Got into town on a Saturday night
With a Fender guitar and I checked out the sights
And I drank my way down to the Lower East Side
'Coz I was nuts about Thunders and Suicide

Then I formed a band called the Major Thinkers
With a couple of musicians and some heavy drinkers
And I went up to Max's and I said
"Hey man, I'm gonna blow your club right off the map"

New York, New York what have you done?
You've wrecked me 'til I have become
Half the man I might have been
Half the hero of my dream

New York, New York it's over now
You beat me still I know somehow
Just for once I'm gonna prove you wrong
Just to show you I was right all along

Well, I met Sheila down at Blanche's bar
She was dressed all in black and her heart was a scar
She took me back to Avenue C
How we were happy there, her and me

'Til a man from the Black Rock saw the band
And he said, "Hey, you dudes are just sizzling hot and
We're gonna cut a record and gonna make you all stars
But first things first, sign your soul away here"

New York, New York what have you done?
You've wrecked me 'til I have become
Half the man I might have been
Half the hero of my dream

New York, New York it's over now
You beat me still I know somehow
Just for once I'm gonna prove you wrong
Just to show you I was right all along

Yeah, we cut a song about Avenue B
And the boxes boomed it all over the streets
But the record company had us screwed us all up
And Sheila went off and joined the scientology church

Then Mike stopped a bullet in Staten Island
And my whole world turned ultra violent
But there's one last thing I just gotta see through
There's one last thing I gotta say to you

Sheila, baby, give me one more chance
I've just gone and formed Black '47
I don't care about the money and you can keep the fame
I just wanna beat this city at its own dumb game

New York, New York what have you done?
You've wrecked me 'til I have become
Half the man I might have been
Half the hero of my dream

New York, New York it's over now
You beat me still I know somehow
Just for once I'm gonna prove you wrong
Just to show you I was right all along

New York, New York