My song “City on Fire” was released July 9, 2021. I wrote it off and on from 2016–2020, when it felt like so many things were falling apart…but it also felt like they needed to fall apart. So, if at any point during those years you felt disillusioned, angry, afraid, utterly confused, or disappointed — or if you currently feel any of these things — I think you might like this song.
Full lyrics and song credits below.
“City on Fire”
All the songs I love are written by people who fade away
How can I trust anyone when they just want their own way?
Silence isn’t golden when it’s time to have something to say
We are just kids, wide open and vulnerable
In a city on fire burning out of control
One by one we fall until there’s no one left to lead the way
We thought they would save us but our dreams were all naïveté
Every single lie became an ember that went up in flames
We are just kids, wide open and vulnerable
In a city on fire burning out of control
This is the breakdown
Of all we thought was safe for us
A place for us
Home to us
Do we even know how to let go?
The wind carries us to the edge of the wilderness
‘Exiled Outliers’ tattooed upon our flesh
But the desert is a refuge when the city is burning down
We are just kids, wide open and vulnerable
In a city on fire burning out of control
This is the breakdown
Of all we thought was safe for us
A place for us
Home to us
Do we even know how to let go?
‘Cause we can’t go back
Torn apart
Unraveling
Can’t go back
We need a
Unraveling
Can’t go back
The flames are the way forward
The flames are the way
We need a breakdown
Before we start to build again
So can we just let go
Credits
Composer: Jessica Cotten
Lyricist: Jessica Cotten
Producer: Josh Bahl and Jessica Cotten
Mixer: Josh Bahl
Engineer: Josh Bahl
Drums: Adam Bahl
Mastering Engineer: Neil Hampton
Artwork: Joseph Cotten
Recorded at Attic Recording Studio, Harrisburg, PA.