Land of the Living

[kivrin]

In the last few months I've heard several September 11 songs, and by far my favorite is Lucy Kaplansky's. You can hear a sizeable clip - about the first 75% of the song - here. It's too bad that the clip cuts off when it does because the last verse may be my favorite, in that it acknowledges the internal divisions and resentments that have cropped up in the aftermath of the attack.

When I saw Dave Wilcox at the Birchmere he did a September 11 song that kept reiterating a line about 'we stand united,' and every time it came around I had the same convulsive feeling of total contradiction, the urge to shout "yeah, beating up Sikh and Muslim Americans is a major uniting gesture! We can all feel warm and fuzzy about that!"

Lucy doesn't say anything that makes me want to shout "NO!" like that. Her song just feels... true. Sad and hopeful and true.


LAND OF THE LIVING

(Lucy Kaplansky, R. Litvin, c.2002, ASCAP, administered by Bug Music)

Late afternoon, back in New York town
Waking up as the wheels touch down
Pick up my guitar and walk away
Wish I was going home to stay

Line of taxis, I wait my turn
Tar and asphalt, exhaust and fumes
Beside the road on a patch of ground
Taxi drivers are kneeling down

Beneath the concrete sky I watch them pray
While the people of the world hurry on their way
I think they're praying for us all today
And the stories that fell from the sky that day

CHORUS:
This is the land of the living
This is the land that's mine
She still watches over Manhattan
She's still holding onto that torch for life

Back home fire's still burning, I can see it in the air
Pictures of faces posted everywhere
They say "hazel eyes and chestnut hair
Mother of two, missing down there"

I pass the firemen on duty tonight
Carpets of flowers in candlelight
And thank you in a child's scrawl
Taped to the 3rd Street firehouse wall

There's shadows of the lost on the faces I see
Brothers and strangers on this island of grief
There's death in the air but there's life on this street
There's life on this street

CHORUS
This is the land of the living
This is the land that's mine
She still watches over Manhattan
She's still holding onto that torch for life

Got in a taxi, said "Hudson St. please"
He started the meter and he looked at me
I glanced at his name on the back of his seat
And I looked out the window at the ghost-filled streets

I noticed cuts on his hand and his face
I said "You're bleeding, are you okay?"
He said "I'm not so good, got beat up today
And I'm not one of them no matter what they say

I'm just worried about my family
My wife's in the house and she's scared to leave"
And I didn't know what to say
I didn't know what to say
But I said a prayer for him anyway

CHORUS
This is the land of the living
This is the land that's mine
She still watches over Manhattan
She's still holding onto that torch for life
Holding on for life