If You Don't Cry

'Softly the crystals falling on 17th Street'

Assuming this to be New York City, 17th Street runs through the Chelsea district [map]. The choice of 17th Street, rather than, say, 7th Street, disrupts the metre of the line: it has one more syllable than the first line of the second verse ('Dying all day in thousands of little ways').

LD Beghtol writes, "Shirley [Simms] and I always got kind of misty singing the 'bomp bomp bomps' in the refrain at live shows." And in his [book], he directs us to the [New York Songlines virtual tour of 17th Street].

Links:

• Categories: songs featuring dancing.
• [Lyrics and guitar tab] from stephinsongs web site.