#746: New York Is Closed Tonight by Greenfield
Peak Month: August 1972
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “New York Is Closed Tonight”
Lyrics: “New York Is Closed Tonight”
Barry Greenfield was born in the UK in early 1951. He spent his childhood in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He moved with his parents to Vancouver in 1967. It was in Vancouver he soon attended his first rock ‘n roll concert featuring Herman’s Hermits, The Who and Buffalo Springfield. The concert was a catalyst for buying a guitar and Barry Greenfield soon began writing songs. Then in May 1968, he watched a telecast of NBC’s Tonight Show with featured guests John Lennon and Paul McCartney. On the show they spoke about their new Beatles’ record label, Apple. During the interview, young Barry Greenfield heard them say “Come to London! Come to Apple.” Greenfield took them seriously. He promptly bought a plane ticket to London, UK, and made his way to Apple Records at 3 Saville Road. As he tells it on his website, Barry Greenfield “met John Lennon and was told that his songs were special. Barry called his mom that night from a London payphone to share his joy at the reaction from Apple.” Things started to unfold quickly and he was given an offer off a recording contract with EMI. But Barry Greenfield turned it down. On his website, bio, Greenfield recalls the reason was “he felt that stardom was not a journey he wanted to apply for.” Back in Vancouver, he was focused on going into Law School.