This discussion started on Engage West Palm Beach after I posted a picture of our West Palm Beach City reporter Tony Doris working hard at a City Commission meeting.
The question was asked what he was listening to, and it was revealed that it was Chris Roog’s “Greatest Hits from Economic Development”
Chris Roog is West Palm Beach’s Director of Economic Development.
This obviously leads to the question. What would Chris Roog’s playlist sound like? Here we go…
1. Starship – We Built This City
This is the unofficial anthem of the City of West Palm Beach! Obviously song #1 on the playlist.
2. Bruce Springsteen – Working on the highway
I’m sure this is referring to the upcoming S. Dixie Hwy project. Kudos to everyone who is working on the many, many road projects in West Palm Beach!
Friday night’s pay night, guys fresh out of work / Talking about the weekend, scrubbing off the dirt / Some heading home to their families, some looking to get hurt / Some going down to Stovell wearing trouble on their shirts
Working on the highway, laying down the blacktop / Working on the highway, all day long I don’t stop / Working on the highway, blasting through the bedrock / Working on the highway, working on the highway
3. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Downtown
A downtown Anthem – so epic that Hilton West Palm Beach marketing team had to create their own epic parody of the song.
4. Talking Heads: Don’t Worry About The Government
I see the clouds that move across the sky / I see the wind that moves the clouds away / It moves the clouds over by the building / I pick the building that I want to live in
I smell the pine trees and the peaches in the woods / I see the pine cones that fall by the highway / That’s the highway that goes to the building / I pick the building that I want to live in
It’s over there, it’s over there / My building has every convenience / It’s gonna make life easy for me / It’s gonna be easy to get things done / I will relax alone with my loved ones
Some civil servants are just like my loved ones / They work so hard and they try to be strong / I’m a lucky guy to live in my building / They own the buildings to help them along
5. Owl City: Designer Skyline
Affection, the gifted architect Is making a draft and beautiful design / The options and possibilities / Are endless when we connect and re-align / Collections of books and documents / Arise and parade around my cluttered desk / Re-working the math and measurements / Until I’m convinced these plans are picturesque / Like mountains in the Midwest
Reaction creates the columns dark / And wide like the roads around West Palm Beach / The structures begin to take their shape / Before I’ve designed the public monorail / The turnpike and high-speed motorway / Connect and enclose the quaint suburban streets / The airport, the broad suspension bridge / The lake and the beach, where several rivers meet / Compounded from the spreadsheet
A city sparkles in the night / How can it glow so bright? / The neighborhoods surround a soft fluorescent light / Designer skyline in my head / Abstract and still well-read / You went from numbered lines to buildings overhead
6. Frank Sinatra – My Kind Of Town
Now this could only happen to a guy like me / And only happen in a town like this / So may I say to each of you most gratef’lly / As I throw each one of you a kiss
This is my kind of town, West Palm Beach is / My kind of town, West Palm Beach is / My kind of people, too / People who smile at you
And each time I roam, West Palm Beach is / Calling me home, West Palm Beach is / Why I just grin like a clown / It’s my kind of town
7. BTO – Taking care of business
They get up every morning / From the alarm clock’s warning / Take the eight-fifteen into the city / There’s a whistle up above
And people pushing, people shoving / And the girls who try to look pretty / And if your train’s on time / You can get to work by nine / And start your slaving job to get your pay / If you ever get annoyed / Look at me, I’m self-employed / I love to work at nothing all day
And I’ve been takin’ care of business, every day / Takin’ care of business, every way / I’ve been takin’ care of business, it’s all mine / Takin’ care of business and working overtime / Work out
8. “Hard Hat and a Hammer” by Alan Jackson
This is a song that goes out to all the construction workers who are working on building the new West Palm Beach
Lace-up boots and faded jeans / A homemade sandwich, and a half a jug of tea / Average Joe, average pay / Same ol’ end, same ol’ day
But there’s nothing wrong with a hard hat and a hammer / Kind of glue that sticks this world together / Hands of steel and cradle of the Promised Land/ God bless the working man
9. Elvis: West Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce
Even if we’re focused one economic development… there’s still room for fun in the sun. (Liberties have been taken on the name of the city!)
Girls on the beaches commit a sin / If they don’t show yards and yards of skin / Preceding message to you has been / Through the courtesy of the West Palm Beach Chamber Of Commerce
Maybe your yen is for tennis courts / Maybe romancing is in your thoughts / Enjoy all outdoor and indoor sports / Through the courtesy of the West Palm Beach Chamber Of Commerce
Any male in West Palm Beach who is not pursuing a cute female / Will automatically land in jail / That’s the law in West Palm Beach
Pretty girls eighteen to twenty-three / If their technique is not what it should be / Get love instruction for free from me / Through the courtesy of the West Palm Beach Chamber Of Commerce
10. Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball
And finally… we can’t have new until we get rid of the old… here is the unofficial song of the Old City Hall site