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At Least They Didn't Pick 'Ventura Highway,' But Where's 'Hollywood Swinging'?
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The Los Angeles Times,has this list of 50 Songs for a New Los Angeles and their critic's list of the 25 best songs about L.A.. The first list is more recent and includes Lana Del Rey, St. Vincent, Tyler, The Creator, Kanye West, Father John Misty, Frank Ocean, the late Nipsey Hussle, Kendrick Lamar, and a few actual Top 40 hits, like Katy Perry's "California Gurls," Miley Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A.," "This is How We Do It," and "Beverly Hills." And "Teach Me How To Dougie." Um, okay. Oh, and maybe the best of all, "It Was A Good Day." On the critic's list, some of them you'll know and some you won't. No, "Hotel California" isn't on the list, because it's not really about L.A. per se and we can agree with The Dude about the Eagles, can't we? Some are obvious: "Free Fallin'," "I Love L.A.," "Straight Outta Compton," "Gin And Juice," "All I Wanna Do," "I Left My Wallet In El Segundo," "Hollywood Nights," "Tiny Dancer," "California Love." I'd quibble with novelties like "Valley Girl" or "Born In East L.A." I might pick more Los Lobos, too. What amuses me is that some of the songs are really negative about the city, like X's epic "Los Angeles" (my favorite of the bunch) or Death Cab for Cutie's "Why'd You Want To Live Here?," which is all about dissuading someone from coming here. If you had to put together a list of the best songs about YOUR town, what would they be? (Los Angeles Times)
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