Dr S reporting for duty!
Mary Chapin Carpenter is one of my favorite artists -- she's kind of an intellectual country singer, and sings a wide variety of stuff. Zydeco. Traditional sentimental country duets like Not Too Much to Ask (with Joe Diffie). Good old fashioned folk. Pissed-off anthems like He Thinks He'll Keep Her and its flipside, The Hard Way. An entire album, Time*Sex*Love, that is flecked through with Beatles influences and includes a song featuring the "mind the gap" announcement from the London underground.
I think this is one of her best songs. Simple, deliberate guitar that gradually gives way to more orchestration and then back again. Slightly shaky voice. And the simple first person story of a worker from the World Trade Center "pile" who stops at Grand Central Station every night as he leaves work to let the dust on his clothes --all that's left of those who were killed-- float off his clothes onto the platforms and trains heading home.
Got my work clothes on, full of sweat and dirt
All this holy dust upon my face and shirt
Heading uptown now, just as the shifts are changing
To Grand Central Station
I got my lunch box, got my hard hat in my hand
I ain't no hero, mister, just a working man
And all these voices keep on asking me to take them,
To Grand Central Station
Grand Central Station
In the care of most other people it would be completely maudlin. But with her, it's just heartbreaking.
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My memory of Grand Central station was long before 9/11. I swear I was swept down the stairs, suitcase in hand, in a sea of people and my feet didn't touch the ground. That was scarey. this song is sad.
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