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Midnight in Harlem Lyrics

Well, I came to the city
I was running from the past
My heart was bleeding
And it hurt my bones to laugh
Stayed in the city
No exception to the rules, to the rule
He was born to love me
I was raised to be his fool, his fool

Walk that line, torn apart
Spend your whole life trying
Ride that train, free your heart
It's midnight up in Harlem

I went down to the river
And I took a look around
There were old man's shoes
There were needles on the ground
No more mysteries, baby
No more secrets, no more clues
The stars are out there
You can almost see the moon
The streets are windy
And the subway's closing down
Gonna carry this dream
To the other side of town.

Walk that line, torn apart
Spend your whole life trying
Ride that train, free your heart
It's midnight up in Harlem
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2 Meanings

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Cover art for Midnight in Harlem lyrics by Tedeschi Trucks Band

To me, this is a song about forgetting the bad and looking at the good in a situation. The subject comes into the city broken down. At some point, she looks at the city in the night and sees how beautiful it is. In the second verse, she is literally looking at the bad things in the city. Again, when she looks up, it's beautiful. The beauty of the city captivates her and heals her.

Great song written by TTB and member Mike Mattison. That's my name, except I have an e where he has an i. Just to make this song a little cooler.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Midnight in Harlem lyrics by Tedeschi Trucks Band

Midnight is a metaphor for the darkest time of ones life. Also, it is usually a time when you are alone. Harlem has the reputation as being the roughest part of town. The city is the place where we go to figure out our life, to restart and return to a better time in our past after experiencing pain and hurt that life often hands us. The song is about those times when we have been let down, broken, depressed because we realize the harsh reality of living life means heartache, addiction, growing old. We all have rough spots in our life. The song is about how we can still have hope regardless of how torn up we are, that things can change if we look up, see the endlesss possibilities in the stars, maybe even a beautiful moon could be in our future if we pick ourself up let go of those things that hold us back and continue to ride that train of life through the good and bad parts. After all realizing our ambitions and dreams could be just on the other side of town.

My Interpretation