Garland Jeffreys – New York Skyline

This is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard. I’ve never lived in New York but you get a sense of what it’s like in this song. I don’t post ballads much but this one I just had to.

Jeffreys is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-born singer/songwriter who has released 15 studio albums in his 53-year career. His mixed heritage Puerto Rican and African-American is mirrored in his music, which embraces rock, soul, R&B, and reggae.  He began his career performing solo in Manhattan clubs in 1966 after attending college at Syracuse University as an art major, where he became friends with Lou Reed. He then spent some time in Italy studying art before returning to further his education at New York’s Institute of Fine Arts.

He seemed on the cusp of making it so many times but never crossed that bridge. Jeffreys was named the most promising new artist of 1977 by Rolling Stone magazine, and positive pieces about Jeffreys appeared in the Village Voice and the New Yorker. He was friends with peers like Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Bob Marley, John Lennon, and Joe Strummer.

This song was included on the 1977 album Ghost Writer. The album also included my favorite song by him so far…Wild In The Streets. I have posted a couple of posts on him before and he hits me the same way that Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, and Graham Parker do.

Fellow blogger MusicCityMike made a video/post about Ghost Writer back in 2020. Take a look at it if you can.

Wild In The Streets was released as a single in 1973 but it was included on Ghost Writer.

New York Skyline

Baby JeanVaudeville queenShe love to ragtime in the nightI know I?m gonna miss my baby JeanCause she treats me oh so right

But the New York SkylineIt?s calling me home tonightFemale, feline, feminine,She?s been making my world so bright

Hindsight, foresightSometimes we?ve got no sight at allNew love, true loveSometimes we?ve got no love at all

But the New York Skyline it?sCalling me home tonightFemale, feline, feminine,She?s been making my world so bright

New York Skyline, New York SkylineI can see those city lightsAnd I can feel those neon signsBright lights, big cityWell it must be modern timesYes it must be modern timesWell it must be modern times

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

28 thoughts on “Garland Jeffreys – New York Skyline”

    1. I don’t know how he didn’t get more recognition. He did have somewhat of a hit with 96 Tears in the early nineties….but I like his original music a lot. He has really stuck with me…him and Graham Parker are the two that I really started to know last year.

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  5. Hm, I didn’t know about Garland Jeffreys – both are good songs!

    As somebody who lived in New York for 10 years (though not in Manhattan but in Queens), I can tell you visiting the city is much more fun than living there. Everything is very overpriced, and it can also be pretty overcrowded and I’m sorry to say dirty. My wife and I never looked back when we decided to move to Jersey.

    Technically, I still work in the New York City, but since the start of the pandemic, it’s been 100% home-based except for the occasional visit to the office. Given my 3 to 3.5-hour commute (both ways combined), I certainly don’t mind continuing home office. I used to get in 5 days a week, which now seems unreal and definitely not something I would want to go back to!

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    1. He is an artist that was one of my favorites that CB introduced me to. Like I said…I feel the same way about some of his songs as I do Van Morrison and Bruce… take Wild In the Streets…it could have very well have been a Springsteen song.
      I would love to visit there one day…I do like the videos of New York in the 70s… I’m sure it was much different back then.

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      2. I would love that! Oh yea…it was a mixed bag no doubt and dirty…but some say more exciting…I guess it would be with those conditions lol.

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      3. My first time in New York City was in the summer of 1980. I was 14 years old and completely blown away by the skyscrapers. We simply didn’t have that in Germany – and still don’t have to this day, at least not on a comparable scale.

        I do remember the subway was less pleasant/more dirty than it is nowadays. I believe they already had started cleaning up the city from all the ’70s funk.

        Frankly, the dirty subway didn’t even register at the time. It was completely outweighed by the skyscrapers, the incredible views from the Empire State Building and World Trade Center, Broadway at night, taking the Staten Island ferry from the southern tip of Manhattan, etc.

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      4. I’ve heard story about the subways….yea it’s no way I would want to live there…I’m jsut more accustomed to small town life but would love to see it.
        i can’t imagine the skyline….we have a famous one in Nashville lol…because of Dylan but it’s a pimple compared to New York

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  6. I wont wax on Max on how much I dig this guy and his music (you know). I will say that artists like this know how to use the saxophone. You mentioned , Bruce, Van even Lou mixed some devils horn in their music. I have heard this tune to many times to count. Still grabs me.

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    1. I’ve never been to New York…but this is how I would think it is… at least in my mind. I always wanted to get this one in at some point.
      You are right about the sax…those guys knew how and when to use it.

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      2. I’m listening now…cool song man… I never heard of the “supersuckers” who is backing him….love that guitar kicking in.

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      6. It’s a very punk country….a little on the evil side…interesting mix! He face reminds me of a demented Gary Busey. I think it’s just him.

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