Popcorn and lemonade
5:52 just barely made
Safely seated, fare’s been paid
I’m on my way home from the city
Rush hour, tunnel speed
One hungry mouth to feed
This is what I do to succeed
Now that I took a good job in the city
Zipping across the meadowlands
Being here, soul understands
Dreaming, scheming, laying plans
On my way home from the city
Self, shelf, sky above
Moon, June, mourning dove
Divorced, middle-aged, still seeking love
Between work days in the city
I wanted to write a meaningful song
About what it’s like to be moving along
After getting through a love gone wrong
But I can’t seem to get it right
I wanted to find a creative way
Of expressing what I need to say
It was brewing in my mind all day
But it ain’t happening tonight.
Buses, trains, automobiles
Rolling home on their rails and wheels
You have no idea how good this feels
My way home from the city
Under the highways, down the tracks
Urban twisters, thundercracks
Let your backbone slip, do the jump back jack
I’m on my way home from the city
I wanted to come up with some killer lines
And twist ‘em around to make ‘em rhyme
Wrapped around a meaning so sublime
So I coaxed myself to write
But the well of deep meaning is dry
No matter what kinds of tricks I try
I can’t explain, I wish I knew why
But it ain’t happening tonight.
Looking for love in the lost and found
Searching for something at the speed of sound
Breaking the barriers, boomtown bound
Such is my new life in the city
I try to awaken my sleeping muse
And my dozing feet in their walking shoes
I’m shaking off my bad job blues
With this good job in the city
There’s one more song that needs to be sung
‘Bout how my strings attached have been unstrung
‘Bout how I’m getting old but I still feel young
And how finally things are finally going right
But the train keeps on rolling home
Clacking like a schizoid metronome
And so I end this song before it becomes a tome
‘Cause it ain’t happening tonight.
©2023 The Hesh Inc.
This one goes back to my first days commuting to and from the city once I started working in Manhattan as an editor for a pharmaceutical advertising agency. I was still living at the Jersey Shore and the train trip in each direction could take up to 2 hours. At the end of a long day at work, getting on the train and taking my seat often brought a sense of relief. However, the commuting lifestyle took a big bite out of my creative endeavors. I would try to write on the train, but at the end of a long day, I didn't always have the energy. While the pandemic of 2020-2022 was not a welcome development in and of itself, one blessing in disguise was that I no longer had to commute. However, even without the commute, at the end of a long day at work, it is rare that I have the presence of mind to pay attention to my music or writing. I wish I could change that. Time is short and getting shorter with each passing day.
Never recorded or performed ... it remains one of my lyrics-only songs.