82 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • MARCH 2019
THE A LIST: PRESS BUZZ
SONGS THAT SALUTE LONG ISLAND
NAME ARTIST ALBUM LYRICS
1 “After School” LL Cool J 10
This song from 2002 wins the award for the only music artist to rhyme anything with Massapequa: “Little
Shaniqua, from Massapequa, went and bought a beeper so I could reach her.”
2 “Before the Kiss, a
Redcap”
Blue Öyster
Cult
Blue Öyster
Cult
“Back home at Conry’s bar” is a refrain in the chorus in this tune from 1972. Conry’s Bar was a venue on
Hempstead Turnpike where the band frequently played when they were starting out.
3 “Brothers from
Brentwood” EPMD Crossover The hardcore rap duo line up bars on this 1992 cut and school listeners on their rough-and-tumble
hometown: “Brentwood’s my town home of beat-downs.”
4 “Cross That
Bridge” Stray Cats
“You Don’t
Believe Me”
single B-Side
Although rockabilly rebels Brian Setzer and The Stray Cats are from Long Island, they more often refer to
Southern states in their songs. But in this 1983 song, they sang: “Well I’m cruisin’ down Grand Central, or
maybe Southern State, don’t worry baby you know I won’t be late.”
5 “Dangerous
Ground” Method Man Tical 2000:
Judgement Day
On this rap track off the Wu Tang Clan member’s second solo album that dropped in ’98, the Staten Island
rapper gives a nod to the time he spent on LI: “One love to Long Island, Hempstead in my heart baby.”
6 “Everything Is
Everything” Lauryn Hill
The Miseducation
of Lauryn
Hill
LI even got a nod on this 1998 critically acclaimed one-album wonder. “Adjacent to the king, fear no human
being, Roll with cherubims to Nassau Coliseum.”
7
“Fire Island” Village People Village People
This 1977 disco ditty from this costumed Manhattan sextet includes references to bars in Fire Island’s
gay resort destinations of Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove. “Fire isla-and (fire, fire island), it’s a funky
weekend (funky) a funky funky weeke-end.”
8 “Going to Port
Washington”
The Mountain
Goats
The Wedding
Record
This indie folk band’s 1999 song was inspired by driving across the Throgs Neck Bridge, which they jokingly
renamed in their lyrics. “The constellations aligned, and as we crossed over the Frogneck’s Bridge, I had
something on my mind.”
9 “Hard Candy” Counting
Crows Hard Candy
The title track off this 2002 album recounts a man’s time with his favorite lady. “And in the evenings on Long
Island, when the colors start to fade, she wears a silly yellow hat, that someone gave her when she stayed.”
Roll to Me” Billy Joel Glass Houses The Piano Man’s songs are littered with local references, but best known is this 1980 chart-topper about a
10 “It’s Still Rock and
fictional band manager trying to convince him to change his style for a newer, “hipper” sound. He mentions
cruisin’ the Miracle Mile, the ritzy shopping district in Manhasset.
11
“Let’s Do It, Let’s
Fall in Love” Cole Porter From the
musical Paris
This oft-covered 1928 piano song was also the theme song of the ‘33 movie Grand Slam. “Romantic sponges,
they say, do it, oysters down in Oyster Bay do it. Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.
12 “Long Island
Degrees” De La Soul Stakes is High
The rap trio gave an ode to their Long Island hometown this ’96 track that includes references to the Long
Island Sound and LIRR. “It’s strong island for real, where the critters run wild. The prefix is 516, the top of
the dial.”
13 “Memory Motel” The Rolling
Stones Black and Blue
Mick Jagger pined for lost love in this rock ballad named for a real motel in Montauk. Released in 1976,
Carly Simon is the rumored companion on that night. "We spent a lonely night at the Memory Motel. It’s on
the ocean I guess you know it well.”
14 “Montauk” Rufus
Wainwright
Out of the
Game
On this airy track released in 2012, the American-Canadian singer who melds opera and pop repeats the
lyric “one day you will come to Montauk” as the singer describes various scenes the listener should expect
to see there.
15 “My Man Rich” Biz Markie The Biz Never
Sleeps
Released in ’89 The Biz, from Central Islip, isn’t shy about his roots. “Around Suffolk he wasn’t known But in
Eastern Long Island, he did have a home.”
16
“National
Anthem” Lana Del Rey Born to Die Released in ’12, this pop song features Lana’s signature lush voice on a song that does not mention the
American flag at all. Instead, she sings, “take me to the Hamptons, Bugatti Veyron.”
17
“Play Crack the
Sky” Brand New Deja Entednu This emo band likens breaking up with a girlfriend to a shipwreck off Montauk Point in this ’03 song. “In
the shallows off the tip of Montauk Point, they call them rogues they travel fast and alone.”
18
“Sinking and
Swimming on
Long Island”
Bayside Killing Time Even though this emo band hails from Queens, they have a few Long Island-inspired songs off their ’11
album. “I was flying along the Long Island Sound, but fine’s polite and I’d rather things more profound.”
19 “Vibes and Stuff” A Tribe Called
Quest
The Low End
Theory
Tribe, from Queens, delivered a mellow boom-bap track and, the late “5-foot assassin” Phife Dawg let
everyone know in ’91 where his favorite spot to hang was. “Found my thrill in Amityville, I’m always in the
Island.”
20 “Walk on the
Wild Side” Lou Reed Transformer
The Velvet Underground frontman was a Freeport native who relocated to New York City when his career
took off, so it’s a safe bet that when he sang in ’72 on one of his biggest solo hits about how “Candy came out
from the island,” he was referring to Long Island.
For more songs that mention Long Island,
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