I'm back in New York, I've been away too long
I'm back where the buildings touch the sky
I'm back in New York, I'm back where I belong
I'm back where the subways sing a lullaby

I want to walk the streets of a jingle-jangle morning,
Where Dave Van Ronk would sing, where Trane played "Epistropy"
I want to shout out to the denizens of Old Wall Street
There's nothing left that you can do to me

Now I'm back in New York, I've been away too long
I'm back where the taxis pass me by 
I'm back in New York, I'm back where I belong
to stand underneath an incandescent sky

I want to dance with you on cobblestones and watch our breath 
Turn into clouds on which we, too, can float away
And we can turn our backs on history, we're not impressed
There's no one else alive but us today

Come, we can wander, lost, like Abraham, through centuries
Of immigrants who came here for a better life
We came here looking for ourselves, but in the end we found 
You can't walk into the same river twice
So throw away the shackles of your hopes and dreams, my dear
They'll only tether you to what can never be
You'll find me at the White Horse toasting to Jack Kerouac
Who had to lose himself to be set free

Now I'm back in New York, 
I've been away too long . . .