“God Bless New York City, My Big Apple Pie” (song by Y’all, 1995)
The folk/county duo “Y’all” (James Dean Jay Byrd and Seven Cheslik-DeMeyer) recorded the song “God bless New York City (my Big Apple pie)” on the album Big Apple Pie (1995). The group lived in New York City at the time, but moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1998.
The song is about New York City, but has a hillbilly tune. Lyrics include:
“From Wall Street up to Harlem and the boroughs far and wide
There’s all these guys with switch-blade knives that’ll kill me by and by
God Bless New York City, my big apple pie.”
OCLC WorldCat record
Big apple pie
Author: Y’all (Musical group)
Music CD, English, 1995
Publisher: Y’All, New York, N.Y., 1995
Contents:
You ain’t woman enough to take my man (1:48)
God bless New York City (my Big Apple pie) (2:20)
Internet Archive
Big Apple Pie
by Yall
Publication date 1995
Digitizing sponsor Kahle-Austin Foundation
Contributor Internet Archive
Language English
Tracklist:
1. You Ain’t Woman Enough To Take My Man
2. God Bless New York City (My Big Apple Pie)
3. Gotta Be A Big Man
4. Paradise
5. The Map Of The U. S. Of A.
6. Graham
7. My Man, Our Horses, And Me
Washington (DC) City Paper
Big Apple Pie
by NATHALIE OP DE BEECK
OCTOBER 27TH, 1995
As the country combo Y’ALL, James Dean Jay Byrd and Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer bring banjos, mandolins, and sweet bluegrass harmonies to the big city. The hoedown-bouncy “God Bless New York City (My Big Apple Pie)” salutes the duo’s home in Hee Haw fashion—but that doesn’t mean the musicians have forgotten their roots.
May 1996, Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine (Easton, PA), “Y’ALL” by P. C., pg. 139:
Here, Y’ALL follows up last year’s unforgettable The Next Big Thing with a splendid little album loosely unified around the country/city theme. (The guys are from the Midwest, and now live and perform in New York City,) After setting the ‘‘aw, shucks’’ tone with a toe-tapping ‘‘You Ain’t Woman Enough To Take My Man,’’ Y’ALL brings on the laughs with ‘‘God Bless New York City (My Big Apple Pie),’’ which contains so many jokes that you have to listen to it repeatedly to catch them all. Here’s one: ‘‘From Wall Street up to Harlem and the boroughs far and wide / There’s all these guys with switch-blade knives that’ll kill me by and by / God Bless New York City, my big apple pie.’’ This with a frenetic country-swing melody.
Newspapers.com
17 July 1997, The Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, MA), Berkshires Week, pg. 14, cols. 1-2:
Y’all: Country camp
(...)
Their signature tune is called “My Man, Our Horses and Me,” and other favorites include “God Bless New York City (My Big Apple Pie)” and “(I Am the) Queen of the Rodeo.”
Newpapers.com
11 February 1998,
Well, the music of the folk/old country duo Y’ALL is made in New York City—members James Dean Jay Byrd and Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer live there, having located to the Big Apple from Texas and Indiana.
But when the lads sing their song God Bless New York City (My Big Apple Pie), the sound is pure hillbilly, even if they’re talking about getting bushwacked by switchblade-wielding thugs.
Newspapers.com
30 March 1999,
(Nashville, TN), “Today’s Hot Spots—Our Picks,” pg. 3D, col. 5:
Don’t be surprised that the folk/old country duo Y’All sing a ditty titled God Bless New York City (My Big Apple Pie), Though the lads, James Dean Jay Byrd and Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, now live in Nashville, they logged time in the Big Apple before relocating here last fall.
17 November 2000, Fort Worth (NY) Star-Telegram, “A show of hams, but also of fine music,” pg. 30:
Y’all (aka Jay Byrd and Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer) performs some fairly outrageous songs in a traditional country style that pays homage to such diverse icons as the Carter Family and the Louvin Brothers. (...) The boys doff their hats whimsically to their former residence in God Bless New York City (My Big Apple Pie).
New York Quotes
Sunday, February 24, 2013
God Bless
“God bless New York City, my Big Apple Pie, Bless all them blarin’ sirens that make my eardrums cry, Bless all them cabs on concrete slabs that’ll kill me by-an’-by, Oh God bless New York City, my Big Apple Pie.”
James Dean Jay Byrd and Steven Cheslik-Desmeyer, The Good Book
YouTube
God Bless New York City (My Big Apple Pie)
Oct 9, 2015
Y’all - Topic
Provided to YouTube by CDBaby
God Bless New York City (My Big Apple Pie) · Y’all
Life in a Box Soundtrack
℗ 2005 Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer and James Dean Jay Byrd
Released on: 2005-01-01