You'd never think of taking a cab if you had to walk a mile down Chicago's Michigan Avenue. But in a bad city you take a cab just to go around the corner.
quote by Helmut Jahn
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
Tear drops on the city
Bad scooter searching for his groove
Seem like the whole world walking pretty
And you cant find the room to move
Well everybody better move over, thats all
Im running on the bad side
And I got my back to the wall
Tenth avenue freeze-out, tenth avenue freeze-out
Im stranded in the jungle
Taking all the heat they was giving
The night is dark but the sidewalks bright
And lined with the light of the living
From a tenement window a transistor blasts
Turn around the corner things got real quiet real fast
She hit me with a tenth avenue freeze-out
Tenth avenue freeze-out
And Im all alone, Im all alone
And kid you better get the picture
And Im on my own, Im on my own
And I cant go home
When the change was made uptown
And the big man joined the band
From the coastline to the city
All the little pretties raise their hands
Im gonna sit back right easy and laugh
When scooter and the big man bust this city in half
With a tenth avenue freeze-out, tenth avenue freeze-out
Tenth avenue freeze-out...
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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In the turbulent town of Chicago
lived the brother of Dr. Shivago.
He was taking a break
sailing Michigan Lake.
But he called it 'Chicago Lago'.
quote by by Herbert Nehrlich
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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A Moving Chicago's Seasoned Memories
For old Saint Patty's Day is approaching
from just around the corner, with the
inevitable commencing of springs true
greenness from the wonders of Mother Nature
There's also an absolute certainly of an
observance within the moonlight for
Chicago's river scent; with its
highlighted illuminating mellow wames,
as colorful as spring's memorial green
itself, to be seen all along the downtown
Lake Michigan's opening body and the
Chicago river's mouth, and with the
occurrence of sheer exhilaration
poem by Derek Johnson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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In Michigan
Well my mother rolled over and died in michigan
My dog got hit by a truck and I cried in michigan
I got drunk and puked up my guts in michigan
But Im alright, Im alright, Im alright, Im alright
And man Im riding here tonight in michigan
I ran a race and came in dead last in michigan
Yeah, I shot myself in the ass in michigan
I was lookin for someplace to feel free but they busted my for just
Being me in michigan
But alright, its alright, its alright, its alright
And baby Im riding high tonight in michigan
I ran into a little bad luck in michigan
I met a woman ? ? ?
Baby Im running late but you got here one hell of a state
In michigan
Oh michigan
This song has been played in a few towns in the us, each time the
Title has been changed and some of the lyrics as well.
(gotj tour)
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Chicago Art Institute
They got these two big stone lions
fronting Michigan Avenue
in downtown Chicago
Inside are oil paintings
by Edward Hopper -
mostly city scenes
you know the kind I mean?
empty streets
lonely rooms
deserted buildings
There I was in one of those offices-
feet up on a battered desk
cigarette smoke curling up-
I'd already downed a slug
of good booze that burned its way down
lighting a blaze in my gut
the 38 Smith & Wesson snugged
in a shoulder holster.
Like Philip Marlowe the private eye
I too got big baby blues that kill the broads-
I'm always ready for a fight!
poem by Michael Pruchnicki
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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And The Healing Has Begun
(van morrison)
When we walk down the avenue again
When we walk down the avenue again
When we walk down the avenue again
When the healing has begun
When we walk down the avenue in style
When we walk down the avenue, we smile
And we know that its all going to be worthwhile
Because the healing has begun
Because the healing has begun
I want you to put on your bright red summer dress
I want you to put on your easter bonnet and sunday coat and all the rest
And I want to make sweet love to you, yes
When the healing has begun
When the healing has begun
song performed by by Waterboys
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Used Cars
Used cars
My sisters in the front seat with an ice
Cream cone
My mas in the back seat sittin all alone
As my pa steers her slow out of the lot
For a test drive down michigan avenue
Now, my ma, she fingers her wedding band
And watches the salesman stare at my old
Mans hands
Hes telling us all about the break hed
Give us
If he could, but he just cant
Well if I could, I swear I know just what
Id do
Now, mister, the day the lottery I win
I aint ever gonna ride in no used car
Again
Now, the neighbors come from near and far
As we pull up in our brandnew used car
I wish hed just hit the gas and let out
A cry
Tell 'em all they can kiss our asses
Goodbye
My dad, he sweats the same job from
Mornin to morn
Me, I walk home on the same dirty streets
Where I was born
Up the block I can hear my little sister
In the front seat blowin that horn
The sounds echoin all down michigan
Avenue
Now, mister, the day my numbers comes in
I aint ever gonna ride in no used car
Again
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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New-York-City Sad Song
I am in New York City, but New York City,
It does not belong to me. You understand?
I am in New York City, but New York City is not in me.
What do I mean? Listen, I am from Chicago, Illinois.
Been in New York City for thirty-five years.
I am a New Yorker! You must understand!
Nope, nope, I probably confuse you.
What happens here? I have some examples.
Take the Second Avenue Subway. It doesn't exist!
City continues the project as long as I remember.
Seventh Avenue, midtown calls it, Fashion Avenue;
Yet garment making and design,
Do they play any role in today's American trade?
And the neighborhoods, they all look the same.
Look down the blocks. What do you see?
Corporate interests and franchise,
Dunkin' Donuts and big-time banks,
And, on almost every other corner,
Drug-store chains hawking their wares,
That's the story, the moms-and-pops, those stores,
Those stores are gone.
I notice more begging,
People seeking handouts more today than I ever recall.
The murder rate spikes. The poor kill the poor;
Children shoot other children.
And the City's once renowned middle class forced to flee,
I see a Great Migration,
A town left to ladies with big, diamond engagement rings,
And babies pushed in fancy perambulators.
By the way New York City's mayor,
He is the richest man in the state.
And you, yes, you, too,
You are not around much anymore.
How seldom I see you during the course of a year!
I am lonely without you.
I miss your not being home with me.
Nowadays, you go abroad
And, when you return, we go for dinner.
I only see you once in a while and then for a short time.
Ever notice all the lottery tickets which losers leave
On counter tops, and discard to the floor?
Seems many people hope to change their luck.
You follow? You understand what I mean?
I am in New York City, but New York City is not in me.
poem by by unknown author
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Chicago Samba
I live in chicago
A very windy city
But tonight I will dance the Chicago samba
Once again
But when I dance the chicago blues
I sweat like crazy
And I feel like a kid again
But when I hear the chicago samba being played by the local musiciams
In the streets of chicago I get very excited
Because I know that their music cam be heard also from faraway
And bring me back memories of home
poem by Aldo Kraas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Welcome To The Chicago Commercial Club
January 14, 1880
CHICAGO sounds rough to the maker of verse;
One comfort we have--Cincinnati sounds worse;
If we only were licensed to say Chicago!
But Worcester and Webster won't let us, you know.
No matter, we songsters must sing as we can;
We can make some nice couplets with Lake Michigan,
And what more resembles a nightingale's voice,
Than the oily trisyllable, sweet Illinois?
Your waters are fresh, while our harbor is salt,
But we know you can't help it--it is n't your fault;
Our city is old and your city is new,
But the railroad men tell us we're greener than you.
You have seen our gilt dome, and no doubt you've been told
That the orbs of the universe round it are rolled;
But I'll own it to you, and I ought to know best,
That this is n't quite true of all stars of the West.
You'll go to Mount Auburn,--we'll show you the track,--
And can stay there,--unless you prefer to come back;
And Bunker's tall shaft you can climb if you will,
But you'll puff like a paragraph praising a pill.
You must see--but you have seen--our old Faneuil Hall,
Our churches, our school-rooms, our sample-rooms, all;
And, perhaps, though the idiots must have their jokes,
You have found our good people much like other folks.
There are cities by rivers, by lakes, and by seas,
Each as full of itself as a cheese-mite of cheese;
And a city will brag as a game-cock will crow
Don't your cockerels at home--just a little, you know?
But we'll crow for you now--here's a health to the boys,
Men, maidens, and matrons of fair Illinois,
And the rainbow of friendship that arches its span
From the green of the sea to the blue Michigan!
poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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18th Avenue
Well i rode a while, for a mile or so
Down the road to the eighteenth avenue
And the people i saw were the people i know
And they all came down to take a view
Oh the path was dark and borderless
Down the road to the eighteenth avenue
And it stung my tongue to repeat the words
That i used to use only yesterday
Meanings just dropped to the ground
I tried to remember what i thought
And what i used to say
"don't let me go down" no don't let me go
Oh my hands were tied as i struggled inside
The empty waste of another day
Memories were blank to my eyes
The fire and the glory of that night
Seemed safely locked away
Too hungry to rise. too hungry to
Well i rode a while, for a mile or so
Down the road to the eighteenth avenue
And the people i saw were the people i know
And they all came down to take a view
Oh the path was dark and borderless
Down the road to the eighteenth avenue
But my head felt better as i turned the car
And the airport slowly came to view
One mile said the sign
Checked my bags and made it straight to end gate 22
Made it just in time, boy you've made it just in time
song performed by by Cat Stevens
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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New York City Boy
When youre a boy
Some days are tough
Lying on your bad
Playing punk rock and stuff
Home is a boot camp
You gotta escape
Wanna go and wander
In the ticker-tape
You feel the deal is real
Youre a new york city boy
So young, so run
Into new york city
New york city boy
Youll never have a bored day
cause youre a new york city boy
Where seventh avenue meets broadway
The street is amazing
The hoochies unreal
Check out all the hardware
At the latest deal
Hear a song
Thats the bomb
If you dont get the mix
Its got eighty-six
You feel the deal is real
Youre in new york city
New york city boy
Youll never have a bored day
cause youre a new york city boy
Where seventh avenue meets broadway
New york city boy
This is your reward day
cause youre a new york city boy
Where seventh avenue meets broadway
Then as the evening falls
You can return its calls
You feel the deal is real
Youre a new york city boy
So young, so run
Into new york city
New york city boy
Youll never have a bored day
cause youre a new york city boy
Where seventh avenue meets broadway
song performed by by Pet Shop Boys
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Hotel.
Home is nowhere near.
Off of Michigan Ave. we'll
Have a place to rest.
(in Chicago)
poem by Amanda May Moore
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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City Of Beggars
The sky is always blue in the city of beggars
There is not much green in the city of beggars
There are buildings being built so fast in the city of beggars
In every corner that you encounter
The city of beggars are growing so fast
And in the city of beggars lives 30 million people
The air is not that good in the city of beggars
Because of the factories and the cars
The city of beggars never sleep
The noise goes on 24 hours a day
It is not safe to walk in the street of beggars
Because you can get robbed and killed at any time of the night or day
The traffic is chaotic in the city of beggars
Thanks God there is no snow in the city of beggars
poem by Aldo Kraas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Taking a Walk on Memory Lane
Taking a walk on memory lane
isn’t all that gray.
Taking a walk on memory lane
I see the sunrays.
Taking a walk on memory lane
isn’t all full of tears.
Taking a walk on memory lane
I have no fear.
Taking a walk on memory lane
not a dropp of rain in sight.
Taking a walk on memory lane
Every thing is alright.
Taking a walk on memory lane
is where I want you to come along.
Taking a walk on memory lane
is where we belong all lifelong.
poem by Lost Sierra
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Tonight - by taking this solemn oath - I am no longer a private citizen but the Mayor of the City of Chicago.
quote by Jane Byrne
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Marlowe Between the Lions
Imagine reading between the lions?
I mean the two standing stony vigil outside
the Art Institute of Chicago on Michigan Avenue.
A novel by Raymond Chandler and paintings by
Edward Hopper are celebrated within -
laconic detective and barren cityscapes
set the theme of big city angst and anomie
I checked through The Big Sleep -
*He sat behind a desk, a middle-aged plump
man with clear blue eyes
He puffed evenly and stared at me level-eyed,
a funny little hard guy
His neat well-kept face looked as if it had been shaved
within the hour
A small man in a big man's world
He looked ready for a fight*
Look closely at Hopper's oils-
*Night Shadows* *Nighthawks*
*Night Windows* *Empty Room*
Then I lit a cigarette and downed a good slug
of booze. The 38 Special nested snugly in its
holster. That night I felt like a big tough guy
ready for a fight within the hour.
Sure, I got big baby blues
and a swinging dick
like Marlowe!
poem by Michael Pruchnicki
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Design-(The Fabric Of Our Life?
Carnegie Hall has nothing on you...
Your design 'tis quite divine-?
Vice president of fabric-a velvet King...?
A Grand Master of Interior Design;
New York-it 'surely' loves you...
Michigan gave you your B.A. degree-
Chicago taught your interior- very well...
While you pulled the Wool over my eyes that now see;
A designer of pretence and scamming?
Caught up in your textile most divine?
Selling New York or 'tis it Newark?
You know longer fool these green eyes of mine;
Too used to people befriending me...
Now- too used to all of their lies...
Trust? whats that? lying to me flat...
You really take the the prize;
An 'altruistic' booby trap just waiting?
To think that i almost believed-
Michigan and Illinois must love you...
Just wonder how many others you have deceived?
What is the real name of your racket, anyway?
In collusion with some of my so-called-friends?
Taking a bite out of the Big Apple...
I can now forsee your most crooked end;
Dedicated to: Rockville Centre, New York
And to the man of many faces. (2007)
April,2010
poem by Theodora Onken
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My Kind Of Town
My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of people too
People who,smile at you
And each time I leave, Chicago is
Tugging my sleave, Chicago is
One town that won't let you down
It's my kind of town
My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of razzmatazz
And it has, all that jazz
And each time I rome, Chicago is
Calling me home, Chicago is
One town that won't let you down
It's my kind of town
Chicago is
The Wrigley Building, Chicago is
The Union stock yard, Chicago is
One town that won't let you down
It's my
My kind of town
song performed by by Barry Manilow
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sky High
The buildings
In my city
Are being built
In every corner you walk
That is because
The population of my city is growing
Very fast each year
poem by Aldo Kraas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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