Soundtrack of a City
Steve Erickson chooses the top 100 songs recorded in L.A.

Listen to the report on the top 100 songs recorded in L.A.

Nov. 23, 2001 -- For the November issue of Los Angeles Magazine, writer Steve Erickson assembled a list of 100 songs that he decided would have been far different had they been recorded anywhere other than Los Angeles. These songs are not

Peggy Lee's 1958 hit fever came in at No. 92.

necessarily about the city; indeed, most of them are not. But, as Erickson writes, they are "not just from L.A., they're of L.A." They have "the current of the city running through them."

As Erickson tells host Scott Simon, it's not always easy to explain just what it is about each song that makes it identifiably "L.A." And it's different for each person. For instance, Scott pointed out that giving a fresh listen to White Christmas (No. 99) with the knowledge that it was recorded in L.A. gave him a "new sense of longing." For Erickson, it had more to do, as he tells Simon, with the showbiz back story of the record.

Here's Erickson's take on several of the other songs on the list:

Over the Rainbow by Judy Garland 1936 (No. 23)
Lyricist Yip Harburg was "speaking not only to the subject of the film, but to the subject of the time, which was the Depression," says Erickson. "What I hear, frankly, is Judy Garland…all the insecurity and all the heartache and all the forlorn years that stretched out before her."

Family Affair by Sly and the Family Stone 1971 (No. 15)
This was recorded in an old Hollywood Hills mansion. Sly Stone's life "was in disarray and the city was as well," says Erickson. It was just a few months after the Manson Family murders and a "sense of dread" permeated Los Angeles. "You hear a lot of the L.A. dream starting to go bad."

F*ck Tha Police by NWA 1988 (No. 74)
This was recorded three years before the Rodney King incident, and represents "a remarkable act of prescience," as Simon observes. Erickson agrees, and adds that NWA, along with their East Coast counterparts Public Enemy, represented an epochal shift in hip-hop music. Rock and hip-hop, Erikson says, have always represented "the dual impulses of utopianism and anarchy." In the late '80s, anarchy began to win out, especially in L.A.

MacArthur Park by Richard Harris 1968 (No. 86)
Sure to draw snorts of derision, Erickson says he's serious about this choice, rain-soaked cake notwithstanding. "A great record," he says. "Brilliantly arranged," albeit "obviously over the top." And he notes that it was written by Jimmy Webb, an L.A. mainstay who also wrote "Wichita Lineman." But most important, it was produced with "complete conviction" during a time when being uncool was just about the worst thing you could be.

Fever by Peggy Lee 1958 (No. 92)
If, outside of the movies, L.A. really ever was all smoky and noir, it was during the '50s. And this song, with its minimalist bass-and-drums arrangement, finger snapping, and cool delivery, was pure '50s Hollywood. "I don't think it could have been easily reproduced somewhere else," says Erickson.

My Funny Valentine by Chet Baker 1954 (No. 70)
"Your looks are laughable," goes this classic. "Un-photographable." And yet, "you're my favorite work of art." How many people who love L.A. have similar conflicted feelings about the City of Angels?