Naked City was an avant-garde music group from New York City, New York, Uni… Read Full Bio ↴Naked City was an avant-garde music group from New York City, New York, United States led by saxophonist and composer John Zorn, performed from 1988 to 1993. The ensemble was notable for remaining unconfined to any musical category, juxtaposing unrelated styles of music often within individual compositions at breakneck speed. Its music incorporated recognizable elements of jazz, grindcore, surf, classical, thrash, country music, punk rock and other genres. Carl Stalling has been cited as an influence on Zorn and the work of Naked City.

An embryonic version of Naked City appeared on Rubaiyat: Elektra's 40th Anniversary (1990). Zorn was joined by singer Yamatsuka Eye, guitarist Robert Quine, bass guitarist Bill Laswell and drummer Ted Epstein, for a spastic, caterwauling version of The Stooges' "T.V. Eye".

In Naked City's characteristic early style, songs were often performed at astonishingly fast tempos, drawing heavily on thrash metal and hardcore punk's emphasis on extreme speed. Many songs were quite brief, and typically switched musical genres every few measures, perhaps comparable to spinning a radio dial at random and hearing the same band performing on every station. One critic described Naked City's music as "jump-cutting micro-collages of hardcore, country, sleazy jazz, covers of John Barry and Ornette Coleman, brief abstract tussles — a whole city crammed into two or three minute bursts." This fast-change tendency was inspired in part by Carl Stalling — a Zorn favorite — who wrote music for many Warner Brothers cartoons (featuring Road Runner, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and others); music that featured frequent shifts in tempo, theme and style.

Naked City's eponymous first album was distributed by Elektra Nonesuch and featured a famous Weegee photograph (taken 1943) of a dead gangster on its cover along with macabre illustrations by Maruo Suehiro. There was disagreement between Zorn and the label over cover art on subsequent albums. Zorn wanted to use explicit S&M pictures, images from 19th century medical archives, and execution photographs, most notoriously of a Leng Tch'e victim; Elektra Nonesuch refused. Zorn ended his relationship with Elektra, releasing subsequent Naked City albums on Shimmy Disc and his own Avant and Tzadik labels.

Naked City varied their stylistic approach on later releases. The cover repertoire was expanded to include pieces from various modern classical composers such as Alexander Scriabin, Claude Debussy, Charles Ives and Olivier Messiaen, whose works are featured on the album Grand Guignol. The album Leng T'che featured a single piece, over 31 minutes in length, of gruelingly slow heavy metal. Torture Garden was made up of several "hardcore miniatures," and Absinthe was ambient and noise textures.

Naked City found perhaps their greatest following among the fans of the many death metal, metal and grindcore bands with which they performed, such as Blind Idiot God, Napalm Death, Carcass and Live Skull. The appearance of "Osaka Bondage" - taken from the album Torture Garden - on the Earache sampler Grindcrusher 2: The Ultimate Earache helped this to some extent.

Zorn discontinued Naked City after Absinthe in 1993 when he felt "... the need to write music for other ensembles, in other contexts, with new ideas." A brief reunion occurred in 2003 for a few shows at European jazz festivals.

The original lineup:

John Zorn - saxophone, vocals, composer;
Bill Frisell - guitar;
Wayne Horvitz - synthesizer, piano;
Fred Frith - bass guitar;
Joey Baron - drums.

Additional members:

Yamataka Eye - vocals (early years);
Mike Patton - vocals (mostly for live shows).

I Want To Live
Naked City Lyrics

We have lyrics for 'I Want To Live' by these artists:

Aphrodite's Child I want to live Where they’ll change what they have done Yeah…
Aphrodites Child I want to live Where they'll change what they have done Yeah…
Aphrodite’s child I want to live Where they'll change what they have done Ye…
Bird Tribe Ate Wakan Tanka, Omakiyayo Wa Niwachin yelo, Wa Niwachin yel…
Demis Roussos I want to live Where they'll change what they have done Yeah…
DENVER JOHN There are children raised in sorrow On a scorched and barren…
Donald Nally & The Crossing Do-do-do-do-do-do-do Here's one more year Of emptiness More …
E.C. and Orna Ball We take over take over No they can't hold us We take…
E.C. Ball 「ねぇ、たまにはさ羽根を伸ばしたら?」ってことあるごとにアナタは言うけれど Woo ah うんざりよ W…

E.C. Ball & Orna We take over take over No they can't hold us We take…
E.C. Ball And Orna Step One - says we're powerless …
Gavin Friday When I look into your sad blue eyes, they whisper, Love's…
Gavin Friday & The Man Seezer When I look into your sad blue eyes, they whisper, Love's…
Gordon/Lang/Wolfe I've been spendin' a lot of my time Keepin' things bottled…
Grace Dum dum da de dum Dum dum da de dum dum Da…
Gracin Josh Sometimes I feel like I need To shake myself To wake mysel…
gummy Since you're gone I feel so alone Since you're gone I…
John Denver There are children raised in sorrow On a scorched and barren…
John Maus Always forward Forwards I want to live I want to live, yeah…
Johnny Gregory and His Orchestra I'm a very ordinary man Trying to work out life's…
Josh Gracin Sometimes I feel like I need To shake myself To wake myself …
Kato Please tell me how you feel... Please tell me how you…
Kymm Lewis Ooooooh (1) I want to live And breathe the air of possibilit…
M.I.C. 分开以后每个夜晚格外的寂静滴答滴答剩大钟在陪着我回忆电话里头曾经是你最温柔的声音现在只有空气冷漠地回应 OH…
On the Fly Chorus Baby~ I don't wanna see you no more Baby~ I don't…
Overworld Waking up in the dark, I am falling into nightmares I…
Project A.F.T.E.R. We take over take over No they can't hold us We take…
Rev. I.B. Ware with Wife and Son Ho, ho, hoooo, ich bin der VIBEnachtsmann Stapel lila Schein…
Rhett Miller The man you want is the man I am The one…
Rick Treffers I want to live Figuring out where it all comes from Ignorin…
Shinji I don't want to dance without you I don't want to dance with…
Skillet In a grave of roses, while the night is closing…
Spacehog whoa oh whoa whoa oh whoa whoa oh whoa whoa oh whoa Ooooooo…
Stan Getz I'm a very ordinary man Trying to work out life's happy…
Syd Indigo Once upon a time There was a girl who Didn't know that…
Talking Heads I want to live, to feel a face that isn't there I…
The Shaws All our friends keep knocking at the door They've asked me…
This Mortal Coil I've gathered all my lifetime memories of you. My lusty sent…
Tommy Oliver I wanna live Live for you Day after day Searching for you Yo…
Various Artists [John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - You're the One That…
Warwick The moment I wake up Before I put on my makeup I…
Woody Wright If the golden streets were stainless steel If the gates of…