Lives Through The Window

[Intro: solitary grand piano, elegant and spacious]

There’s a woman on a balcony
In a city I can’t name
She’s watering red flowers
While a tram rolls through the rain

There’s a waiter stacking glasses
There’s a child chasing birds
There’s a man beneath an awning
Reading someone else’s words

And for half a second
From the backseat of a car

I can almost see the life
Where I never traveled far

[Strings enter softly]

But the light turns green
And there we go

Another world
I’ll never know

[Chorus: sweeping orchestra, full drums]

Oh, look at all the lives I could have lived

Behind every door
On every street
In every little town

A different name
A different love
A different way of settling down

And isn’t it wonderful
To know they’re out there still?

A million lives I’ll never have

And one magnificent life I will

[Instrumental: piano flourish]

[Verse 2]

I drank coffee in a station
Where I couldn’t read the signs
Watched two strangers kiss goodbye
Like they were running out of time

Bought a postcard from a woman
Who laughed when I mispronounced
The name of some cathedral
That I never figured out

There were bicycles in alleyways
And laundry overhead

And every open window
Held a story being read

[Pre-Chorus: rising strings]

Who would I have been here?

Who would I have loved?

Would I know these cobblestones
Like the lines upon my palms?

[Chorus: larger]

Oh, look at all the lives I could have lived

Above the bakery
Beside the sea
Behind that painted door

Maybe I’d have had three children
Maybe I’d have wanted more

Maybe I’d complain about the weather
Maybe I’d know every hill

A million lives I’ll never have

And one magnificent life I will

[Orchestral interlude: strings and piano climbing]

[Verse 3: playful, theatrical]

Paris says I could be tragic

Tokyo says stay awake

Rome insists I need more wine

New York says I’m already late

Some little town I passed at midnight
Said nothing much at all

Just one yellow kitchen window

And a bicycle by the wall

[Music suddenly quiet]

And somehow that one frightened me

More than monuments or kings

Because somebody was living there

Among completely ordinary things

[Soft piano]

A life with cups and birthdays

Bills and neighbors
Keys and doors

A universe as infinite

As mine

And just as yours

[Bridge: intimate vocal, restrained orchestra]

Perhaps there is no perfect place

No city meant for me

Perhaps the point is passing through

And seeing what I see

To borrow someone’s morning

To walk somebody’s street

To hear a language I don’t know

And still understand the beat

[Drums begin building]

Every face becomes a doorway

Every doorway says

You could

And every train departing whispers

You still should

[Explosive orchestral transition]

[Final Chorus: huge, theatrical]

Oh, look at all the lives I could have lived!

I could have sold the flowers
I could have sailed the bay

I could have known that old man’s name
And passed his shop each day

I could have kissed somebody
Underneath a foreign moon

I could have called this somewhere home

If I had gotten here more soon

[Choir enters]

But look at all the lives I get to see!

Through taxi glass
And railway cars
And tables by the sea

A thousand little universes
Briefly opening for me

[Key Change]

So give me one more airport

One more unfamiliar street

One more stranger with a story

One more country at my feet

Give me mountains
Give me markets

Give me places without names

Let me lose myself completely

And return myself again

[Orchestra reaches peak]

Because I don’t need every life

To know how rich they are

Sometimes you only need a window

From a train

Or from a car

[Break: piano alone]

[Lead, softly]

And somewhere tonight

Someone is looking through a window

Wondering what it would be like

To be me

[Final orchestral swell]

[Outro]

So wave goodbye

And let it go

There’s another world

Down every road

[Backing vocals fading]
Every road
Every road

[Lead]

And I want to see
As many as I can

[Final piano chord]