Empire State of Mind II

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Every once in a while I hear a song on the radio that makes me sit up and listen. I heard Alicia Keys' Empire State of Mind II (not to be confused with Jay-Z's original rap version) while I was riding with my sisters Carolyn and Madi, on our way from St. George to Las Vegas last year. This song came on right as we reached the bluff that overlooks Vegas, offering us a spectacular view of the setting sun, the lights of Sin City below, and the empty desert plains stretching in every other direction. As we drove I listened to my sisters belt out the song at the top of their lungs, the warm wind blowing through our hair, and I thought to myself, I hope I never forget how good this feels.

New York isn't my city, but I just love this song. It's about Alicia Keys' experience living as a struggling artist in New York City. I think we're all looking to be inspired, and sometimes it helps to hear about how other people manage to find their way in this uphill-both-ways world! I could wallpaper my bedroom with stories and lyrics like this:

 Empire State Of Mind (Part II) Lyrics (click here to listen to the song on youtube)

Ooohh New York x2

Grew up in a town that is famous as the place of movie scenes
Noise was always loud, there are sirens all around and the streets are mean
If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere, that's what they say
Seeing my face in lights or my name on marquees found down on Broadway

Even if it ain’t all it seems, I got a pocketful of dreams
Baby, I'm from New York
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothing you can't do
Now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Hear it for New York, New York, New York!

On the avenue, there ain't never a curfew, ladies work so hard
Such a melting pot, on the corner selling rock, preachers pray to God
Hail a gypsy cab, takes me down from Harlem to the Brooklyn Bridge
Some will sleep tonight with a hunger far more than an empty fridge

I'm gonna make it by any means, I got a pocketful of dreams
Baby, I'm from New York
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothing you can't do
Now you're in New York
These street will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Hear it for New York, New York, New York!

One hand in the air for the big city,
Street lights, big dreams all looking pretty
No place in the world that can compare
Put your lighters in the air, everybody say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

In New York
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothing you can't do
http://www.elyricsworld.com/empire_state_of_mind_(part_ii)_lyrics_alicia_keys.html
Now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Now you're in New York!

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothing you can't do
Now you're in New York
These street will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Hear it for New York!