While the city of Seattle, citizens, and developers battle over the pace

Published 11:18 pm Monday, September 29, 2014

While the city of Seattle, citizens, and developers battle over the pace and scale of new developments, the exodus of long-time residents—like those recently displaced from the Williamsburg Court Apartments downtown—to affordable homes outside the city’s urban center continues. The price of development has long been a subject for songs, but the old canon—anchored by Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi,” the Talking Heads’ “Nothing But Flowers,” and the Pretenders’ “My City Was Gone”—focuses on sprawl rather than on the displacement of people caused by the building of expensive high-density housing. A new canon is needed. Here are a few songs you can play in your U-Haul as those big yellow cranes fade from view.

“Cashout” Reminding us that gentrification has been with us longer than Seattle’s latest boom, this 2001 Fugazi track focuses on the collusion of city officials and developers in the band’s Washington, D.C., stomping grounds. “Development wants this neighborhood gone, so the city just wants the same,” Ian MacKaye intones in a hushed verse. Later he explodes, “Everybody wants somewhere.”

“The Hackney Gentrification Song” Written as a reaction to the rampant development that preceded the 2012 Olympics in London, this Robin Grey ballad laments the loss of an artists’ community. “Now my life is in bags and my heart’s on my sleeve,” Grey sings. Former punk denizens of the now-gone Funhouse will find solace in its verse. “The first place I really felt home in London/Knock it down, build flats, knock it down.”

“Kicked Out of Capitol Hill” Less reflective than the others on this list, Don’t Talk to the Cops’ approach to the pressure of progress in Seattle is downright angry. “They kickin’ me off of my block, gonna kick me off of my block,” blurts El Mizell on the track, which was released in the midst of the current Capitol Hill building boom. “Gonna raise the price of my rent/If ya poor, ya might get shot.” This song is available on DtttC’s $wamp Jams II mixtape, available for download at the group’s website.

“Jacksonville” This recent single finds Ryan Adams lamenting the loss of his hometown’s identity, equating it to the loss of a lover. “They’re tearin’ down another building in my hometown,” he sings. “It’s like I don’t know it anymore.” Highly recommended for those who would simply like to romanticize the past they’re leaving behind. On the downside, this track is probably getting a lot of spins in the shiny new towers that helped jack your rent.

mbaumgarten@seattleweekly.com

Art Credit: Adapted from “Money” designed by Christopher Smith and “Paint Palette” designed by Diego Naive from the thenounproject.com