Arts and CultureBest ofMusicSan FranciscoSlider

Ten Great Songs About San Francisco

Updated: Feb 03, 2015 00:11
The Bay's best newsletter for underground events & news

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 yours in the comments section.  Also, big ups to this guy who also had the same idea

San Francisco Bay Blues – Richie Havens: Even though he didn’t write this song, Richie Haven’s is my favorite version.  His voice is just so soothing that it makes me wanna snuggle with someone or some shit.

The City – Richie Cunning: I know that I’ve totally been on RC’s jock lately, but seriously, have you heard this song?  Dude fucking nails it!  Unfortunately the only vid for it right now is this Warriors one.

I’m Always Drunk in San Francisco – Nancy Wilson: You and me both Nancy. (listen to the song here).

Fake Tales of San Francisco – Arctic Monkeys: I don’t even know if this song is actually about SF, it’s just good.

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.  Plus wasn’t Memphis Minnie a lesbian?

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.

Hello San Francisco – Buddy Guy: Yeah, I guess by now you can tell I love the blues.  It’s the second song on here and starts at about 4:40.

Don’t Give Me No Bammer Weed – RBL Posse: It’s true, we don’t smoke that shit in the SFC.

San Francisco Nights – The Animals: Fucking Classic!

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.

Previous post

Making Decisions as a Broke-Ass Mom

Next post

Get FURIOUS on Friday Nights


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.