Washington Street
Midnight Tales: Urban Rain Chronicles by Laurie Anderson
Lyrics
It's midnight downtown.
Describing the setting as midnight in the city center.
It's been raining for days
Continuous rainy weather for an extended period.
Rain beats down.
The sound of rain hitting surfaces.
It covers the streets with its sparkling skin.
The rain creates a shiny cover over the streets.
In the deli purple light
An illuminated deli where a woman in festive attire buys milk.
A woman in a party dress pays for some milk
Contrast between the woman's dress and mundane activity of buying milk.
Yellow cab stops for a light
A taxi halts at a signal.
Two men in black hats are running
Two men, possibly in a hurry or on a mission, wearing distinctive black hats.
A messenger on a bike
A messenger moving swiftly on a bike.
Pile drivers pounding.
Loud machinery used for construction.
They've set up some lights.
Setting up lights at a construction site.
They're digging a hole.
Excavation activity creating a hole.
It's filling up with black water.
The hole fills with dark water, possibly due to rain.
Rainy days.
Repetition emphasizing the rainy weather.
Rainy nights.
Continuation of the rainy atmosphere, day and night.
Steam rises, covers the city.
Vapor rising from the streets, concealing the city.
Pieces of old newspaper float like paper boats
Old newspapers floating in the water, reminiscent of paper boats.
They slide along the rushing water in the gutter.
The newspapers moving along the flowing water in the gutter.
Rainy days.
Reiteration of the rainy days and nights.
Rainy nights.
Continued description of the rainy weather.
Rain falls down and covers the city
Emphasizing rain covering the city, falling from a great height.
It falls from fabulous heights.
Highlighting the grand scale of rain descending.
Covers the streets with its sparkling skin.
Similar imagery to line 4, rain creating a shiny cover on streets.
And over on Jane street they're shooting that movie again
A movie production scene, struggling to achieve perfection.
They just can't seem to get it right
The repeated attempts to get a scene right in the movie production.
Behind a warehouse in a burned out building
A homeless person finding shelter in a ruined building.
A man is sleeping in a cardboard box on a pile of salt
A man sleeping on a makeshift bed of salt in the rain.
Rainy days.
Reiteration of the ongoing rainy weather.
Rainy nights.
Continued description of the rain during nights.
Rain falls down and covers the city
Restating the rain's coverage of the city from a great height.
It falls from fabulous heights.
Emphasizing the scale of rain descending upon the city.
Covers the streets with its sparkling skin.
Recurrence of the image of rain covering streets with a shiny appearance.
A man on a park bench
A man sitting on a park bench in heavy rain.
He sits in the pouring rain.
Reiteration of the man enduring the pouring rain on the park bench.
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