Eliot Fitzgerald - The City Fell Asleep Video
Recently, the songs I've been writing have been fairly apocalyptic in nature. I don't know if it's the seemingly endless decline of our culture, the horrific destructive capabilities of our modern day weapons, or just the post-modern desire to turn all metaphysical truth into myth. Regardless, I think I've just been thinking a lot about when Jesus is going to come back and finally save us from this mess.
"The City Fell Asleep" is a song/hymn about the seemingly anti-climactic end of the world. T. S. Eliot ends his poem, "The Hollow Men", with this stanza:
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
This poem was the impetus for writing this song. My friend Matt (and bass player/fellow songwriter) and I were sitting in my living room and decided on a whim to go and film this song on top of a parking garage just east of downtown Austin. We thought it was a fitting context for the song. I hope you enjoy the video of the song. Below are the lyrics:
I woke up late last night to find the city fell asleep
After years of standing proudly it finally stopped to rest its feet
And as the buildings lay around me I stepped out on to the empty streets
The streets weren’t gold or silver, they were as black as black could be
They were a harrowing reminder of the death inside of me
That’s always present and pursuing the day I’ll set death free
And I’ll keep running when the world falls asleep
While the world falls asleep
And I’ll keep screaming when the world falls asleep
And the world is asleep tonight
I met a girl last fall that stole my lonesome heart away
And now the sun keeps getting brighter as it passes every day
And all that’s left to say is thank you as I fall upon my face and pray
And all the walls could crash around me, the mountains fall into the sea
And though Death will overtake me there’s not a soul who’ll disagree
That no destruction e’er created could take this love away from me.
And I’ll keep loving when the world falls asleep
While the world falls asleep
And I’ll keep singing when the world falls asleep
And the world is asleep tonight
I sat down to write a song but my pen ran out of ink
And now wine and wine is everywhere, but not a drop to drink
And with the clocks still rushing forward, I fear I have no time to think
I am the prophet in the desert that screams the kingdom is at hand
I am the feet that pace the shoreline of the city in the sand
And as the waves come crash around me I will praise the Lord that I can stand
For there’s no joy left here in Mudville once the straw men burn away
There’s just the painful realization that our feet made out of clay
Will never reach the golden city before our eyes fail and turn to grey
And as the trumpets sound around me, as the heavens start to part
As all His Glory triumphs forward to awake our sleeping hearts
I’ll close my eyes and lift my hands and tear my worthless pride apart.
And I’ll be waiting when the world falls asleep
While the world falls asleep
And I’ll be flying when the world falls sleep
And the world is asleep tonight.
"The City Fell Asleep" is Copyright 2008, Cody Kimmel