New York City, where all your girls are pretty
All your men are running from somewhere
Making a name for themselves
Are you running from something or did you come from nothing?
Are you testing the Lord with the cards that you've been dealt?

Where do you find peace in the middle of the city?
Hard enough to find a friend when everyone's starting over again
I feel like a child in a world that seems shapeless
When I am most afraid is when I get back in

Yeah, you came here with nothing and you leave here with the same
Sometimes the road that you were walking on is going the wrong way
Just come as you are
When you leave, you will be changed
'Cause every day is a gift, every day is a gift
And it's all slipping away

Now if you leave, will you feel defeated?
Cause you didn't take from the city as much as the city took from you
What if you had stayed, what if you'd done what you were thinking?
I'd rather give up on life in the city than have given up on life, too

It must be hard to live in the midst of all those buildings
Where the changing of the wind don't seem a miracle at all
Don't bother end to end, it's a maze of bad habits
Where the rabbit in the hat is just a train in the fog

Yeah, you came here with nothing and you leave here with the same
Sometimes the road that you were walking on is going the wrong way
Just come as you are
When you leave, you will be changed
'Cause every day is a gift, every day is a gift
And it's all slipping away

Follow your dreams, but beware of the illusions
You won't fill the void in your heart with a bank statement and a car
What is it worth, what is it worth?
Have you given up on freedom?
You spent your life earning the keys to set you free when you were free all along

New York City, where all your girls are pretty
All your men are running from somewhere
Making a name for themselves
Are you running from something, or did you come from nothing?
Are you testing the Lord with the cards that you've been dealt?

                                                                            - New York City by Among Savages from the album The Wanderings of an Illustrative Mind