Lucy Kaplansky

 

CREDITS 

Lucy: acoustic guitar, piano, harmony 
Duke Levine: acoustic and electric guitars, baritone electric guitar, National guitar, mandola, mandolin 
Mike Rivard: bass 
Ben Wittman: drums and percussion, harmonium 
Richard Shindell: harmony 
John Gorka: harmony 
Engineered, mixed and mastered by Chris Rival at Middleville Studio, 
North Reading, MA 
Ben's drums and harmonium recorded at Wittman Studio, Toronto 

Photos: front cover by Beowulf Sheehan 
All other photos by Lucy K. and Rick Litvin 
CD design by Lucy 

Thank you: Rick and Molly Litvin, Steve Lurie, Duke, Mike, Ben and Chris, and all my Patrons 

Songs by Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Litvin,  ASCAP, administered by BMG, except:  

"These Days" by Jackson Browne, Open window Music, ASCAP;                                                                                                                                                                                        "Ford Econoline" by Nanci Griffith, Irving Music, BMI ;

 "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" by Lee Hazlewood, Criterion Music Corp, ASCAP;                                                                                                                         

"Gold Watch and Chain" by A.P. Carter, APRS, BMI 

Follow lucy on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter www.lucykaplansky.com 
c. 2022 Lucyricky records

 

LYRICS FOR ORIGINAL SONGS (ALL SONGS BY LUCY KAPLANSKY AND RICK LITVIN) 

LAST DAYS OF SUMMER 

Last days of summer are coming on fast

Was hoping August wouldn't end, but it never lasts

She’s filling boxes with blankets books and clothes 

No longer a child, unafraid ready to go 

It’s been 18 years since we fixed up that empty room 

Pale yellow walls, pretty white crib, she’d be lying there soon 

Then a bigger bed, games of pretend and books and friends 

Come September gonna be empty again 

CHORUS: 

After 18 years, how can it be just one week more 

Till we carry those boxes to her new room on the seventh floor 

Across from the park where she played pretend, climbed and dreamed 

Where she flew high on the swings 

Now she’s gonna fly on her own wings 

No longer pretending with her brand new dreams 

 

I remember the day I told my mom I wanna sing 

She said don’t be be a fool for a little girl dream 

So I packed my things, looked back once, never did again

Afraid and defiant, was just 18 then 
 

I know she’ll come back but never always again 

That’s just as it should be and how it’s ever been 

But I’ll miss that girl in her room, safe and mine 

Life is a circle strewn with goodbyes 

CHORUS: 

After 18 years, how can it be just one week more 

Till we carry those boxes to her new room on the seventh floor 

Across from the park where she played pretend, climbed and dreamed 

Where she flew high on the swings 

Now she’s gonna fly on her own wings 

No longer pretending with her very own dreams 

 

Just down the street and a million miles away 

Hope her bed is soft enough, hope at night she’s not afraid 

And I hope her friends will be caring and kind 

She’s gonna make her choices just as I made mine 

 

Last days of summer are coming on fast 

Was hoping august wouldn’t end but it never lasts 

Come September we’ll be two no longer three 

Back where we started, back around that circle darling, you and me 

 

MARY’S WINDOW 

Mary’s looking out at the empty streets of her town 

February morning, rain's falling down 

She’s missing the greetings and small talk there 

At the library, grocery store, village square 

 

Has the baby started crawling, I like your hair that way 

How’s your mother feeling, sure is cold out today 

That quiet cadence, the refrain of a town 

With the cashier, manager, librarian 

The sound of goodwill, kindness and care 
And Mary knows she’ll always belong there 

 

CHORUS: 

But now this country of hers has been ravaged and cleaved 

By all this sickness and hatred and bigotry 

Fueled by the lies of the fools who would lead 

Lies told for power malice and greed 

 

But this old woman's seen troubled times before 

When the people rose up to shine a light once more 

So in spite of her fears she’d play her part again 

Band together with young and old, women and men 

And on the third of November she stood in that line

With the manager, cashier, librarian beside 

 

CHORUS: 

And their voices of good will a mighty sound made 

And the cadence of towns was a nation’s refrain 

And truth and hope drowned out lies and hate 

From cities to farms, from oceans to lakes 

And then from deepest Georgia that same refrain 

And then a man of good will and kindness and care 

Placed a hand on a bible and the other in the air 

And that cadence infused every word he did say 

And a nation heard and rejoiced that day 

 

They'd put differences aside 

Reach out to each other 

Lend a hand when it’s needed 

To their sisters and brothers 

Return to the hard work of trying to be 

The people and the nation they still could be 

Still could be 

 

Mary’s looking out at the rain coming down 

But it’s a rain of renewal washing over them now 

She’s knitting a hat for that baby in town 

That pretty cashier’s baby, it won’t be long now 

Till she can hand it to her mother over in town 

Oh the goodness of people can’t be put down 

It just keeps on, 

The sound of kindness 

It just keeps on 

Can’t be silenced 

It just keeps on 

 

SONG OF THE EXILED 

New york 1995 

By the Highline way downtown 

The trains up there made this city run 

Giuliani’s gonna tear it all down 

 

It was cold so I grabbed a yellow cab 

Driver was a tiny old man 

Leather jacket, newsboy cap 

Pall mall smoking on the dash 

 

A motorcycle went flying by 

He said he’s crazy it’s too cold to ride 

I used to be crazy, I raced bikes 

in Hungary in ’35 

 

Must have broken every bone 

Even broke some twice 

We shared a smile and I said 

You’re lucky you’re alive 

 

Then his smile disappeared  

Like the fading of a light 

I was in the camps you know 

Just a few of us survived 

Lucky to be alive 

 

CHORUS: 

I’ve seen New York’s treasures celebrated and renowned 

And also those not made of stone or steel 

The stories of my town 

Like the song of the exiled, the men who drive the cabs 

As they live the story of our city and the promise of our flag 

 

I grabbed a taxi the other day 

I said Newark terminal C 

Driver had a Chinese name

In broken English said to me
 

You musician, I said yes I am 

He said my son plays violin 

I said where in China are you from 

And how’s this country been ?

 

He said I come from Chongqing 

I’ve been here 15 years 

I was a miner there and very poor 

I am lucky to be here 

 

My son he studies hard in school 

He’ll get a Phd 

Or maybe be a doctor 

He won’t drive a cab like me 

Won’t drive a cab like me 

 

CHORUS 

 

We’re passing by the Highline 

You know it never was torn down 

Now there’s acres of shimmering glass and steel 

Another jewel in the city’s crown 

 

I think about my forbearers 

My Chinese daughter too 

Amazed that I’m so lucky 

Get to live the life I do 

Get to live the life I do 

 

I cannot share my luck with him 

So I smile and thank him again 

He drives off to the taxi line 

With the other exiled men 

To make this city run again

 

 

INDEPENDENCE DAY 

I’ve been obligated to another soiree in that bland suburban town 

There’s the prince with his loyal subjects, everybody’s drinking bowing down 

Now he’s bear hugging that tedious cousin while looking right past me 

‘Cause I didn’t like the way he spoke to me back in 2013 

 

And per usual like I’m invisible or dead the festivities proceed 

I watch him vilify me sotto voce while they nod empathetically 

Treading so carefully for fear of his legendary rage 

And I’m the one that’s sacrificed that’s fine, it’s all okay 

For years I bought the myth of the happy family 

But it’s a house of venom, lies and complicity 

 

CHORUS: 
This is where it ends, this is where it ends

Not setting foot in that house again 

This is where it ends 

 

I always did as I was told, took the blows, never did let on 

So well behaved watched what I’d say like nothing could be wrong 

Such a worthless expertise you twist and strangle all the time 

Walking around with two black eyes like everything is fine 

Always polite, never fight 

Till one day I started to ignite 

Like a supernova gonna burn that house down 

 

CHORUS 

 

We can’t choose how we come into this world 

But we can choose who we're gonna be and what we're gonna be
 

Another summons to a family affair this time fourth of July 

I’ve been invited to appear but I’ve resolutely declined 

I’ve made my own family, people who I want to see 

We practice kindness and loyalty and love and care and honesty 

Gonna watch the fireworks here today 

It’s my world now and here I’ll stay 

It’s independence day 

CHORUS 

 

REQUIEM 

I’m driving back to that seaside town, first time since you’ve gone 

We used to drive up here together singing Beatles songs 

Snow is falling, John Lennon’s singing hide your love away 

I turn it off, don’t want to hear John’s lonely words today 

 

In town I see you everywhere and then you slip away 

Like the colors that you took with you when you left that day 

Now you’re laughing telling stories near that little shack on the pier 

But it’s boarded up, I turn away from there 

 

CHORUS: 

I used to believe in so many things 

And that love is stronger than anything 

 

You left in darkest winter, didn’t think that it would end 

And we must stay without you, can spring ever come again 

Then here along this snowy beach road, desolate and grey 

The first bluebells, blue like your eyes, greet me today 

 

I’m back here at the beach and you’re laughing in the waves 

Oh to be back there now when I thought I could keep you safe 

Then the sun goes down and here they are the colors you stole away 

In the blue green sea your laughter in the crimson sun your face 

In a thousand years you’ll still be here, in these clouds this sand, this sky these waves 

CHORUS

 

The stars cascade above me on the road as i drive home 

Paul comes on singing Yesterday and I try to sing along 

In a thousand years I won’t be here, just this broken hearted song 

And though my love was not enough to keep you here for very long 

I know that you can hear me cause my love is just that strong 

My love is just that strong 

 

ELMHURST QUEENS MOTHER’S DAY 

Sun is coming up over the bay 

Everywhere everything has changed 

The only sound is wind in the trees, New York City’s far from me 

Sun is coming up over the bay 

 

Friends back home tell me nothing is the same 

That city symphony just stopped that day 

The crowds, the life, the energy 

Are just sirens now through empty streets 

My silenced hurting city far away 

 

These days there is no work for me 

And I don’t know if there will ever be 

As remote lives keep moving on, I sit down to write this song 

In this refuge from that storm far away 

 

CHORUS: 

And It’s far away, far from me, far away from me 

 

Then I read about a nurse’s day in Queens 

In cotton scrubs she is the infantry 

Trenches painted in fluorescent light 

Weaponless soldiers in the fight 

I read about a nurse’s day in Queens 

 

She’s wearing the only mask that she can find 

She knows that they will all get sick in time 

She’s telling the writer all the things they need, with the president lying on tv

Her oath was not for her family to die 

 

Endless lines of those who won’t be saved 

Dying in plastic chairs as they wait 

When she gets home won’t hug her kids 

Writes her will like her friends all did 

Falls asleep in her living room chair again 

  

I’m making dinner, sun is going down 

Sun will be setting over New York town 

They’ll be cheering soon on my empty street 

A brief reprise of that symphony 

In the city where I became a wife 

Where my mother was born, where I’ve made my life 

And though i wont be there to cheer along 

Oh I can sing this song 

For that nurse, and for my city, my home