From the recording Windows On The World
I wrote this after 9/11. A person from my high school was killed and I went to the memorial. It just seemed like it must be possible for us to all come together with that intensity under way better circumstances.
For those not from the NY region, one of the weird things about that time was that the weather was stunningly beautiful for weeks afterwards, just crystal clear cloudless days one after another, which was such a contrast to how it felt.
As we approach the 10 year anniversary it feels very present again.
Lyrics
Windows on the World
VERSE 1
I know why the sky was so blue, Heaven’s doors were open wide
As three thousand souls came flying through,
stunned to find themselves on the other side
I know why the rain never fell, it was falling from our eyes
I don’t know what the time will tell, but I know nothing can disguise
CHORUS
That it’s time for a change,
look out the windows on the world and you rearrange
It’s time that we know, we live in a glass house, in a glass world
And there is nowhere to go
VERSE 2
In churches mosques and temples, all around this town
We say goodbye to our family and our friends
Nothing to even lay in the ground, it’s so hard to see where this ends
We look at our children and we so want to say,
everything’s gonna be alright
We’ll build a world where a clear blue day
doesn’t mean they can’t sleep at night
BRIDGE
People all around me, they come tumbling down like buildings
Like towers that we thought would always stand so high
In these times that make no sense, holding days that last forever
We are crushed beneath the beauty of the clear blue sky
VERSE 3
Now I’ll never tell you that I think it’s right
But someone’s gotta ask why those men
Left their countries, left their families, and flew all the way here to die
An eye for an eye’s gonna leave us all in the dark
Blind to the truth, no where is a world apart
Look out the windows, tell me what do you see
Where are the twin towers of justice and liberty?
CHORUS