Music Review: Billy Idol "Hot In The City"

Billy Idol

Hot In The City

Album: Billy Idol

Year: 1982

             Billy Idol explores a sweltering New York with a companion in the vivacious    “Hot In The City.”

             A chorus of background singers say “stranger, stranger, stranger, stranger.” A whimiscal synth starts, setting an impulsive tone.

             She’s sprawled out on the subway seat, her head on her purse with her feet tucked. As he stands on the pole, the flourscent lights flash  Other than a man reading a newspaper, the train is empty. It screeches to a stop and she adjusts herself a little, her feet  He taps her on the shoulder and tells they’ve reached the block for the 24 hour Chinese restraurant they both like. As they walk up the steps to reach the street, the humidity drenches him in sweat. She asks him he doesn’t have to feel the pressure to stay with her any longer. He tells her he’s enjoyed spending time with her and wants to treat her to dinner. (“It's hot here at night, lonely, black and quiet/On a hot summer night/Don't be afraid of the world we made/On a hot summer night.”)

        In the pre-chorus, he was smoking . She passed by him and gave him a small smile. He saw her put her hand out to signal a cab. He immediately rushed to her and asked her if she wanted to talk for a while. (“'Cause when a long-legged lovely walks by/Yeah you can see the look in her eye/Then you know that it's.”)

            In the chorus, he knows it’s going to be an exciting evening. Something special has already  begun. It will be a night he will talk about for years to come. (“Hot in the city, hot in the city tonight, tonight/Hot in the city, hot in the city tonight, tonight.”)

             The background singers return again to say “stranger” twice.

             The minute he saw her outside the New York Stock Exchange, he pegged her as someone, who although proper in her blouse and khakis, would be spontaneous as well. She wasn’t sure of him at first, though. He had to assure he wasn’t a serial killer.  Before they both know it, they will be stuck inside one of the skyscrapers surrounding them all day, viewing the city from a window.  (“For all the dreams and schemes, people are as they seem/On a hot summer night/Don't be no fun, don't forget you're young/On a hot summer night.”)

           In the pre-chorus, they are acting both of out of character today. In their personal tour, they will discover themselves again and found out things about themselves they didn’t know. (“A sometime someone you're not/Don't wait to see what you got /'Cause you know that you're.”)

              The chorus is sung again.

              In the bridge, they don’t plan to rest while they take in the city. His boots crack the pavement, harmonizing with her clicking heels. From Chinatown to Staten Island and back to DUMBO,  (“We'll walk until my feet drop/I'm a train when I'm hateful/Yeah, lay right down now/And ride until your head breaks/I'm a-walkin' 'til my brain pops/I will move with the beat now/I'm a chain 'round an A-bomb/I'm a ribbon in the heat now/New York!”)

           The chorus is sung again to close the single.

          Idol’s gruff vocals treasure the city he first saw on film, the images weaved into his dreams. It taught him about art and allowed to be who he was without judgement. It’s his New York. She walked the street, blind to the city’s steely beauty and he had to invite her with him, to experience the city all over again as the first week they first moved there.

         The adoring “Hot In The City” plays it love of New York cool.