When The Subway Comes Above The Ground - Leif Vollebekk

In T.O.

I was laughing

At my friend who sold his soul

I guess it wouldn’t’ve been so funny had I not sold mine for less

Orange smokestacks in the sunset casting shadows until our faces drowned

It’s better to have left and laughed than never to have left at all

I found myself on a subway coming above the ground

I used to tango

But that, that was then

I danced too close to the band that’s how I got this ringing in my ears

And sometimes I just can’t sleep from the sound

I can’t hear it during the day, It’s just at night or when things get quiet

Like when the subway comes above the ground

In Tennessee, I went looking

For someone to throw me against the wall

I wanted to be inspired until disheartened, spend the money I’d hard-earned

Oh, just to see his name with flashing yellow lights bulbs all around

But he left us in the Mississippi

He wasn’t even thirty-one

If only he’d come up like a subway from the ground

In springtime, I was standing

With a brown dog by my side

I was sweating I was staring at Mayan ruins

Then I was next to you on that bus going straight out of town

From Memphis and Nashville to New York City

Your jaw was wide and pretty

And you turned to me and said, «Am I in ruins like the outskirts of the city

where all the subways come above ground?»

And I said no

In Iceland, it was festival season

And I went knocking at your door

You opened up and there you were

With the halo of the porch-light you were crowned

We stayed up all night

Phrases fading like countryside in the rearview mirror

I was hoping that one day you’d be next to me or at least somewhere near

When the subway comes above the ground