Janis Ian — Heart of a City

[Intro] This is a new song. Um, actually somebody was asking me why it's not on a CD last night, and, um, that's because it's only four days old.  [Verse 1] 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" [Chorus] 'Cause the heart of a city is the soul of a man And it runs like a river through the beat of thе land You can tear down a building, you can tear down a park You can strike at a symbol, but you can't touch thе heart [Verse 2] There were ashes on the window sills And ashes on the leaves There were ashes on the tongues Of everybody who still breathed And flames so high they blocked the sky 'Til only cinders flew But the phoenix rises from the ash And I'll be rising, too [Chorus] 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 [Bridge] I heard the lady's torch Across 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 [Chorus] 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 [Outro] Thank you. Thank you.