With several friends and associates who’ve given up on Glee — I agree that the second season has been uneven at best — you might have skipped last night’s finale (or at least relegated it to future summer DVR viewing), in which the kids of New Directions were in New York City to compete in Nationals.

Though the Big Apple provided a nice change of backdrop, the singing troupe of McKinley High couldn’t very well do “Empire State Of Mine” a second time, already featured in last fall’s premiere episode. Thus, the way was cleared for this inspired mashup of Madonna’s “I Love New York” with “New York, New York” from the musical, On The Town.

Who would have thought anyone would ever cover Madonna’s “I Love New York”? I still love her original punk-rock demo of the track, different from the danced-up version that appeared on Confessions On A Dancefloor. You can find it tacked on to the end of her I’m Gonna Tell You A Secret documentary.

Purchase Glee Cast – “I Love New York/New York, New York” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.