Mortal City
Dar Williams Lyrics

She never should have rented this apartment in the Mortal City
She regrets having rented an apartment in a city where she feels alone and exposed to the cold with a broken radiator.

The cold comes though every crack she puts her hand up to
The apartment is drafty, and no amount of hand-plugging can stop the cold from creeping in.

The radiator's broken, so she has to use electric heat.
Her only source of heat is an electric unit that struggles to keep up with the winter chill.

And tonight was the first date with the brother of the guy she worked next to
She went on a first date with her coworker's brother.

He listened, he had things to say
Her date was a good conversationalist and listener.

She asked him up for dinner sometime
She invited him to dinner at her apartment at some undefined point in the future.

Sometime was tonight
The date turned out to be tonight, after all.

The radio gave updates on the ice storm while she made the dinner
As she cooked, the radio played announcements of an approaching ice storm.

They said, from all the talk, you shouldn't drive or even walk
The storm was bad enough to warrant caution even among those traveling on foot.

And this just in, we're asking everyone to turn off their power
A newscaster requested that residents conserve electricity to divert energy to the hospital.

They need it at the hospital.
The hospital required extra energy and was calling upon citizens to aid their efforts.

She ran around pulling plugs, then she called him up
She turned off all her electronics and then contacted her date.

Maybe now they shouldn't meet, he said that he would brave the streets
Though conditions were poor, the date decided to push ahead with their plans.

She met him at the door with a blanket and a candle
She greeted him upon his arrival bearing only a blanket and a candle for warmth and light.

Saying, I heard it on the radio, I had to turn my power off.
She explained her actions to her date, citing the hospital's request and the newscaster's announcement.

He said you're not the only one, the streets were dark tonight,
He empathized with her struggle, having experienced the same power outage and darkness in his own neighborhood.

It was like another century
Conditions on the street were so primitive, their experience was almost reminiscent of a time before electricity.

With dim lamps and candles lighting up the icy trees and the clouds and a covered moon.
They could only see in the darkness via dim lamps, candles, and winter elements.

She said what kind of people make a city
She wondered aloud about the scope and values of a city and its inhabitants.

Where you can't see the sky and you can't feel the ground?
She lamented the non-existence of classical beauty in the cityscape and how that contributed to negative feelings of detachment.

I tell you something, I have this feeling that this city's dying
She expressed melancholic sentiments and a sense of pessimism about the city's overall functionality and livability.

He said, it's not dying it's the people who are dying
Her date countered her point of view, attributing the issues in the city to its citizens rather than the city itself.

She said, yes, yes I think the people are dying and nobody cares.
She sorrowfully asserted her belief that no one cares about the well-being of the citizens, let alone their city-living experiences.

We had all this technology our dreams were bold and vague
They contemplated how technological advancements were once the fuel of dreams and inspiration.

And then one city got bad planners, one city got the plague.
Unfortunately, bad planning and a plague led to the downfall of the city's quality of living.

He asked why did you move here? She said, for the job
He asked why she made the decision to move to the city, and she disclosed it was for employment purposes.

For the job and I've been so lonely here, so lonely
She connected her sense of loneliness and isolation with her choice to move to the city for her job.

There's no one I can talk to, you know I don't even know your brother.
She expressed that she had no close companionship or acquaintances within the city or her surroundings.

He smiled and said, sometimes at night I walk out by the river
Her date told her about his own particular way of experiencing the city at night by walking along the river.

The city's one big town, the water turns it upside down
He spoke in praise of the city's unique character and its water features.

People found this city because they love other people
He proposed that the city's citizens, specifically those who chose to live there or visit, sought out the city for its inherent opportunities for human connectivity.

They want their secretaries, they want their power lunches.
He continued on by postulating the ways in which people fulfill these desires by engaging in activities or business deals that require face-to-face contact.

And think about tonight, I heard the same newscast you did
He brought the conversation back to present events and his own experience of them.

I unplugged everything, I looked out the window
He disclosed that he, too, dispensed with his electrical usage and surveyed the storm from his apartment window.

And I think the city heard, I watched as one by one the lights went off
He perceived an aspect of concerted, united action as the city's inhabitants unplugged and turned off their electronics in response to the hospital's request.

So they could give their power to the hospital
He understood the rationale behind the blackout and saw it as an instance of compassion and generosity towards the hospital and its patients.

They ate in silence while she thought this over,
They shared a wordless meal, offering room for her to contemplate and process recent events and ideas.

They sat together in a dark room in the Mortal City
They remained together in the state of blackout, symbolizing how their conversation, affinity, and shared sense of memorable experience endure despite the absence of light.

Shifting in their blankets so they wouldn't get spaghetti on them.
They rearranged their blankets and clothing to avoid soiling them with any remnants of their dinner.

Then came the awkward moment after dinner, what to do,
As with many polite but ambiguous dating situations, they struggled to ascertain the correct behavior to adopt next.

The ice was still falling, the streets were still dangerous
They encountered unfavorable weather and road conditions that made the chances of leaving the apartment unlikely.

The cabs were not running and this neighborhood was not the greatest.
Even if they considered alternatives, their set of options was limited due to cab scarcity and the neighborhood's general reputation for being unsafe.

They both looked at the space where a couch would've been
The realization that they would be sharing a bed was confirmed by the lack of any alternative places to sleep in the apartment.

She felt her stomach sink, she felt like she could hardly think
Her anxiety and unease were palpable as she contemplated the unavoidable sleeping arrangement.

That settled it, they would both sleep in her bed
They agreed that sharing her bed was the only pragmatic and reasonable solution.

It was a matter of survival.
The mutual conclusion to their sleeping predicament was reached out of necessity and preservation of their well-being.

She brought out t-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, socks, hats
She procured whatever extra clothing and layers she could find to keep them warm and protected from the cold.

If there was ever any thought of what would happen in that bed tonight
Any hypothetical ideas or fantasies about what might happen in the bed between them were banished by the sheer inconvenience and harsh weather conditions.

There was no question now
The probability that they would engage in any romantic activity was effectively zero.

They could barely move
The many layers of clothing they wore restricted their movement and made it hard to get comfortable.

They were wrapped up like ornaments waiting for another season.
They were tightly bundled, illustrating how they were formally dressed for the cold, presented as an ornate element that is waiting for more suitable conditions or opportunities.

They lay in bed, they listened to the pelting ice
They listened to the ice striking against the walls and windows, bonding them together in the bed they shared.

He said my brother's not a bad guy, he's just quiet
He tried to pass on information about his brother to her, communicating that he might not be the socialite that his brother was.

I wished you liked this city
He expressed a hope she would change her impression of the city and grow to enjoy it.

She said, maybe I do.
In an optimistic and open-ended response, she reveals that she may already be starting to warm up to the city more.

I think I have a special kind of hearing tonight
She humorously alludes to their shared experience and the keenness of their sense of awareness in the blackout.

I hear the neighbors upstairs
She reports the noises from their upstairs neighbors that she can hear due to the absence of electricity.

I hear my heart beating
She hears her own vital sounds, potentially suggesting she is content with her current position with her date.

I hear one thousand hearts beating at the hospital
She reflects on the unifying experience all the patients and doctors share at the hospital.

And one thousand hearts by their bedsides waiting
The lovers' hearts lay beating in uncertainty as they searched an uncertain path regarding their sentiments between them. They also mention the heart of those would wait for them outside.

Saying that's my love in the white gown,
Those who wait outside are tenderly keeping their gaze on the hospital overlooking an awaiting inpatient in a white gown, who is presumably the subject of their affection.

We are not lost in the Mortal City
They affirm and attempt to dispel the negative connotations and emotions attached to their urban experience by asserting themselves as valiant and abiding residents.

We are not lost in the Mortal City
This repetition of this line could mean that they are still trying to convince themselves that they belong in the city and that their experience and emotions are valid.