Alicia Keys - Empire State Of Mind

[Over The Hill]

I really love this song but it really bugs me because of one small thing.

Here is the chorus--

New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothing you can’t do
Now you’re in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Hear it for New York, New York, New York

The "of" at the end of the first line seems to ruin it and make it nonsense.

Can anyone think of a way that it can make sense so I can get back to enjoying it?

Seems to be lots of easy words that could have gone there to make it make sense
(true, real, from)

Sorry if I have now spoilt the song for you!!

 

[Paulus]

I think the of is there so the inflection at the end of each line is the same. If her voice rose at the end of made, it wouldn't make sense or sound right. I don't like the song myself, but I can see why that word is there.

 

[Amheirchion]

Hear it for Newport, Newport, Newport.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eijc2tGe-zM

 

[rich p]

I preferred her brother Allen.

 

[her_welshness]

Hear it for Newport, Newport, Newport.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Eijc2tGe-zM

Our shopping centre is quite new, big leeks will inspire you....

 

[Aperitif]

Wow! Those Newport lyrics sound good enough for her brother Don. (rich started it!)

 

[Over The Hill]

I think the of is there so the inflection at the end of each line is the same. If her voice rose at the end of made, it wouldn't make sense or sound right. I don't like the song myself, but I can see why that word is there.

I agree it needs something there to fit.

I just hoped someone would find another meaning that made it fit: I can remember someone getting in a strop on TV because they took the Beatles "Let it be" to mean "Leave it alone" rather than the biblical "make it happen".


How about
New York, concrete jungle that dreams are made of

 

[tyred]

She's not alone. Wordsworth's poem "The Thorn" famously had to be changed from:

You see a little muddy pond
Of water, never dry,
I've measured it from side to side:
'Tis three feet long, and two feet wide.

to

You see a little muddy pond
Of water, never dry,
Though but of compass small, and bare
To thirsty suns and parching air

because of the howls of embarrassing laughter that broke out every time he read it and got to that bit.

What a shame. He had it perfect the first time...

 

[Norm]

The "of" at the end of the first line seems to ruin it and make it nonsense.

That's because there isn't an "of" at the end of the first line.

"Concrete jungle where dreams are made, oo,
There's nothing you can't do"

See, it even rhymes now.

 

[MossCommuter]

Read the first line into the second without a comma, then it sort of makes sense in a sort of poetical kind of a way...

...doesn't it

New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of "there’s nothing you can’t do"

 

[Over The Hill]

[QUOTE 1325113"]
It does make sense:

The line is saying that New York is what dreams are made of.

Nothing to do with dreams being made true, from, etc. It is essentially about the sprit of the city and what derives from it. And anyone that has been to NYC can probably attest this as I can.

NYC=Great.
[/quote]

apart from the fact that it says and she sings "where dreams are made of"

it makes sense if you change it but as it is in the song I have trouble.

 

[Over The Hill]

Read the first line into the second without a comma, then it sort of makes sense in a sort of poetical kind of a way...

...doesn't it

New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of "there’s nothing you can’t do"

Brill, I think that works for me!!

...where dreams are made of "there’s nothing you can’t do"

 

[downfader]

You're watching/listening to an Alicia Keys track and you're concerned about the lyrics...?

 

[Norm]

The other lines end in do, you and new.

I still don't see anything to suggest she is even singing 'of'.

 

[Over The Hill]

You're watching/listening to an Alicia Keys track and you're concerned about the lyrics...?

I do think she is rather good!

Most other attractive women seem to simply wiggle parts of their body that are usually kept private to sell records.
Alicia Keys, (while still attractive) acts like a proper musician and the image comes second to the music.


(I was waiting for some comment as to why an old git is listening to Alicia Keys)