10 Greatest T. Rex Songs Ever
4. New York City
Massive drug consumption saw Marc Bolan fall from grace and slip from relevance as his creative output suffered. T. Rex hit their nadir with Bolan’s Zip Gun, an album containing tracks that often pushed repetition and minimalism to the point of monotony.
Somehow, follow-up single New York City embodied those same traits but managed to turn them into virtues. The song consists of a single line verse and single line chorus that alternate without alteration over a strolling bassline.
“Did you ever see a girl coming out of New York City with a frog in her hand?”, Bolan asks, “I have don’t you know? And don’t it show?” That’s the entire lyric. If you think the frog is some sort of metaphor or hides a subtext you’d be mistaken.
Bolan claimed the song was inspired by a true incident when he was sat on a park bench in New York with Rod Stewart of all people. A girl holding a frog whizzed by on rollerskates and the rest is history…