Song of the Day (America Week): Nicole Atkins “Brooklyn’s On Fire!”

Nicole Atkins

Song of the Day (America Week): Nicole Atkins “Brooklyn’s On Fire!”

a bombastic ode to Independence Day

America Week continues with Jersey-born singer songwriter Nicole Atkins‘ ode to the Fourth of July. Taken from her 2007 Brill Building pop-inspired debut album, Neptune City, “Brooklyn’s On Fire!” combines post-punk bombast with Atkins‘s full-throated but sweetly soaring vocals on a nostalgic trip back to Independence Days past and the official start of summer. The sung-shouted backing vocals and 4/4 crash of chords bring an immediacy where distant memories meet a cacophonous present, and arpeggiated strings spiral ever upwards.

 

Friday nights on the seventh floor
(FOURTH OF, JULY, BROOKLYN’S, ON FIRE)
Paper backs on the corner store
(FOURTH OF, JULY, BROOKLYN’S, ON FIRE)
Looking over the ledge, the sidewalk traffic starts to spread
Summer’s begun across the bay
And no bit of silence remains

Oh, Brooklyn’s on fire, and fills July hearts with desire
Sleep will not come, until the morn
Cause tonight your memory is born
La dee da, la dee da

And the band’s not begun just yet
(FOURTH OF, JULY, BROOKLYN’S, ON FIRE)
Fifty names you’re bound to forget
(FOURTH OF, JULY, BROOKLYN’S, ON FIRE)
Black and blue on the lakes
Wear badges from happier days
Late in the night, in ’84
Walked in through the old out door

Oh, Brooklyn’s on fire, and fills July hearts with desire
Sleep will not come, until the morn
Cause tonight your memory is born
La dee da, dee da, dee da

(FOURTH OF, JULY, BROOKLYN’S, ON FIRE)
(FOURTH OF, JULY, BROOKLYN’S, ON FIRE)

I’m caught in the way, of tears from much happier days
When we were young and unafraid, of stupid mistakes that we made

Oh, Brooklyn’s on fire, and fills July hearts with desire
Sleep will not come, until the morn
Cause tonight your memory is born
Ladeeda, la dee da, dee da, dee da, dee da

 
Nicole Atkins