Carly Simon discography contains songs people will sing hum quietly or sing at the top of their lung years after charting. She’s the woman behind ‘You’re So Vain,’ writing songs about ex-lovers before Taylor Swift turned that subject into an album concept. She’s not a stranger to movie soundtracks starting with ‘Nobody Does It Better,’ the theme to the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, a song she sang but does not share composing credits.
‘Let The River Run’ plays during the opening sequence in the film Working Girl, as Tess rides with other commuters on the Staten Island Ferry to the financial district in Manhattan. The ferry run was one of those things I wanted to do during my New York 2.0 trip. The ferry ride is free and gives you a view of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty. It’s an anthem for the plucky, the driven, those with dreams determined to make them real despite not having the advantages people like Katherine Parker, the film’s antagonist, take for granted. As you might guess, I have a soft spot for the movie and its theme.
My view of New York evolved through films and television. While I had a glimpse of the city’s reality, sometimes I looked around in places like Park Avenue, on the way to the Metropolitan Museum, and wondered where’s my director to yell ‘cut!’ It makes me wonder if a film like Working Girl would work in another major city like Chicago or Los Angeles? Maybe it’s the epicentre of the can-do spirit. In other cities, on the bus, on the ferry, or in a subway car, people are coming through the mist to make their dreams run.
We the great and small
Stand on a star
And blaze a trail of desire
Through the dark’ning dawn.
Unpaused Life 