Paint Me the City

[Verse 1] You set your easel by the old tram stop Where the avenue runs shoulder to shoulder A drummer taps a rhythm on a paint tin And the night keeps pulling people closer You catch a vendor calling out the hour A cab turns gold beneath the sign above Every passing face becomes a color Every quick hello, a little brush of love [Pre-Chorus] You say, “hold still—just for a second” They laugh, then gather in the frame The whole block starts to lean your way [Chorus] Paint me the city while it’s wide awake All these bright signs moving in the crowd Give me the red, the blue, the voices rising Give me the street that never turns them down You lift your hand, and strangers start to sing A living picture, breathing as it goes Paint me the city while it’s wide awake Before the last bright color closes [Verse 2] A woman in a silver helmet pauses A cook steps out still wearing flour-white sleeves Two boys debate the ending of a movie While a trumpet finds the spaces in between You mix the purple from a passing bus light With amber from the theater marquee Then hand the brush to someone you don’t know Who adds one laughing face beside the sea [Pre-Chorus] You say, “no one owns the whole thing” They leave a mark and pass it on The avenue keeps carrying the song [Chorus] Paint me the city while it’s wide awake All these bright signs moving in the crowd Give me the red, the blue, the voices rising Give me the street that never turns them down You lift your hand, and strangers start to sing A living picture, breathing as it goes Paint me the city while it’s wide awake Before the last bright color closes [Bridge] By dawn, the paper’s buckled at the edges The ink has run where all the colors meet You fold it up, but hear that chorus traveling From one open door to the next street [Final chorus] Paint me the city while it’s wide awake All these bright signs moving in the crowd Give me the red, the blue, the voices rising Give me the street that never turns them down You lift your hand, and strangers start to sing A living picture, breathing as it goes Paint me the city while it’s wide awake And take that bright unfinished feeling home [Outro] The block keeps singing as you go