Saturday, March 28, 2020

Miami 2017 (I’ve Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)



Originally written in 1975, when New York City was on the verge of financial collapse. First released on the album ‘Turnstiles’ in 1976. Originally intended as a kind of ’science fiction memory’  (when 2017 seemed impossibly far into the future).
“ Joel stated that the song is titled "Miami 2017" because many New Yorkers retire to Miami and the narrator is telling his grandchildren in the year 2017 about what he saw in the destruction of New York.” (1)
In the decades since, the Joel has performed the song live at benefit concerts - after the 9/11 attacks, and after Hurricane Sandy.

Seen the lights go out Broadway

I saw the Empire State laid low

And life went on beyond the Palisades

They all bought Cadillacs

And left there long ago

They held a concert out in Brooklyn

To watch the island bridges blow

They turned our power down

And drove us underground

But we went right on with the show

I’ve seen the lights go out on Broadway

I saw the ruins at my feet

You know we almost didn’t notice it

We’d seen it all the time on Forty second street

They burned the churches down in Harlem

Like in that Spanish civil war

The flames were everywhere

But no one really cared

It always burned up there before

I’ve seen the lights go out on Broadway

I saw the mighty skyline fall

The boats were waiting at The Battery

The union went on strike

They never sailed at all

They sent a carrier out from Norfolk

And picked the Yankees up for free

They said that Queens could stay

And blew the Bronx away

And sank Manhattan out at sea

You know those lights were bright on Broadway

That was so many years ago

Before we all lived here in Florida

Before the Mafia took over Mexico

There are not many who remember

They say a handful still survive

To tell the world about

The way the lights went out

And keep the memory alive
(2)


As I finish writing this piece (Saturday March 28, the United States of America has become the major outbreak location for COVID-19.
New York City is clearly the epicentre, with over 26,000 cases (so 25% of that total) and 450 deaths. (3)

https://ny.curbed.com/2020/3/14/21179668/coronavirus-new-york-city-news-updates-nyc


1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_2017_(Seen_the_Lights_Go_Out_on_Broadway)

2) https://www.billyjoel.com/song/miami-2017-ive-seen-lights-go-out-broadway-3/?path=music/turnstiles/miami-2017-ive-seen-lights-go-out-broadway

3) Over 1000,000 cases confirmed (compare to 82,000 from China) https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

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February 15 - May 15, 2012 : Supported by a Crafts Projects - Creation and Development Grant

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