The Heart of Rock and Roll is Still Beating

Huey Lewis and the News released their third album Sports in September, 1983. The album’s first two singles, “Heart and Soul” and “I Want a New Drug,” both cracked the top ten.

The third single, “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” was a tribute to rock and roll. The song consists of three verses. The first two are each dedicated to specific cities while the third verse mentions ten more (one of which is Oklahoma City). That’s one of the things that caught my attention as a kid. I thought it was really cool that I lived in a city mentioned in the song and dreamed about visiting all the other cities mentioned.

I recently heard the song on the radio and realized that I actually have been to them all.

The song’s opens with the words “New York, New York,” and fittingly the first verse is dedicated to the Big Apple. I visited New York City back in 2010.

The second verse starts with “L.A., Hollywood, and the Sunset Strip.” We went to California this year on vacation and did indeed see Hollywood and drove right down Sunset Strip.

The third verse leads off with a string of towns: “DC, San Antone, and the Liberty Town, Boston and Baton Rouge / Tulsa, Austin, Oklahoma City, Seattle, San Francisco, too.” Or rather, “DC, San Antone, and the Liberty Town, Boston and Baton Rouge / Tulsa, Austin, Oklahoma City, Seattle, San Francisco, too.”

For what it’s worth I visited New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baton Rouge for work purposes and L.A./Hollywood, Tulsa, Austin, San Francisco on personal vacation. I’ve been to Washington D.C., San Antonio, and Seattle for both business and pleasure. A fairly even mix.

As the song trails off we get two final cities: Cleveland and Detroit. Last year we drove through Cleveland on our way to Niagara Falls and visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Detroit is the one “stretch” (I went through it on a train). The next time we are up north I will make a point of doing something there.

Here’s a picture of Morgan and I standing outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Best we could tell, the heart of rock and roll was still beating.