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I Want My City Back Lyrics
Up around 95
sailing down Storrow Drive
left exit into Kenmore Square
slowed down when I got there
and that's when it was crystal clear
it wasn't there, it wasn't where
I left it, when I left it
I want my city back
back the way it used to be
I want it back the way it was
I looked around and found
this doesn’t feel like my hometown
and I don’t like the way it does feel
stepped out to take a closer look
held in with every step I took
the sadness I felt just to look around
I looked up to the Citgo Sign
you used to be a friend of mine
do you agree with me at one time
this was once such sacred ground
but now I want my city back…
how should I feel when the place
where I first learned I could feel
is no longer where I left it
when I left it not so long ago
how should I feel? How should I feel?
how should I feel? I don't know
I want my city back…
sailing down Storrow Drive
left exit into Kenmore Square
slowed down when I got there
and that's when it was crystal clear
it wasn't there, it wasn't where
I left it, when I left it
I want my city back
back the way it used to be
I want it back the way it was
I looked around and found
this doesn’t feel like my hometown
and I don’t like the way it does feel
stepped out to take a closer look
held in with every step I took
the sadness I felt just to look around
I looked up to the Citgo Sign
you used to be a friend of mine
do you agree with me at one time
this was once such sacred ground
but now I want my city back…
how should I feel when the place
where I first learned I could feel
is no longer where I left it
when I left it not so long ago
how should I feel? How should I feel?
how should I feel? I don't know
I want my city back…
Song Info
Submitted by
skycamefalling00 On Jul 09, 2002
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the hardest song off their new cd and my personal fave..i think hes talkin about how they've been on the road fer so long and things have change and he doesnt even recognize his hometown....heard it live and danced my ass off...lol...good times
He is talking about a club called The Rat that used to be in Kenmore Square which closed up because the city of Boston is trying to 'clean up' Kenmore Square. They used to frequent that place.
o...chill..i was jus takin a stab in the dark...
That may have been the exact meaning to the song, but I think anybody who lives in an older city can relate to this song. I live in Pittsburgh, and have seen it deteriorate pretty bad over the years. It used to be a booming blue-collar steel town, but now most college graduates can't even find a job here... not to mention there's practically no industry anymore. When I hear this song, I think of think of my city and the pride I have in it... I WANT IT BACK THE WAY IT USED TO BE!
My city is the same way too. I live near Boston, in a small town named Gloucester. It's the oldest American seaport, and it used to be a booming fishing town. Now, the only thing keeping it alive is tourism. It's pretty sad.
It is definatley about The Rat, I am from boston myself, but this song has a few other meanings i interpreted from it before putting it all together. I thought at first it might be about the Big Dig, When ADERK tagged the Citgo Sign, or how the mob has been mostly cleaned up in boston.
this songs about kenmore square and the rat. It used to be a hangout for punks had a great music scene until they tore down the rat and refaced the entire area to be more upscale. and more recently they just ruined landsdowne st too by tearing down avalon, axis and bills bar to be replaced with a huge venue to attract big name acts. allston is the only place left with a music scene in boston
most of the music and people in Allston suck too. Theres still a few venues around that have punk shows in Cambridge and Jamaica Plain too.
I feel like this song is about someone who leaves altogether and then returns.. when that person comes back things have changed in some ways just as life is always evolving.. but their talking to someone in the song about things that are sacred.. i didn't realize sacred just stops being sacred?? Does it?