"Native New Yorker"
Single by Odyssey
from the album Odyssey
B-side"Ever Lovin' Sam"
ReleasedNovember 1977 (1977)
Recorded1977
House of Music, West Orange, New Jersey
GenreDisco[1][2]
Length3:29
5:35 (Disco Version)
LabelRCA Victor
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Charlie Calello
  • Sandy Linzer
Official audio
"Native New Yorker" on YouTube

"Native New Yorker" is a disco song written by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell. It was first recorded in 1977 by Frankie Valli and released on his album Lady Put the Light Out. Later in 1977, the song became a hit single for the soul dance band Odyssey, reaching No. 3 on the U.S. disco chart.[1] Odyssey's "Native New Yorker" also went to No. 6 on the soul chart and No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.[3] It reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart.[4]

The group recorded the song at House of Music in West Orange, New Jersey. Jeffrey Kawalek was the recording and mix engineer. Richard Tee played its signature piano track. Jim Bonnefond assisted on many sessions. Studio owner Charlie Conrad did additional engineering, and added additional instrumental solos to the original mixes to create extended dance versions. Sandy Linzer added Tommy Mandel on clavinet and played hair drum himself on the mix that would be released as a single, engineered by Billy Radice at Olmstead studios in New York City.

"Native New Yorker" was also recorded by Esther Phillips in 1978, and Black Box in 1998.

It was later sampled by Rich Cronin's band, Loose Cannons, for their song "New York City Girls", as well as by the house music group, Kluster, in their song featuring Ron Carroll, entitled "My Love".

The tenor saxophone solo on Odyssey's recording is played by Michael Brecker.[5] George Young was part of the horn section, where he played alto sax.[6]

Chart history

Chart (1977–78) Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles 13
Ireland (IRMA)[7] 7
New Zealand (RIANZ)[8] 15
UK Singles (OCC)[4] 5
U.S. Cashbox Top 100 15
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 21
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 3
U.S. Billboard Easy Listening 28
U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles 6

In popular culture

The song is featured in an episode of Good Times, "That's Entertainment, Evans Style" (1978), as well as the films Eyes of Laura Mars (1978); The Stud (1978); 54 (1998); A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006); The Nanny Diaries (2007), a commercial for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (2014), Colin Quinn: The New York Story (2016), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). It also served as background music towards the end of the preliminary swimsuit segment of the 1981 Miss Universe pageant in New York City; it is typically played during lead-in segments of Good Day New York. The song opens the 3rd episode of season 3 of Pose (2021) entitled "The Trunk".[9]

"Native New Yorker" is played after every New York City FC soccer game at Yankee Stadium.[10]

Television personality Wendy Williams (as 'Lips') performed a rendition of the song on the fourth season of the American TV series The Masked Singer. Following her performance, multiple memes and reenactments were created.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 193.
  2. ^ Billboard Staff (October 19, 2023). "The 500 Best Pop Songs: Staff List". Billboard. Retrieved February 10, 2024. One of the best one-off disco hits ever recorded, with a sophisticated air and a somewhat jaded undertone.
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 437.
  4. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 404. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  5. ^ "Lillian Lopez: Singer with hit band Odyssey". The Independent. 12 September 2012. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Sax player on track "native new yorker"". Sax on the Web. 3 April 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  7. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Native New Yorker". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
  8. ^ Flavour of New Zealand, 7 May 1978
  9. ^ "Music from Pose S3E03". Tunefind. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  10. ^ Kessler, Jordan (August 12, 2015). "Hudson River Blue talks with DJ Mode, music director for New York City FC". Hudson River Blue. Vox Media. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  11. ^ Haasch, Palmer. "TikTok still can't get over Wendy Williams' wild performance on 'The Masked Singer'". Insider. Retrieved 2023-11-26.

External links

The Four Seasons
Odyssey
Authority control databases
Categories