Shanghai Next

Shanghai Next


You called me this morning from Kyoto
And Japan is finally letting you go
Shanghai next, and you really don’t know
When you’ll be coming home

I remember a bike ride to the stupa on the hill
Midnight above the gravestones, it’s quiet there still
Over Hiroshima, a star beyond us fell
We never could call that place our home

Your voice now is calling me back to you
Photographs say that we were there
As hard as I try I don’t remember what was true
Hiroshima sighing in the air

Midnight at Mac’s bar and the night has just begun
The whiskey never runs out, and we play for everyone
You set your hair on fire and thought you were having fun
And we all talked about our homes

Somewhere a bomb dropped and we ran into the street
Rivers of burning bodies stinking in the heat
And there is a lover or two who you will never meet
Takes a long time to try to build a home

Your voice now is calling me back to you again
Photographs say that we were there
As hard as I try I don’t remember what was true then
Hiroshima sighing in the air

Did you know I was so surprised to hurt again so soon
Guess I left just in time
Now I’m singing your song in this lonely Vancouver room
Hiroshima echoes in my mind

You called me this morning from Kyoto
And Japan is finally letting you go
Shanghai next, and you really don’t know
If you’ll be coming home

Shanghai in 1945
With Hiroshima echoing in your mind