San Francisco (Pick Word #18)

After Visiting in Amsterdam, we can fly away to our next City Tour destination. The flight will take us to the west coast of the US, to San Francisco. San Francisco was founded in 1776 by Jose Joaquin Moraga and Francisco Palou and became the 14th most populated city in USA with over 800,000 citizens . The city is known for its Golden Gate, its important financial district and even the prison island called Alcatraz which is located not far from San Francisco's shoreline. In music, it was the birth place of some great bands like The Greatful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Metallica and Faith No More. Moreover, many songs were written about this beautiful city, five of them by Foxygen, Arctic Monkeys, Chris Isaak, Camera Obscura and Scott Mckenzie, you can hear right here below....

Foxygen - San Francisco (Taken From We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic, 2013)

Chris Isaak - San Francisco Days (Taken From San Francisco Days. 1993)

Camera Obscura - San Francisco Song (Taken From Underachievers Please Try Harder,

Arctic Monkeys - Fake Tales Of San Francisco (Taken From Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, 2006)

Scott McKenzie - San Francisco (Taken From The Voice Of Scott McKenzie, 1967)

Amsterdam (Pick Word #6)

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. Amsterdam's name is derived from Amstelredamme indicative of the city's origin: a dam in the river Amstel. Settles as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch golden age, a result of its innovative developments in trade. During that time, the city was the leading centre for finance and diamonds. As Netherlands' commercial capital and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered as an alpha world city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) study group. The city  is also cultural capital of the Netherlands. Many artists were fascinated by the beauty of this city, its canals and its old port. As a result we can find a lot of songs written about this magnificent city. So without any hesitation, here are five songs which deals with Amsterdam from different perspectives, Enjoy this part of City Tour issue

1) Dave Nachmanoff - Descartes In Amsterdam (Taken from Candy Shower, 1997)

Favourite line: Like an actor in a play who shall I be today, It's good to be a stranger in a strange land

 

2) Jacques Brel - Amsterdam (Never recorded for a studio album, preformed live at Enregistrement Public a L'Olympia, 1964) 

Favourite line: Dans le port d'AmsterdamY a des marins qui dansent

 

3) The Whipsaws - Amsterdam (Taken from 60 Watt Avenue, 2008)

Favourite line: Do you remember? We always said we'd get married in Amsterdam

 

4) John Cale - Amsterdam (Taken from Vintage Violence, 1970)

Favourite line: She's back from Amsterdam and I think journey did her well

 

5) Coldaplay - Amsterdam (Taken from A Rush Of Blood To The Head, 2002)

Favourite line: Come on, Oh my star is fading and I see no chance of release