Music
| Date | Title | Artist/Group | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1818 | "Philadelphia Fireman's Cotillion" | Francis Johnson | |
| 1879 | "O Dem Golden Slippers" | James A. Bland | Theme song from the Philadelphia Mummers New Year's Day Parade. |
| 1963 | "South Street" | The Orlons | |
| 1964 | "Dancing in the Street" | Martha and the Vandellas | |
| 1970 | "Move Closer to Your World" | Al Ham | Theme song from WPVI-TV's "Action News" broadcast since 1972. |
| 1973 | "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" | MFSB | This tune and its subsequent cover versions served as the theme song from the dance and music television series Soul Train for much of the period from 1973 to 2006. |
| 1975 | "Philadelphia Freedom" | Elton John | Inspired by Billie Jean King and the Philadelphia Freedoms tennis team. |
| 1975 | "Lookout Joe" | Neil Young | Contains the line "Remember Millie from down in Philly? She took my brain, and forgot my name." |
| 1976 | "Gonna Fly Now" | Bill Conti | Theme song from the Rocky film series. The song is closely associated with the city of Philadelphia in general, and with the front steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in particular. |
| 1982 | "Atlantic City" | Bruce Springsteen | The first line, "Well they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night now they blew up his house too," refers to the murder of mobster Philip Testa in 1981. |
| 1982 | "Mt. Airy Groove" | Pieces of a Dream | Tribute to the Mount Airy section of Northwest Philadelphia. |
| 1983 | "Fo-Fi-Fo" | Pieces of a Dream | Inspired by the Philadelphia 76ers' NBA championship in the 1982-83 season, with the team winning the three rounds of the playoffs in "four, five, four" games, respectively. |
| 1985 | "Punk Rock Girl" | The Dead Milkmen | The lyrics reference Zipperhead and the Philly Pizza Company, both on South Street (Philadelphia) |
| 1985 | "The Roof Is on Fire" | Rockmaster Scott and the Dynamic Three | Though commonly assumed to have been inspired by the 1985 bombing of the MOVE house by the Philadelphia Police Department, the single predated the MOVE bombing by a year. |
| 1988 | "Parents Just Don't Understand" | DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince | Contains the line "We headed downtown to the Gallery Mall." |
| 1989 | "Beat Up Guitar" | The Hooters | The Lyrics mention several streets in Philadelphia, along with these lines in the chorus, "From the town that rocked the nation; Philadelphia, PA" |
| 1990 | "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" | DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince | Theme song from the television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The title character notes that he is from "West Philadelphia, born and raised." |
| 1991 | "Motownphilly" | Boyz II Men | |
| 1991 | "Summertime" | DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince | Contains the line "Back in Philly we be out in the park, a place called the Plateau is where everybody goes" (reference to Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park). |
| 1993 | "Philadelphia" | Neil Young | Written for the film Philadelphia. |
| 1993 | "Streets of Philadelphia" | Bruce Springsteen | Written for the film Philadelphia. |
| 1994 | "All Around the World" | Boyz II Men | |
| 1996 | "Got My Mind Made Up" | Tupac Shakur | Contains the line "I rock from here to there, to Philly and back." |
| 1996 | "Long Island Degrees" | De La Soul | Contains the line "characters have the tendency to con themselves to think the East Coast is only New York and Philadelph." |
| 1996 | "Can't Knock the Hustle" | Jay-Z | Contains the line "High stakes, I got more at stake than Philly." |
| 2001 | "Beanie (Mack Bitch)" | Beanie Sigel | Contains the line "'Bout to take over the city of Philly like John Street." |
| 2002 | "Block Party" | Will Smith | Mentions a plan to buy hundreds of cheesesteaks from Ishkabibble's Eatery, Jim's Steaks, and Pat's King of Steaks for a block party. |
| 2003 | "All My Life" | Freeway | Contains the line "From Cali to Philly, Philly to Cali, I deliver the goods, haulin' a milli. |
| 2007 | "Ms. Philadelphia" | Musiq Soulchild | |
| 2007 | "Goodbye Philadelphia" | Peter Cincotti |
Read more about this topic: Cultural Depictions Of Philadelphia
Famous quotes containing the word music:
“The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“How little it takes to make us happy! The sound of a bagpipe.—Without music life would be a mistake. The German even imagines God as singing songs.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Nearly all the bands are mustered out of service; ours therefore is a novelty. We marched a few miles yesterday on a road where troops have not before marched. It was funny to see the children. I saw our boys running after the music in many a group of clean, bright-looking, excited little fellows.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)