Paul Simon - How Can You Live In The Northeast Lyrics






We heard the fireworks
Rushed out to watch the sky,
Happy go lucky, 4th of July

How can you live in the Northeast?
How can you live in the South?
How can you live on the banks of a river
When the floodwater pours from the mouth?

How can you be a Christian?
How can you be a Jew?
How can you be a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu?
How can you?

Weak as the winter sun, we enter life on earth.
Names and religion comes just after date of birth.
And everybody gets a tongue to speak,
And everyone hears an inner voice,
A day at the end of the week to wonder and rejoice.

If the answer is infinite light, why do we sleep in the dark?

How can you live in the Northeast?
How can you live in the South?
How can you live on the banks of a river?
When the floodwater pours from the mouth?

How can you tap your body?
Why do you cover your hand?
How can you eat from a rice bowl
When the holy man breaks bread?

We watched the fireworks till they were fireflies.
Followed a path of stars over the endless skies.

How can you live in the Northeast?
How can you live in the South?
How can you build on the banks of a river
When the floodwater pours from the mouth, from the mouth?

I've been given all I wanted,
All the three generations of the book.
I've harvested and I've planted.
I'm wearing my father's old coat.





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Paul Simon How Can You Live In The Northeast Comments
  1. C.... C....

    First impressions.. I like the lyrics, I like Simon's voice, I don't like the electronic noise. Distorted guitar or whatever is going on there. But It may grown on me. This is just a first impression listening to it on a computer.

  2. B.... J....

    First I thought of Paul Simon and Brian Eno as oil and water, so this album came to me as a tasty, refreshing vinagrette...and in just one word, a SURPRISE!!! Thank you so much for posting!

  3. N.... B....

    Ya, Master SIMON really do SAYS...And with such a deeply accomplished and a richly diverse melodic range, no less. For this boy (at, omg, 63 goin' on 13 :) this album first beautifully decorates and then firmly implants it's musical memory-stamp in my brain, thus offering me immediate and forever emotional access to yet another important time in my life thru his song. What. a. gift. Thank you so much Paul, if you happen to read this!

    Oh, and to think this is but ONE of DOZENS of Mr. Simon's albums, the memory and replaying of which takes me right back to...any...life period. For sure I can only say that about a very small handful of artists whose careers stretch way back to those amazing mid-1960's.

  4. s.... ....

    this is a good one.

  5. M.... g....

    Saw him in St. Paul with Sting. was all over the news the day after

  6. J.... D....

    I love this song! So much wisdom and depth behind such simple words