Urbanist Anthem: The Pretenders’ “My City was Gone”

January 15th, 2011

The Pretender’s 1982 classic, “My City Was Gone” is about the closest thing to an anthem urbanist have. (via SpacingToronoto).

It is included it my “Songs in the Key of Jane” iTunes playlist inspired by the life and observations of Jane Jacobs.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA56J8zlAdo

I went back to Ohio
But my city was gone
There was no train station
There was no downtown
Southtown it had disappeared
All my favorite places
My city had been pulled down
Reduced to parking spaces
Ay! Oh! Where did you go, Ohio?
I went back to Ohio
But my family was gone
I stood on the back porch
There was nobody home
I was stunned and amazed
My childhood memories
Saw this world past
Like the wind thorugh the trees
Ay! Oh! Where did you go, Ohio?
I went back to Ohio
But my pretty countryside
Had been paved down the middle
By a government that had no pride
The farms of Ohio
had been replaced by shopping malls
And Muzak filled the air
From Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls
Said Ay! Oh! Where did you go, Ohio?