
SarahT
@Stuart Katz: BINGO !
freelancer
No one mentioned the Black Keys.
Tighten Up.
SarahT
@MikeJ: YES ! We need More Afghan Whigs !
SarahT
@Pappy G: Comsat Angels – YES !
Honus
Incident on 57th Street is kind of the definition of gritty but romantic by the master of the genre.
SarahT
“Hey Boy Hey Girl” – Chemical Brothers
Djur
Gross.
1badbaba3
You’re Gonna Get Yours – Public Enemy
Stakes Is High – De La Soul
Fuck Tha’ Police – NWA
Police Story – Black Flag
Police Truck – Dead Kennedys
Long on grit, to be sure. Romantic in a kinda pathological way. Fun as hell, though.
Ah, youth.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
That should be “values of ‘urban’ != black.”
Dennis SGMM
@Onkel Fritze:
It’s not to everyone’s taste, to be sure. I figured that you would recognize because IIRC it was contemporaneous with “Driver’s Seat.”
chopper
‘your pretty face is going to hell’.
what, it’s romantic.
also, anything by the Dwarves.
peorgietirebiter
@Raptor Fence: Downtown Train was the first song I thought of when I read the question. Brooklyn girls … just thorns without the rose.
Kathleen
Uptown by The Crystals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK7OxBXThkU
Up On the Roof and Under The Boardwalk by The Drifters
Yeah, I’m old. Sigh.
KenM
One of my favorite city songs is Monday Morning in Lagos by Fela Kuti.
NewHavenGuy
All this and More.
Just realized “We Were Soldiers” is a far better film if you blast punk rock every time Mel Gibson starts speechifying. Honest, take that out and it’s a decent film treatment of a very interesting and Tragic battle.
NewHavenGuy
Also, too: One Track Mind. Yes, I get the double entendres and I remember that Johnny Thunders was way in love with heroin. One of the great love songs* though, and with NYC grit to spare.
*Love songs about a girl/guy I mean, as opposed to loving a drug. Reed and Laughner were better at that than Thunders. Dee-Dee, too.
meadrus
Rockaway Beach – Ramones
Guns of Brixton – The Clash
Transmetropolitan – The Pogues
NewHavenGuy
Guns of Brixton is great, but not a love song.
FNWA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XdYnh729IQ
Sonic Youth – Dirty Boots
Roy G.
@jayackroyd: You and Lou for the win:
Manhattan’s sinking like a rock, into the filthy Hudson what a shock
They wrote a book about it, they said it was like ancient Rome
Perfume burned his eyes, holding tightly to her thighs
And something flickered for a minute and then it vanished and was gone…
NewHavenGuy
@Roy G.: That is a great record. Great song, too.
DougJ
@Valdivia:
Ugh. Neruda sonnets already played a part in this.
DougJ
@smintheus:
Win!
Glyph_2112
Yup. No question about this one. 5 stars in my iTunes library. Great call.
Glyph_2112
Romeo and Juliet by the Dire Straits. Yup. No question about this one. 5 stars in my iTunes library. Great call to the first poster.