Daily Lyric: NEW YORK (PART OF IT NOW)

What can be written about this city

That hasn’t been written a gazillion times before

In every generation since the city was founded

With the Deal of the Millennium back in 1624

I never considered myself a New Yorker, to be sure

Though I was born here decades ago

(Jeez, doesn’t that make me sound really old now?)

But with pen and notebook, lemme give it a go

It’s been sung about in serenades, rhythm, and blues

Concepts, albums, rock and soul revues

Songs and stories, back in the groove

And now it looks like I’m a part of it

I’m in New York

I’m in New York now

I may still be coming in from the outside

But it’s the newest phase of my life

I’m in New York

I’m in New York now

Whether by accident or by design

It’s where I am, so I’m making it mine

I’m in New York now.

I’ve been everywhere from Sinai to Catalina Island

Cities from Jerusalem to Boston to LA

And I’ve been through this town plenty of times

Though nothing in the world could get me to stay

Now I’ve got all of Lou’s solo albums

All the Ramones classics and both of Joe’s Night and Days

So it feels like I ought to know my way around

Especially since I’m no stranger to the roads and highways

I’ve been the outsider wherever I went

You can hear it in the way I talk, my polyglot accent

I’m hardly the guy that’s right to represent

But now I’m one more part of it

I’m in New York

I’m in New York now

It may have been sung about before

And what’s been sung may be true

But from me it’s a fresh perspective

‘Cuz for me it’s all new

I’m in New York

I’m in New York now

From now on, things can never be the same

I’m making it mine, I’m staking my claim

I’m in New York now.

There’s ten million stories in this legendary city

And who am I to tell any of them

With my outsider’s eye and wanderer’s sense

I can just hear the snobs condescend and condemn

All these urban sophisticates, they come and they go

On any given sunny day in any given park

But this suburban sophist is trying to find words

To elevate his commentary above wiseass remarks

This isn’t the city I once ranted about

All the maddening hassle that made me want to shout

I guess I’ve grown up, matured, filled out

And now I’m prepared to be a part of it

I’m in New York

I’m in New York now

Some might call me a bridge-and-tunnel guy

Still acting like a tourist with my face to the sky

I’m in New York

I’m in New York now

From sky-level dealings to street-level grit

It’s mine now too, I’m a part of it

I’m in New York now.

©2023 The Hesh Inc.

The morning view from a bus on The Helix, formerly five days a week, now once.

On the surface, it may seem to the reader that I am happy and proud to be in the city of my birth, but actually, it's more about resignation ... I couldn't be where I wanted to be, and so now I'm here, and now that I'm here, I may as well make the best of it. Even if I am not happy to be here and would rather be almost anywhere else.

I moved from the East Coast to California, twice. I never thought, with my innate regional biases, that I would take to the West Coast lifestyle like a fish to water, but that is in fact what happened. But both times, I was not able to make a living there, so I reluctantly moved Back East. After bumping along for a little while, I found my niche as an editor for a pharmaceutical advertising agency. I was making a nice living, and I had a reasonable social life. But something was missing. It still is.

Musically, the song borrows from two of my previous "place" songs, "Jersey Shore Baby" and "JRZguyinLA," as well as "Letter to His Girlfriend" and "Ellie's Song." Never played beyond the four walls.