"New York City Boy" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 27 September 1999 as the second single from their seventh studio album, ''

Nightlife Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, ...

'' (1999). In the UK, the single peaked at number 14 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It also reached the charts in numerous European countries, peaking at number three in Spain, and number four in Finland and Hungary. In the US, the song hit number one on the '' Billboard''

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...

chart and number 53 on the ''Billboard''

Hot Singles Sales This is a compendium of the best-selling music singles. The criterion for inclusion is to sell at least ten million copies worldwide. The singles listed here were cited by reliable sources from various media, such as digital journalism, news ...

chart. The second B-side, "Casting a Shadow", was written for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

during the 11 August 1999 solar eclipse, and CD 2 featured a bonus video showing the song alongside footage of the eclipse in the UK. This song has many references inside, particularly two famous disco culture songs. The first one is in the string arrangements, reference to "It's good for the soul" by The Salsoul Orchestra (1976). It's not surprising because in the strings and arrangements is the leader of that band, Vincent Montana Jr. The second one is the sample of the Giorgio Moroder & Donna Summer song "Mac Arthur Park" (1978).

Critical reception

Pop Rescue commented, "Disco comes unashamedly bursting in, with second single New York City Boy, a kind of early

Your Disco Needs You "Your Disco Needs You" is a song by Australian singer and songwriter Kylie Minogue, taken from her seventh studio album '' Light Years'' (2000). The song was written by Minogue, Guy Chambers and Robbie Williams and produced by Chambers and Stev ...

, complete with camp video and men’s choruses throughout. The pace is fast, and I can imagine that this song attracted mixes by the bucketload."

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the song features the New York nightspot Studio 54 and was directed by British director

Howard Greenhalgh Howard Douglas Greenhalgh (born 19 February 1963) is a British director of music videos and advertising. Biography Greenhalgh was born in Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire and studied at the Royal College of Art, setting up the firm Why No ...

Track listings

*UK CD single 1 (CDRS 6525) # "New York City Boy" (radio edit) # "The Ghost of Myself" # "New York City Boy" (The Almighty Definitive Mix) # "New York City Boy" (music video) *UK CD single 2 (CDR 6525) # "New York City Boy" (album version) # "Casting a Shadow" # "New York City Boy" (Superchumbo's Uptown Mix) # "Casting a Shadow" (enhanced eclipse video footage) *UK cassette single (TCR 6525) # "New York City Boy" (radio edit) # "The Ghost of Myself" # "New York City Boy" (The Almighty Definitive Mix) *UK remixes double vinyl (12R 6525) # "New York City Boy" (The Morales club mix) # "New York City Boy" (The Almighty man on a mission mix) # "New York City Boy" (The Lange mix) # "New York City Boy" (The Thunderpuss 2000 club mix) # "New York City Boy" (The Superchumbo downtown dub) *US CD single (35013-2) # "New York City Boy" (radio edit) # "New York City Boy" (The Superchumbo uptown mix) # "New York City Boy" (The Superchumbo downtown dub) # "New York City Boy" (The Almighty definitive mix) # "New York City Boy" (The Almighty man on a mission mix) # "New York City Boy" (The Thunderpuss 2000 club mix) # "New York City Boy" (The Thunderdub) # "New York City Boy" (The Morales club mix) # "New York City Boy" (The Lange mix)

Personnel

According to "Nightlife: Further Listening 1996 - 2000", 2017: * Conductor and vocal arranger: Danny Madden * Arranger and conductor strings and horns: Vincent Montana, Jr. * Backing vocals: Billy Cliff, John James, Keith Fluitt and Steve Abram * Bass guitar: Gene Perez * Engineers: Steve Barkan, Bill Importico, Jr., Jon Smelz. * Mixing engineer: Goetz Botzenhardt * Percussion: Carlos Gomez * Keyboards, vocals: Chris Lowe * Producer: David Morales * Keyboards and Programmer: Joey Mosk * Vocals: Neil Tennant * Mixing engineer: Pet Shop Boys * Remastering engineer: Tim Young

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1999 singles 1999 songs English house music songs Music videos directed by Howard Greenhalgh Nu-disco songs Parlophone singles Pet Shop Boys songs Songs about New York City Songs written by Chris Lowe Songs written by Neil Tennant