“New York State of Mind” by Billy Joel

"New York State of Mind" sits on Billy Joel's fourth album, Turnstiles, from 1976, and it's a city song through and through, all late-night atmosphere and big-hearted melody. Joel produced it himself and plays the piano, with Liberty DeVitto on drums and Doug Stegmeyer on bass, the three of them sharing the arrangement credit, while Richie Cannata's saxophone drifts through like smoke in a jazz club. It's jazzier and bluesier than a rock record has any business being, and it works.

It was never released as a single, yet critics came to prize it and other singers have covered it again and again. Joel has held on to it too: he sang it at the Concert for New York City in October 2001, the benefit for the city's firefighters, police and the families of first responders killed on September 11, and again at 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.