Heart Of A City

Janis Ian Heart of a City (Live) Lyrics:
[Spoken:]
This is a new song. Um, actually somebody was asking me why it's not on a
CD, last night. And, um, it's because it's only 4 days old.]

[Sung:]
There stood the observation deck,
Where none had stood before.
We stared down at the smoking ground,
And one man took the floor.
He said, "I'm just five blocks from home.
I was in it at the start.
And they might have touched the flesh and bone,
But they did not strike the heart."

'Cause the heart of a city,
Is the soul of a man.
And it runs like a river,
Through the beat of the land.
You can tear down a building,
You can tear down a park.
You can strike at a symbol,
But you can't touch the heart.

[Applause.]

There were ashes on the windowsills,
And ashes on the leaves.
There were ashes on the tongues
Of everybody who still breathed.
And flames so high they blocked the sky,
Till only cinders flew.
But the Phoenix rises from the ash,
And I am risin', too.

[ Find more Lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.org/AzS9 ]
The heart of a city,
Is the soul of a man.
And it runs like a river,
To the beat of the land.
You can tear down a building,
You can tear down a park.
You can strike at a symbol,
But you can't touch the heart.

I heard the lady's torch,
'Cross the harbor calling me.
And a hundred thousand immigrants
Who came here to be free.
And I thought about the cowards,
Who were claiming victory.
Well, if you see them on the street,
You can tell 'em this for me,

The heart of a city,
Is the soul of a man.
And it runs like a river,
Through the length of the land.
They can tear down a building,
They can tear down a park.
They can tear down a symbol,
But they can't touch the heart.
They can strike at a symbol,
But they can't touch the heart.
They can strike at the symbol,
But they can't touch the heart.

[Applause, shouting.]
Thank you.