From my vantage point in the center of town I while my day away
In the front seat of a first prize car I feel like I’m on display
I’m getting paid for this work, so I better not complain
So as I guard the car I watch the endless human train
A hundred and twenty-seven brands of people in the streets
Back and forth in buses in their cars or on their feet
Trying to beat the clock and get to where they’re going on time
Or breezing around calmly in complete peace of mind
Cotton polyester nylon or denim
Satin silk and leather on either her or him
High heels low heels or no heels too
Sandals boots or sneakers every kind of shoe
Hair is spiked or slicked down or just left there to grow
My own hair stands on end when I see
how some of these strangers go
Styles that range from humdrum to ridiculously shocking
From working class to formal to outrageously rocking
Everyone
Is a total stranger
I hope I see
A familiar face
There has
To be
Someone to keep me company
‘Cause time moves so slow when you’re in one place
In the center of the world there are people of every kind
I sit back and wonder if there’s anything on their minds
Music or literature or art or politics
Or money or just plain work that makes the whole world tick
The world is shaped like a grenade and we’re sitting on the pin
But the locals don’t think twice ‘bout a crazy world they’re in
Most of them will pass on in the blink of an eye
But here I sit watching all humanity go by
©2023 The Hesh Inc.
Jerusalem is an excellent place for the vaunted pastime of people watching. When I wrote this, in May 1988, I had just finished my army service and had gotten a stopgap job guarding a lottery prize, a fancy car, in the middle of downtown, and it afforded me a huge, ever-changing gallery of passersby to entertain me. Of course, me being me, I began to wax philosophical over this, and this song was the result. Musically, I had Big Country's "The Seer" playing in my mind as I wrote these lyrics. (It might be noted that ever since those days, the best people-watching zones have shifted from downtown to the Mahane Yehuda market and the Emek Refaim neighborhood. Downtown has all but dried up as a shopping and social scene.)
Comments