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HEART OF A CITY
(Janis Ian)
There stood the observation deck
Where none had stood before
We stared down at the smoking ground
And one man took the floor
He said "You know, I'm just five blocks from home"
"I was in it from the start"
"And they might have struck the flesh and bone"
"But they did not strike the heart"
'Cause the heart of a city
Is the soul of a man
And it runs like a river
Through the heart of the land
You can tear down a building
You can tear down a park
You can strike at a symbol
But you can't touch the heart.
There were ashes on the windowsills
And ashes on the leaves
There were ashes on the tongues
Of everybody that still breathed.
And flames so high they blocked the sky
'Til only cinders flew
But the Phoenix rises from the ash
And I'll be rising too
'Cause the heart of a city
Is the soul of a man
And it runs like a river
Through the heart of the land
You can tear down a building
You can tear down a park
You can strike at a symbol
But you can't touch the heart.
I heard the lady's torch
Across the harbor calling me
And a hundred thousand immigrants
Who came here to be free
And I thought about the cowards
Who were claiming victory
Well, if you see them on the street
You can tell them this for me
'Cause the heart of a city
Is the soul of a man
And it runs like a river
Through the heart of the land
You can tear down a building
You can tear down a park
You can strike at a symbol
But you can't touch the heart.
NO SURE WAY
(Loudon Wainwright III_
So I started out on High Street
Had to travel into town.
Like some Orpheus descending
Through a turnstile underground.
From Brooklyn Heights into Manhattan
Which was where I had to be.
Now you have take the 'A' train
There's no more service on the 'C'.
And when you are under water
Sometimes the mind plays tricks
And there beneath the East River
It felt like the River Styx.
The first stop was Broadway-Nassau
A few passengers got in
We all sat, no-one was standing
There somewhere we'd never been,
They say Heaven's high above us
And that Hell is far below.
But inside that subway tunnel
There was no sure way to know.
Chamber Street, a closed ghost station.
Passing through we seemed to glide
Like prisoners inside compartments
On some House of Horrors ride.
The walls were tiled
I hadn't noticed.
It seemed so antiseptic, clean.
But we knew what we were under.
The lights were on
That seemed obscene.
And there I saw the three initials
W, T and then C.
I'd survived, somehow was living
But somewhere I shouldn't be
At the next stop the doors opened
I emerged up above ground
I was in another country.
Elysian fields? No, Chinatown.
They say Heaven's high above us
And that Hell's not far below.
But standing on Canal Street
There was no sure way to know.
Standing on Canal Street
There was no sure way to go.
(Janis Ian)
There stood the observation deck
Where none had stood before
We stared down at the smoking ground
And one man took the floor
He said "You know, I'm just five blocks from home"
"I was in it from the start"
"And they might have struck the flesh and bone"
"But they did not strike the heart"
'Cause the heart of a city
Is the soul of a man
And it runs like a river
Through the heart of the land
You can tear down a building
You can tear down a park
You can strike at a symbol
But you can't touch the heart.
There were ashes on the windowsills
And ashes on the leaves
There were ashes on the tongues
Of everybody that still breathed.
And flames so high they blocked the sky
'Til only cinders flew
But the Phoenix rises from the ash
And I'll be rising too
'Cause the heart of a city
Is the soul of a man
And it runs like a river
Through the heart of the land
You can tear down a building
You can tear down a park
You can strike at a symbol
But you can't touch the heart.
I heard the lady's torch
Across the harbor calling me
And a hundred thousand immigrants
Who came here to be free
And I thought about the cowards
Who were claiming victory
Well, if you see them on the street
You can tell them this for me
'Cause the heart of a city
Is the soul of a man
And it runs like a river
Through the heart of the land
You can tear down a building
You can tear down a park
You can strike at a symbol
But you can't touch the heart.
NO SURE WAY
(Loudon Wainwright III_
So I started out on High Street
Had to travel into town.
Like some Orpheus descending
Through a turnstile underground.
From Brooklyn Heights into Manhattan
Which was where I had to be.
Now you have take the 'A' train
There's no more service on the 'C'.
And when you are under water
Sometimes the mind plays tricks
And there beneath the East River
It felt like the River Styx.
The first stop was Broadway-Nassau
A few passengers got in
We all sat, no-one was standing
There somewhere we'd never been,
They say Heaven's high above us
And that Hell is far below.
But inside that subway tunnel
There was no sure way to know.
Chamber Street, a closed ghost station.
Passing through we seemed to glide
Like prisoners inside compartments
On some House of Horrors ride.
The walls were tiled
I hadn't noticed.
It seemed so antiseptic, clean.
But we knew what we were under.
The lights were on
That seemed obscene.
And there I saw the three initials
W, T and then C.
I'd survived, somehow was living
But somewhere I shouldn't be
At the next stop the doors opened
I emerged up above ground
I was in another country.
Elysian fields? No, Chinatown.
They say Heaven's high above us
And that Hell's not far below.
But standing on Canal Street
There was no sure way to know.
Standing on Canal Street
There was no sure way to go.
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