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Tears on the Pavement

from Proving Ground by Tae Phoenix

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about

I was less than two weeks into my freshman year of college on 9/11/01. Writing this song was the best way I knew how to cope with the grief, fear, and confusion I felt after the attacks on New York and Washington, DC.

The image of tears on the pavement came from looking down during the campus candlelight vigil and seeing droplets of candle wax all over the pavement. The rest just sort of wrote itself.

lyrics

Somebody said there were tears on the pavement.
Tear on the pavement, my whole nation cried.
Somebody said they were angels in heaven.
Angels in heaven, those people who died.

I can believe there were tears on the pavement.
Mixed with the wreckage and ashes they fall.
I can believe they are angels in heaven.
But why did it have to happen at all.

When they went looking, they found a survivor.
Found a survivor, I know what they found.
Hiding beneath all the wreckage inside her.
Someone whose life just emerged from the ground.

I can believe there were tears on the pavement.
Mixed with the wreckage and ashes they fall.
I can believe they are angels in heaven.
But why did it have to happen at all.

All round the world all the nations were weeping.
All through the night came their prayers and their songs.
All round the world there were tears on the pavement.
They knew what had happened was horribly wrong.

On the street corner a woman was crying
Woman was crying, her hands on her head.
Under the wreckage, her true love was buried.
She looked at me, and this was what she said.

Here I am pouring my tears on the pavement.
Mixed with the wreckage and ashes they fall.
I can believe he's an angel in heaven.
But why did it have to happen?
Why did God have to take him?
Why did God let this happen at all?

credits

from Proving Ground, released February 18, 2020
Vocals, piano, lyrics, and melody by Tae Phoenix.

Gratitude to Michael Withey for his generous contribution of studio time.

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tags

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Tae Phoenix Seattle, Washington

protest singer • queer disabled latina jew • conditionally white class traitor • she / ella

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