My city is bleeding like a boxer in defeat
Down on one knee
For God’s sake, man, stop the fight
Leave a man with a little bit of dignity
It’s a bitter wind down the avenues of my soul
December and it sure is cold
In New York
New York, New York

I lost a lot of my Irish brothers on September 11
They’re ghosts now up in Hell’s Kitchen
I’ll see ‘em again, I hope, soon enough in heaven
Half the cops look like my uncles
Yeah, my mother’s name was O’Rourke
I feel part of this place, I’m alive and well, thank God
And living in New York
New York, New York

I went once to the top of the World Trade Center
To look down at the lights
It felt strange, I didn’t like it
I’ve always been afraid of heights
Maybe fear is a premonition of things to come
Now they’re gonna build another one
Life goes on in New York
New York, New York

New York has changed, hey, New York hasn’t changed at all
Someone’s going out of business, someone else will open up a new one
Rents were down then up again, higher than ever last fall
Late September, man, it’s getting dark early
There won’t be many more days this mild
Let’s take a walk by the river, this city is beautiful
Beautiful & wild
It’s New York, New York
Yeah, New York, New York

My kitchen’s the size of a postage stamp
But it’s got a view of the bridge
I never cook in there anyway
There’s nothin’ but Chinese take-out leftover in the fridge
It’s too hot, too cold, too crowded, too tuff
But once you live here no place else is good enough
It’s New York, New York
It’s New York, New York

In a five story walkup with narrow stairs in Little Italy
New York opened a door and I walked through it
Now everything’s changed forever inside of me

Buildings that are lived in, streets that are walked on
The smell of food cooking, static from a radio
Salsa from a storefront luncheonette
Garden in a vacant lot, streets of longing & hope
This is New York
Yeah, New York, New York

Up in Woodlawn in the Bronx, mothers shouting from the kitchen
“It’s time to come in now, it’s getting dark”
I don’t care what anyone tells ya
You don’t go walking alone at night in Central Park
Yeah, this is where I’m gonna live my life
This is where I’m gonna live and die
Right here in New York
New York, New York

Are you with me so far? Good...

Dark beauty is everywhere, man, the girls I see on the street
They look you straight in the eye as if to say
What ‘chu gonna do about it baby
I’m in a hurry, can’t you see
Spanish girls, Italian, Black & White
So much beauty it’ll keep you awake at night
It’s New York, New York
New York, New York

Morning coffee by the window
Looking out onto a village street
Walking home down 7th Avenue past St. Vincent’s
Life & Death in close proximity
Hey, a symphony of traffic, airbrakes and horns
Celebrated the morning that my son was born
As if to say
Welcome to New York, welcome to New York, Jess

Meet me at the Cuban-Chinese diner, strange combination, don’t you think
And the waitress, man, she’s exotic
I look into her dreamy brown eyes and my heart sinks
Hey, just ‘cuz you’re not in it doesn’t mean the parade comes to a stop
I shoulda been an Irish cop
Right here in New York
New York, New York

An electric guitar from 4 stories up echoes up and down the block
It’s Patti Smith, rock ‘n roll poet, with her new boyfriend
True love, the early years
I seen ’em out taking a walk
What ever happened to Mickey Rourke?
They’ll leave you to your vices here
They leave a man alone
In New York
It’s New York, New York

The subway’s hot and dirty and some days
There’s no peace and quiet anywhere
A guy says “Give me all your money or I’ll kill ya”
Hey man, haven’t you got a Mother somewhere?
If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere
But you can’t help feeling this is the center of the fair
This is New York
It’s New York, New York

There’s a fountain in the park at 8th Avenue & Bleecker
I’d take my son down there to play
Now & then a breeze would come in off the river
Sometimes we’d get a car
The beach is not so far away
After a thunderstorm the temperature drops
Turn down that radio or else I’m calling the cops
New York, New York
New York, New York

Coming down Broadway in a taxi
Man, the mystery and the glory
Like a tourist seeing it for the first time
Our own little West Side Story

He sent forth a dove and a raven
And the dove returned, but the raven flew away
Ended up dazed wondering what hit him
In the middle of 42nd St. on New Year’s Day
Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York

In our hearts we all long to return home one day
To the place we lost our way
To New York
Hey, welcome to New York
New York, New York