Before last night I hadn’t listened to Harry Nillson‘s “I Guess The Lord Must Live in New York City” in a long, long time. Not on its own terms, I mean.
I’ve long associated the tune with the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack, but the Wiki page for John Schlesinger’s 1969 classic says that Nillson’s song “was written for the film, but not included in it.” Really? Is this a mistake?
Midnight Cowboy opened on 5.29.69. “I Guess The Lord Must Live in New York City” first surfaced on Nillson’s fourth album, “Harry”, which was released in October ’69.
In any event I felt immediately turned on when Nillson’s song punched through about halfway into The Materialists. It felt like a perfect complement to this saga of struggling under-40s dealing with life in an unaffordable city. I bought the tune online and listened to it over and over on the train home. Song’s film doesn’t really try to warm the cockles of your romantic heart, but Nillson’s song does.