Story Behind The Song

Writing in my journal one day, I realized that there were at least 3 times as many people sharing my address and there were total number in my high school graduating class...lives going on close by, that I knew nothing about. A number of the lyric lines came directly from that page of writing.

Song Description

Understated, slightly jazzy musical setting for observational musings about yearning for connectedness in a city where it's so dangerous to risk it.

Lyrics

there's a woman who lives next door
and when I see her I smile
and I might say hello
but that's as far as it goes
I don't even know her name
though we've been living here
side by side for a year or more
with heavy locks on our doors
and it's strange the way this city
holds so many people
so far apart

most people are good, I guess
but one wolf wearing wool
tears up so many sheep
that it's safer to keep
myself to my own four walls
my friends to a circle
I can be sure of
and I pretend I'm above
the way this city
holds so many people
so far apart

a child wanders next to me
then backs away mistrustfully
'cause I'm the stranger
I could be the danger
lurking in the dark
it breaks my heart

don't ask me what to do
how other people should live
is not my place to say
and I guess it's okay - but
sometimes I wish I could
fix it all so the world
would somehow be my friend
but of course I can't let you in...
that's the way this city
holds so many people
so far apart
so far apart