Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway) Lyrics

Performed by Billy Joel

I've seen the lights go out on Broadway-
I saw the Empire State laid low.
And life went on beyond the Palisades,
They all bought Cadillacs-
And left there long ago.

We held a concert out in Brooklyn-
To watch the Island bridges blow.
They turned our power down,
And drove us underground-
But we went right on with the show...

I've seen the lights go out on Broadway-
I saw the ruins at my feet,
You know we almost didn't notice it-
We'd see it all the time on Forty-Second Street.

They burned the churches up in Harlem-
Like in that Spanish Civil War-
The flames were everywhere,
But no one really cared-
It always burned up there before...

I've seen the lights go out on Broadway-
I watched the mighty skyline fall.
The boats were waiting at the Battery,
The union went on strike-
They never sailed at all.

They sent a carrier out from Norfolk-
And picked the Yankees up for free.
They said that Queens could stay,
They blew the Bronx away-
And sank Manhattan out at sea....

You know those lights were bright on Broadway-
But that was so many years ago...
Before we all lived here in Florida-
Before the Mafia took over Mexico.
There are not many who remember-
They say a handful still survive...
To tell the world about...
The way the lights went out,
And keep the memory alive....

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Thanks to matt for submitting Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway) Lyrics.


Tokyo 2011 | Reviewer: Kazuo Nagata | 3/19/11

Tonight, this Saturday night, the lights went out on streets of Tokyo in a fallout of last week's huge earthquake. To be sure, there's no major increase in radiation despite some exaggerated media reports. But the power shortage is severe. I was thinking of this song. It happened once in New York on 9/11/01. It is now happening again.

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i love billy joel and all his songs | Reviewer: brandi | 8/23/10

i love billy joel!! he is hands down the best piano player i have ever heard....elton john is a close second though!! i heard this song in New York and fell in love with it!!! i might be only 15, but i can honestly say billy joels songs beat any of the garbage my generation is making!!! thanks for the lyrics!!!!!!!!

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September 11, 2001 | Reviewer: Richard L. Kent, Esq. | 1/14/10

In early October 2001 they ("they" being every rock star they could scrape up) did a special benefit concert to honor those who'd spent the previous six weeks digging through the ruins, retrieving the lost and sending the rubble to a dump in Fishkill.

Billy Joel did a rip-roaring version of this song that ended with the following dialogue:

"Yanno, I wrote that song twenty years ago, I thought it was a science fiction song, I never thought that it would ever really happen. But unlike the ending of that song.... <i>we're not going ANYWHERE!</i>" And the crowd roared.

Simply beautiful.

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Miami 2017 | Reviewer: miranda | 7/8/09

This is in my top three most beautiful songs of all time, the first two are Billy joel's "Summer highland falls" and REM's "night swimming". A good hint to those reading this review is to go to youtube and at the main page type in "Billy Joel master class part 1 2001". This show goes 4 about 12 parts (usually about 10:00 minutes each), but in part two i think he talks about how he created this song; about how he moved to Florida and then something happened in new york and all the retirees in Florida were going "Ha Ha we moved out of New york, We moved out of New york" but he thought about how he loved New york so much so he wrote "Miami 2017" and while he was doing that he thought about in the future (cause this was in the 80's or 90's) were new york was in ruins and how broadway was utterly destroyed but still the people kept on going. And if you get onto youtube and see that clip, rate some of the comments cause, u know just give something back to the peole on that website who took the time out of there day tho comment like on this web. Some of them are really good to.

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I LOVE BILLY JOEL | Reviewer: Brian Sanyshyn | 6/2/07

Billy Joel is brillient. This is such an amazing song. The story and the was it flows and fits into his theme of most of his songs. The musicallity is great. I will listen to this song what ever my mood is regardless good or bad.

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Best, I don't know about that | Reviewer: The Astronomer | 12/12/06

I am a huge Billy Joel fan. This song on the Turnstiles (live album) is one of the best ever. I will almost always wind up listening to it any time I start choosing what songs I listen to.

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Miami 2017 | Reviewer: Kayla | 6/4/05

This is the best song in the whole entire world, to bad this stupid website wouldn't let me listen to it even though they said they would. >:/

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