About a year and a half ago, after much thought (and much arm twisting of my wife), I left New York City after 10 years and landed back in my hometown of Houston, Texas. Quite a lifestyle shift. From the city that never sleeps to the city that goes to bed early and wakes up with the roosters. From a concrete jungle teeming with more jazz clubs than you can imagine to a sprawling tangle of freeways and strip malls with nary a decent jazz joint any closer than the Crescent City.

Don’t get me wrong, Houston has its charms. It’s affordable, has lots of trees and some great Mexican food, not to mention a world-class visual arts scene and stellar high culture (symphony, ballet, opera). But really, why would a rabid music nut like myself leave the mecca of live music (sorry, Austin) for a city that’s notoriously lame when it comes to music? I’m not going to answer that now because I still don’t really know why. I will say that there are times when I don’t miss New York a wit. But there are also times when I pine intensely for the energy and excitement of the Big Apple. Sometimes I yearn for New York the way I ached for the one that got away. Farewell my sweet. Can we still be friends?

In honor of the Blue Note and the Bowery Ballroom, Broadway and Brooklyn, the Met and the Mets, here are my top ten songs about New York, plus one to grow on (non jazz version):

1. I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City —- Harry Nilsson

2. Fairytale of New York —- The Pogues

3. The Only Living Boy in New York —- Simon and Garfunkel

4. New York City Serenade —- Bruce Springsteen

5. New York City —- T-Rex

6. New York —- Cat Power

7. Leaving New York —- R.E.M

8. New York Was Great —- The Raveonettes

9. New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down —- LCD Soundsystem

10. What New York Couples Fight About —- Morcheeba w/ Kurt Wagner

11. Piazza, New York Catcher —- Belle and Sebastian