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The Ten Best Songs About San Francisco

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The other day I was on this page which is full of awesome quotes about San Francisco and it got me thinking of all the great songs written about our fair city. So I’ve decided to share ten of my favorites in no particular order. I also made sure to exclude the obvious ones like Journey, Otis Redding, and Tony Bennett, because those were givens. Feel free to post some of what you think the best songs about San Francisco are in the comments section.

San Francisco Bay Blues – Richie Havens: Even though he didn’t write this song, Richie Havens’ version is my favorite. His voice is just so soothing that it makes me wanna snuggle with someone or some shit. It won’t let me embed it unfortunately, but you can listen to the song right here.

The City – Richie Cunning: I know that I’ve totally been on Rich Cunning‘s jock lately, but seriously, have you heard this song?  Dude fucking nails it!

I’m Always Drunk in San Francisco – Nancy Wilson: You and me both Nancy. It won’t let me embed it unfortunately, but you can listen to the song right here.

Fake Tales of San Francisco – Arctic Monkeys: I don’t even know if this song is actually about SF, it’s just good. It won’t let me embed it unfortunately, but you can listen to the song right here.

Bay Area Slang Top 100 (The Grinch Song) – Rafael Casal: A DOPE song explaining how the rest of the world steals Bay Area slang words.  Rafael Casal murders this track!

Frisco Town – Memphis Minnie: This is just awesome! Old guitar blues at it’s best. Gotta give extra props for being a female guitar player back in the day.

Frisco Blues – John Lee Hooker: You can’t find many people cooler or classier than John Lee Hooker was.  You know he owned the Boom Boom Room right?  I knew you did. It won’t let me embed it unfortunately, but you can listen to the song right here.

Hello San Francisco – Buddy Guy: Yeah, I guess by now you can tell I love the blues. Buddy is excellent on this. It won’t let me embed it unfortunately, but you can listen to the song right here.

Don’t Give Me No Bammer Weed – RBL Posse: It’s true, we don’t smoke that shit in the SFC. It won’t let me embed it unfortunately, but you can listen to the song right here.

San Francisco Nights – The Animals: Fucking Classic! But once again It won’t let me embed the song so you can hear it right here.

And the WORST song about San Francisco:

We Built This City – Starship: This song makes me wish I didn’t have ears. No really, fuck this song.  I’m not even gonna put the stupid video or link it.

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Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Stuart Schuffman, aka Broke-Ass Stuart, is a travel writer, poet, TV host, activist, and general shit-stirrer. His website BrokeAssStuart.com is one of the most influential arts & culture sites in the San Francisco Bay Area and his freelance writing has been featured in Lonely Planet, Conde Nast Traveler, The Bold Italic, Geek.com and too many other outlets to remember. His weekly column, Broke-Ass City, appears every other Thursday in the San Francisco Examiner. Stuart’s writing has been translated into four languages. In 2011 Stuart created and hosted the travel show Young, Broke, and Beautiful on IFC and in 2015 he ran for Mayor of San Francisco and got nearly 20k votes.

He's been called "an Underground legend": SF Chronicle, "an SF cult hero":SF Bay Guardian, and "the chief of cheap": Time Out New York.