Dar Williams Mortal City Lyrics

Mortal City Lyrics




She never should have rented this apartment in the Mortal City 
The cold
comes though evey crack she puts her hand up to 
The radiator's broken, so
she has to use electric heat. 

And tonight was the first date with the
brother of the guy she worked next to 
He lived a couple streets awa 
He
listened, he had things to say 
She asked him up for dinner sometime

Sometime was tonight 

The radio gave updates on the ice storm while
she made the dinner 
They said, from all the talk, you shouldn't drive or
even walk 
And this just in -- We're asking everyone to turn off their power

They need it at the hostpital. 

She ran around pulling plugs, then
she called him up 
Maybe now they shouldn't meet, he said that he would
brave the streets 
She met him at the door with a blanket and a
candle
Saying, I heard it on the radio, I had to turn my power off.


He said you're not the only one, the streets were dark tonight, 
It
was like another century
With dim lamps and candles lighting up the icy
trees and the clouds and a covered moon. 

She said what kind of people
make a city 
Where you can't see the sky and you can't feel the ground?


I tell you something, I have this feeling that this city's dying 
He
said, it's not dying it's the people who are dying 
She said, yes yes I think
the people are dying and nobody cares. 

We had all this technology our
dreams were bold and vague 
And then one city got bad planners, one city got
the plague. 

He asked why did you move here? She said, for the job

For the job and I've been so lonely here, so lonely 
There's no one I
can talk to, you know I don't even know your brother. 

He smiled and
said, sometimes at night I walk out by the river 
The city's one big town,
the water turns it upside down 
people found this city because they love
other people 
They want their secretaries, they want their power lunches.


And think about tonight, I heard the same newscast you did 
I
unplugged everything, I looked out the window 
And I think the city heard, I
watched as one by one the lights went off 
So they could give their power to
the hospital 

They ate in silence while she thought this over, 
They
sat together in a dark room in the Mortal City 
Shifting in their blankets
so they wouldn't get spaghetti on them. 

Then came the awkward moment
after dinner, what to do, 
The ice was still falling, the streets were still
dangerous 
The cabs were not running and this neighborhood was not the
greatest. 

They both looked at the space where a couch would've been

She felt her stomach sink, she felt like she could hardly think 

She
said, I never should have rented this apartment in the Mortal City 
The cold
comes through eve crack I put my hand up to 
The radiator doesn't work, I
have to use electric heat. 

That settled it, they would both sleep in
her bed 
It was a matter of survival. 

She brought out teeshirts,
sweatshirts, sweatpants, socks, hats 
If there was ever any thought of what
would happen in that bed tonight 
There wa no question now 
They could
barely move 
They were wrapped up like ornaments waiting for another season.


They lay in bed, they listened to the pelting ice 
He said my
brother's not a bad guy, he's just quiet 
I wished you liked this city

She said, maybe I do. 

I think I have a special kind of hearing
tonight 
I hear the neighbors upstairs 
I hear my heart beating 
I
hear one thousand hearts beating at the hospital 
And one thousand hearts by
their bedsides waiting 
Saying that's my love in the white gown, 

We
are not lost in the Mortal City 
We are not lost in the Mortal City