Ten O'clock In Toronto
Christine Lavin Lyrics

It's Ten O'Clock in Toronto
The time is late at night in Toronto, Canada.

I check into a room on the 21st floor
The singer has arrived at a hotel and entered their room on the 21st floor.

I'm travelling on cruise control
The singer is feeling relaxed and calm, like they are on autopilot.

Turn on the TV and lock the door
The singer turns on the television and locks the door to their hotel room.

I hear a news reporter
The singer listens to a news broadcast on the TV.

She says 'we are looking to the sky
The news reporter announces that a lunar eclipse is occurring.

Tonight we're in the midst of a lunar eclipse
The singer learns that the lunar eclipse is happening that night.

Hmmmm what a heavenly sight'
The news reporter expresses awe at the celestial event.

I pull back the curtains, and there
The singer opens the curtains to see outside.

Above the building across the street
The singer sees the moon in the sky over another building.

I spy the man in the moon playing hide and seek
The singer uses personification to describe the appearance of the moon.

I try to keep my eyes fixed on that elusive moon
The singer attempts to maintain focus on the moon despite distractions.

But I'm distracted across the way
The singer's attention is diverted by something happening in another building.

I can see into some rooms
The singer can see into other hotel rooms from their own room.

There's a young woman sitting at a desk
The singer observes a young woman sitting at a desk in one of the rooms.

So busy writing
The young woman appears to be focused and busy with her work.

Now a man sits next to her
The singer sees a man come and sit down beside the woman.

Looks like they're fighting
The singer infers that the man and woman are having an argument or disagreement.

She buries her head in her hands
The woman appears upset and covers her face with her hands.

And silently she cries
The singer can tell the woman is crying despite the lack of audible sobbing.

He gets up, paces, pounds the wall
The man expresses his frustration by standing up, walking around, and hitting the wall.

Shakes his fist up to the sky
The man appears angry at the moon or the universe, as if cursing his bad luck.

To the moon, Alice
The singer makes a reference to a famous phrase from The Honeymooners TV show, meaning 'to the moon and back' as a threat or expression of anger.

Two rooms down I can see
The singer observes another scene happening in a room two doors away from theirs.

Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly
The singer sees actors Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly on the television in the room.

No it's just a Hitchcock film
The actors are not in the same room as the singer, but are on the TV screen in a movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

A wide screen color TV
The television is a modern, large-screen model with color display.

Over in the corner
The singer's attention moves toward another section of the room.

There's an old man playing with a black cat
The singer notices an elderly man interacting with his pet cat.

If he saw me spying like this
The singer realizes that the man might not appreciate being watched by a stranger.

What would he think of that
The singer ponders what the man's reaction might be if he knew he was being observed.

Would he think that I'm a voyeur
The singer questions whether the man would view them as a peeping tom or someone with a prurient interest.

Or just another lonely one
The singer also considers whether the man might empathize with their own loneliness.

An interloper taking notes of heartache on the run
The singer feels like an outsider who is only briefly observing others' misfortune, as if collecting data for their own writing or artistic purposes.

Now the moon is bathed in shadows
The lunar eclipse has progressed to a point where the moon looks dark and obscured.

That woman is bathed in tears
The singer continues to watch the woman crying in one of the other hotel rooms.

Grace Kelly bathed in the limelight
The actress on the TV screen is glowing and radiant, a contrast to the other people the singer is observing who are experiencing sadness or conflict.

For so many years
Grace Kelly was famous and well-regarded for a long time.

I'm bathed in the darkness
The singer is engulfed by the shadows and obscurity of the dark hotel room.

Behind this window pane
The singer is watching everything from a window in their hotel room.

Watching light and love and life
The singer observes different perspectives of human emotion and experience.

Wax and wane
The singer is aware of the cyclical nature of these emotions and experiences, as if they rise and fall like the phases of the moon.

Now the old man and the black cat
The singer returns their attention to the senior citizen and their pet cat in another hotel room.

Are dozing in an easy chair
The elderly man has settled into a comfortable chair and is resting, along with the cat.

Are visions dancing in their heads
The singer imagines the man and the cat dreaming or having pleasant thoughts.

Of moonbeams in the air
The singer suggests that the dreams or visions involve images of the moon or celestial phenomena.

It's Ten O'Clock in Toronto
The song ends with a repetition of the opening line, perhaps suggesting that time has stood still during the singer's observations and contemplations.

Ten O'Clock in Toronto
The line is repeated again for emphasis.

Ten O'Clock in Toronto
The song concludes with this final repetition of the opening line.