COLD HANDS FROM NEW YORK 
Gordon Lightfoot
1968



I came down to Albany
To New York to find what I'd been missing
I looked across the river to
The city where the windows all stood glistening, I stood listening.

Into a tunnel I did ride
Like a grave inside, but I was young and able
When I came out the other end
All through the smoke the winter light was feeble, unreadable.

I was optimistic though
A cabbie told me where to go, I thanked him
A face of white a face of brown
Oh here a smile, there a look of danger, for a stranger.

It was too unreal for me
I found no one who trusted me
There was no man could offer me
A cold hand from New York.

Cold hands from New York
A voice within you cries won't someone please help me
I'll do the same for you one day
If you should ever pass my way and need me.

(bridge)

I came down to live alone
In New York the city of the living
There were fortunes at my feet
But the most of men were taking, none were giving, or forgiving.

Children ran and children played
And roses grew in alleyways, I saw them
There were men who lived in style
And others who had died where no one knew them
'Cause they couldn't win.

There were parks where old men slept
And dingy rooms where babies crept unwanted
'Til I began to ask myself
If there were hope or if it mattered what the did, or if they lived.

It was too unreal for me
I found no one who trusted me
There was no man could offer me
A cold hand from New York.

Cold hands from New York
A voice within you cries won't someone please help me
I'll do the same for you one day
If you should ever pass my way and need me.

(bridge)

I came down to Albany
To New York to find what I'd been missing
I looked across the river to
The city where the windows all stood glistening, I stood listening.

There were prophets in the squares
And people there who smiled and said forget it
There were lovers in the park
And there was danger in the dark, I felt it, so afraid of it.

There were preachers of the word
And poets who were never heard, I heard them
There were those who would not try
To learn the measure of the lie they're living.

I heard a young musician play
In a place where they paid you not to listen
I heard a woman scream for help
While men stood by and offered their best wishes, that's how it is.

It was too unreal for me
I found no one who trusted me
There was no man could offer me
A cold hand from New York.

Cold hands from New York
A voice within you cries won't someone please help me
I'll do the same for you one day
If you should ever pass my way and need me.

Cold hands from New York
A voice within you cries won't someone please help me
I'll do the same for you one day
If you should ever pass my way and need me.

Cold hands from New York
A voice within you cries won't someone please help me
I'll do the same for you one day
If you should ever pass my way and need me.



(Transcribed by David Story - February 2013)