Vote for the best Pittsburgh song

[TheGerbil]

The PG is running an online poll for the public to vote on five finalists. These are all original songs about Pittsburgh, submitted to them by people who live here.

I am not sure what they'll be doing with the winner but the implication was that it could be used to promote the city.

I can't listen to the songs at work, so I don't know yet what they are like. But I hope the winner will be a good one that represents the city well.

http://post-gazette.com/pg/06051/658182.stm

We should all vote

[mercurypa]

I cast my vote for the first song "Pittsburgh". I think its a little more hip and fresh, where the others just yawn out more of the same old same old. I think one actually uses the word youinz....(gasp). I hope we can lose this image.

[Death To Johnstown]

I went for "I Love Pittsburgh"; love how it mirrors Frankie's "New York, New York".

Would enjoy it being played after Pirate home victories like the Yankees do with Sinatra's song. That is, of course, after the 'Jolly Roger' flag is hoisted

Oh, and I think"We Are Fam-alee" should be played before the Bucs bat in the seventh...

[TheGerbil]

I cast my vote for the first song "Pittsburgh". I think its a little more hip and fresh, where the others just yawn out more of the same old same old. I think one actually uses the word youinz....(gasp). I hope we can lose this image.

The use of the word yinz (or yunz... however you choose to spell it) is precisely the sort of thing I was afraid would come up in these songs. I don't think I will be voting for whichever one that is. If we want to improve our image, songs that include stereotypes are not the way to go.

[Evergrey]

I really enjoy "Shot and a Beer Town"... it's quite pensive and tender... and the vocalist reminds me of Paul Buchanan of The Blue Nile.

[Evergrey]

I cast my vote for the first song "Pittsburgh". I think its a little more hip and fresh, where the others just yawn out more of the same old same old. I think one actually uses the word youinz....(gasp). I hope we can lose this image.

I don't think there's anything wrong with embracing the city's dialect. It's part of what makes this city unique... and great.

[PghUSA]

I'm with Evergrey on that one, I think the yinz phobia is systematic of what is wrong in some corners in this city (though I think the posters on this board could not be lumped into that group) that anything genuinly 'burgh is looked down upon cause we can't ever been as good as NYC or LA or Vegas etc.

It is strange but on the Steelers message board a Seattle fan posted "You know your from Pittsburgh if . . . " and had the some really bad put downs, it took 3 pages and about 50 posts for the Steeler fans to realize that they guy was a troll trying to put us down!!! Things like the use of n'at, can't seperate you and all etc. etc. most of the Steeler fans from Florida, Carolinas, 'zona, etc. were saying how homesick they got for Pittsburgh by reading it.

I do agree it is not the most flattering thing in the world and we need to seperate the fact that to gain in the global marketplace we must know the difference between proper English and dialect (if someone spoke total street or spanglish they wouldn't make it in the world, but not to be proud of it is a drawback). I think to be used in the global marketplace it might be too much of an inside joke to really be effective on changing the city's image, but I'd like for a song like that to do well call it a sentimental favorite.

By the way Gerbil, nice find I forgot about this contest.

[mercurypa]

Well it looks like yunz who voted for the song with the "dialect" is winning an'at.

[TheGerbil]

I agree that we should not be ashamed of our local dialect. But I have heard too many out-of-towners make fun of it to feel comfortable with its use in a song that could possibly be used for marketing purposes.

Frankly I didn't like any of those songs very much. Well, I liked them, but I didn't feel like any of them would really improve the city's image. Too much focus on sports and steel for my taste. Not that we should be ashamed of those things, but if we want to market ourselves we should talk about the things people don't know, as opposed to the same old images everyone knows.

I didn't vote for any of them. I was kind of dissappointed and think we could do better. They were good songs, but not what I think we need.

[TheGerbil]

The winner is in. "I Love Pittsburgh" by Jimmy Sapienza.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06067/666614.stm

Frankly I was dissapointed with all of the songs. They were good, don't get me wrong. But I think popular local bands like The Clarks, Ruster Root and Strict Flow should have been invited to enter. This winning song is good, but it's kind of old-fashioned sounding. If it is used to promote the city (which is a big maybe), I am not sure what kind of image it will put across. Still, of the five finalists I think it was the best.

[Death To Johnstown]

Hey, Joe Negri & Glen Drews agree that *"it's the tops".

* - Thanks, Velvet Fog.

[noobie]

Does this really matter?

I mean what the heck are they going to be used for?

Nice idea, but I really don't think a song solely about the city is going to do anything to help in anyway.

Now I can see a "mainstream" song that happens to mention Pittsburgh doing something (if songs really do anything period). It just can't be corny - like this.

IMHO

(Hopefully a song from Eric Himan ... he's not from here, but he lives here)

cute too!

[Evergrey]

Eric Himan is a State College native, I believe.

[noobie]

Eric Himan is a State College native, I believe.

Oh, so he's from State College

I knew he wasn't from here- I just didn't know from where exactly tho

He calls Pittsburgh his home now ... I believe in mt. lebanon.

here's his MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/erichiman

[TheGerbil]

Does this really matter?

I mean what the heck are they going to be used for?

Nice idea, but I really don't think a song solely about the city is going to do anything to help in anyway.

Now I can see a "mainstream" song that happens to mention Pittsburgh doing something (if songs really do anything period). It just can't be corny - like this.

IMHO

The article said these songs are bing sent to the mayor's office and some other places I forget. So if someone really likes it they might use it for something, but there is no plan.