Lyrics
Season after season, year after year,
The tides come in and out of New York Harbor here
Tall masts cresting on the horizon
Ships full of travelers weary from their journeys
The winds of the Atlantic at their backs
These new arrivals glimpse just beyond the waves
They see a land so lush and teeming with life
Merchants on the streets and buildings touching the sky
Slavers on the docks, steam and smoke rising high
Tenements rife with squalor in the rumbling city
They see the towering, glowing torch of the Statue of Liberty
The new arrivals see New York City
Oh dear New York City
Oh my my my New York City
An opportunity to start anew
Yet they discover freedom’s only for the chosen few,
Landlords who won’t rent to them and jobs they are refused,
For worshipping the wrong gods and being born with the wrong shade of skin
But nothing here in New York City is fixed into place
The frontiers are closed and we’ve walked on the moon, but the work of Independence is for us to do
And this city is shaped by everyone, even those told they do not belong
But the work endures and it belongs to us all
The new arrivals see New York City
Oh dear New York City
Oh my my my New York City