Last Updated on 29 April 2024 by gerry

This is a slight departure on my usual Sunday Spotlight as, this week, I feature another songwriter’s song. In The City is the work of my good friend Nigel Coleman, a singer-songwriter from Co. Tipperary. From the moment I first heard this song, I loved the atmosphere and images it conjured up in my head. I tagged it on at the end of my recording time during the day I spent at Shay’s Studio in 2005 – a quickie cover to see what it might sound like. You can listen to this interpretation below alongside Nigel’s own recording which appeared on his Highway to the Sky EP in 2004.

My interpretation

Nigel’s original

Nigel and me at the Performing Arts Centre, UL (March 2009)

I sometimes feel slightly shy about directly asking a songwriting friend “What’s that all about then?” Doesn’t it somehow burst the magic bubble of a song to know the chapter and verse of its origins? I enjoy exploring my own dark and damp urban places with this song and I think I’d like to keep it that way.

Lyrics

It’s a cold dark night in the city
And the rain is falling down
I walk the streets
I call your name
I call your name

It’s a cold dark night in the city
And I’m drunk as drunk as hell
I close my eyes
I see your face
I see your face

For seven days it rained
But then the sun came through
I was alone again
And I thought of you
For seven days it rained
But then the sun came through
I live in the city now
But my heart’s with you
But my heart’s with you

There are many stories to tell you
There are many dreams to share
If you only knew
There was only you
There was only you

For seven days it rained
But then the sun came through
I was alone again
And I thought of you
For seven days it rained
But then the sun came through
I live in the city now
But my heart’s with you
But my heart’s with you

© 2004 (or thereabouts) Nigel Coleman