"You Belong to the City" is a song written by Glenn Frey (of the Eagles) and Jack Tempchin, and recorded by Frey during his solo career. It was written specifically for the television show Miami Vice in 1985.
The song nearly reached the top of the charts, peaking at number two (behind Starship's "We Built This City") on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, although it did reach the top of the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart.
The song, along with Jan Hammer's "Miami Vice Theme", helped the Miami Vice soundtrack album reach the top spot of the Billboard200 chart for 11 weeks in 1985, making it the best-selling album of the year.
While Frey performed this song live when touring with the Eagles, he stopped doing so in 2005. A version of the Eagles performing the song can be found on their DVD Farewell Tour I: Live from Melbourne released that year.
The song was featured in, and indeed written specifically for, the Miami Vice episode "Prodigal Son".
Except for import versions of Frey's 1985 album The Allnighter, the song was not available on a Frey album in the US until his Solo Collection was released in 1995.
All instruments were performed by Frey except the saxophone part played by studio musician Bill Bergman, as well as the drum track by Frey's long-time drummer, Michael Huey. The song was recorded at Fool On The Hill studios, New York City, at the end of 1984. The synthesizer used in this song was a Yamaha
At the beginning of the video, the notes of the introductory saxophone riff are played as Frey sits in his apartment in New York, looking out the window and smoking.
Elsewhere, a woman prepares at home for a night on the town. She has Miami Vice playing on the television, a pattern which is repeated every time a television is shown in the video.
Frey leaves the apartment and walks the streets of town, his journey interspersed with scenes representative of New York nightlife and culture. He crosses paths with the woman when the taxi she is riding in almost runs him over. Later, they meet again when Frey sees her through the window of a pub, then walks in. She sees him and he watches her brush off the advances of another man, but makes no move to approach her himself.
Finally, he gets up to leave, but the woman catches him as he hails a taxi and they decide to walk back to her place together. The video then cuts to Frey leaving her high-rise the next morning. In the final shot of the video, Frey gazes out onto a vista of New York City.
Two versions of the video exist; one with the Miami Vice intercuts and one without.
