Paul Simon - How Can You Live in the Northeast lyrics

We heard the fireworks
Rushed out to watch the sky
Happy-go-lucky, the 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 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 come just
After date of birth
Everybody gets a tongue to speak
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 Northeast?
How can you live the South?
How can you build on the banks of a river
When the floodwater pours from the mouth?
How can you tattoo your body?
Why do you cover your head?
How can you eat from a rice bowl
When the holy man only breaks bread?
We watched the fireworks until
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
Only three generations off the boat
I have harvested and I have planted
I am wearing my father’s old coat