Numerous bands and musicians – both domestic and foreign – have been sufficiently moved by Warsaw to feature it in their works…
Sen o Warszawie
Czesław Niemen
A classic 60s anthem from the pen of ‘the Polish Bob Dylan’, this epic ode to Warsaw is steeped in sentimentality. Lustily recited before each Legia home game, hearing 30,000 blokes belting it out makes the hairs on your neck stand on end.
Warszawa
T.Love
This rousing, shout-along, Polish rock classic is best appreciated in the midst of a bout of vodka-fueled psychosis. A raw and unrelenting paean to the capital, the legendary lyrics (‘zielony Żoliborz, pieprzony Żoliborz’ / ‘green Żoliborz, fu*king Żoliborz’) are all but chiseled into local folklore.
Love Will Come Through
Travis
Where do a group of melancholic Scottish gloom-mongers head once they’ve exhausted all filming locations back home? Praga. Shot in the midst of an especially grisly winter, the video to this tune plays out with the Jamnik (‘sausage dog’) building opposite Dw. Wschodni in the background.
Walls Come Tumbling Down
The Style Council
The British rockers famously recorded the vid to Walls Come Tumbling Down in front of a puzzled audience in Akwarium Jazz Club (since demolished to make way for the InterConti) before embarking on a tram ride across bleak mid-80s Praga. “Would you ever go back,” they were asked on returning to Britain. “No,” came the terse reply.
Warszawa
David Bowie
Making the most of a brief stopover at Dw. Gdański, David Bowie set off on foot to Pl. Wilsona where he explored the area and visited a record store. This short foray into Żoliborz was enough to stir him to write Warszawa, an eerie instrumental recorded in 1976.
Warsaw
Joy Division
Inspired by the dark mood of Bowie’s LP, Joy Division originally started out as Warsaw, only changing their name after a band called Warsaw Pakt emerged on the late 70s British scene. Nonetheless, they went ahead and recorded a track called Warsaw. Oddly, rather than being about the Polish capital it’s actually a ‘lyrical biography’ of Rudolf Hess.
