We heard the fireworks
Rushed out to watch the sky,
Happy go lucky, 4th of July
How can you live in the Northeast?
How can you live in the South?
How can you live on the banks of a river
When the floodwater pours from the mouth?
How can you be a Christian?
How can you be a Jew?
How can you be a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu?
How can you?
Weak as the winter sun, we enter life on earth.
Names and religion comes just after date of birth.
And everybody gets a tongue to speak,
And everyone hears an inner voice,
A day at the end of the week to wonder and rejoice.
If the answer is infinite light, why do we sleep in the dark?
How can you live in the Northeast?
How can you live in the South?
How can you live on the banks of a river?
When the floodwater pours from the mouth?
How can you tattoo your body?
Why do you cover your hand?
How can you eat from a rice bowl
When the holy man breaks bread?
We watched the fireworks ´till they were fireflies.
Followed a path of stars over the endless skies.
How can you live in the Northeast?
How can you live in the South?
How can you build on the banks of a river
When the floodwater pours from the mouth, from the mouth?
I've been given all I wanted,
All the three generations of the book.
I've harvested and I've planted.
I'm wearing my father's old coat.
Guitarras: Paul Simon
Electrónica: Brian Eno
Bajo: Pino Palladino
Batería: Steve Gadd y Robin DiMaggio
Harmonium (Organo): Gil Goldstein
© 2006 Paul Simon Music BMI
Disco: Surprise
Comentarios: En How Can You Live in the Northeast?, Paul Simon transforma la fractura cultural y política de los Estados Unidos de la era de Gerorge W. Bush en una meditación universal sobre la identidad y la intolerancia.(el país estaba dividido: el noreste era liberal y crítico con el gobierno; el sur y el centro apoyaban a Bush y su discurso moralista).
Partiendo de la aparente unidad patriótica del 4 de julio, la canción se disuelve en una serie de preguntas que revelan prejuicios regionales, religiosos y morales. Más que atacar a un bando, Simon cuestiona el impulso humano de dividir y juzgar, incluso cuando decimos buscar “luz infinita”. El cierre, íntimo y melancólico, con la imagen del “abrigo viejo” heredado del padre, sugiere que la fe y la pertenencia son tanto una carga como un legado. Así, la canción no denuncia solo al gobierno de Bush, sino a una nación —y a una humanidad— atrapada entre la herencia del pasado y la necesidad de comprensión mutua.