Lyrics How Can You Live in the Northeast? - Paul Simon

We heard the fireworks
Rushed out to watch the sky
Happy go lucky
Fourth of July
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 flood water 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 come
Just after date of birth
Then 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 build on the banks of a river
When the flood water pours from the mouth?
How can you tattoo your body?
Why do you cover your head?
How can you eat from a rice bowl
The holy man only breaks bread?
We watched the fireworks
'Til 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 flood water pours from the mouth?
I've been given all I wanted
Only three generations off the boat
I have harvested and I've planted
I am wearing my father's old coat