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Stephen Colbert, Sara Bareilles, Idina Menzel and more band together to sing Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” in a new video that serves as a tribute to the Big Apple amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the New York Times, Joel gave permission to volunteer organization NYCNext to use his 1976 song, with documentary filmmaker Joshua Seftel crafting a video with the artists involved singing lines from the track at many New York City landmarks.
“This was another moment where New York could really use a song that speaks to the romance and the resiliency and the beauty of New York,” composer and the video’s producer Tom Kitt told the Times.
The video also features Suzanne Vega (singing in Tom’s Restaurant, the inspiration for her hit “Tom’s Diner”), Joan Osbourne, Billy Joel Band members Mark Rivera and David Rosenthal, Joel’s daughter Alexa Ray Joel, the New York Yankees, Broadway stars and more.
CBS Sunday Morning also did a segment on the “New York State of Mind” tribute, which coincides with the reopening of many Broadway shows.
“This city can’t be its best self until we all can go to the theater, and then talk about it over a drink,” Colbert said. “The arts are the oxygen of New York, and Broadway reopening is like the city can breathe again.”