Cold Hands From New York.
 

never heard the song though i just read the lyrics to it. looks like what he wrote was probably typical of most large cities where you have your problems.so what was behind him writing the song i'm sure he would of found the same in every city.

Hi Miketouhy
- Being a New Yorker who has spent more than her share of time in several large cities over the years, I have to say that certain parts of NYC,and Chicago and LA, were notoriously bad (the worst in the country)in the 60's and early 70's Example - the Bed.-Stuyvesant area of NYC would have been such an area when Gordon L. wrote that song. Many of the areas like the one above have been rehabbed but then (60's and 70'S) they were quite terrible. It is also possible that GL was still quite young and not too long out of Orillia when he went to NYC. It may have been quite a shock to young man relatively recently out of rural Canada to have seen some of the slums of NYC. Just my thoughts. YMMMV. By the way, having been born and raised in Albany, NY, for obvious reasons I have a soft spot in my heart for this song.

[This message has been edited by ELizabeth (edited February 07, 2005).]

I think he must have been homesick. That's the feeling I get. And scared.

Sentimental,
Good point. GL has said that as a young man when he was away from home he tended to get homesick. That's a lot of what 'Early Mornin' Rain' is about.

I agree,I think New York (for a small town resident) can be very overwhelming. A well as big cities in general.

I know how Gord feels though. When my family left our simple PA hometown of 10,000 or so for the much,much larger San Diego...it was quite an adjustment!

Big city kids have very different attitudes than small town ones as well as the older people. Not as desperate as Gordon's situation but quite an eye-opener.


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"A knight of the road,going back to a place where he might get warm." ;) - Borderstone

He wrote a song from a point of view. No doubt some of it is personal and some is telling a story.