The lure of the gleaming city on the hill

Rosie Thomas is a singer-songwriter, a planet in the musical constellation that rotates around the prolific and talented Sufjan Stevens.

On her new album, These Friends Are Mine -- a digital-only release (or so I'm led to understand) that is available only via online outlets like iTunes and emusic.com -- she includes a lovely, simple song whose lyrics so fully evoked my early days in New York City (and the wistful years immediately preceding my move here) that it fairly took my breath away:

All The Way to New York City

I wish I could take you with me
All the way to New York City
We could get an apartment there
Be closer to our families

We could take my station wagon
And fill it to the brim
And wave goodbye to all our lovely friends
Never to return again

You could write for picture shows
And I could get a job
Waiting tables at a restaurant
Where famous people like to go

We could buy old overcoats
And walk through the snow
All the way around Central Park
Our cheeks as pink as wild roses

We could take the subway home
And stare at our reflections
In the window panes of the train
And see how much New York has changed us

The melody -- and Thomas's performance of it -- are every bit as lovely and spare as the lyrics, and the rest of the album is also well worth your consideration.