Brooklyn

Brooklyn is a song by The Midnight. It is the eleventh track from their album Monsters.

Track info

The song was written by band members Tim McEwan and Tyler lyle and produced by McEwan. The bass and fretless bass on Brooklyn were performed by Oliver McEwan. The guitar solo and additional guitar were done by Izzy Fontaine. It has a running time of four minutes and fourteen seconds and is in the key of A-flat major.

Brooklyn was originally a solo song by Lyle from his album The Floating Years. Prior to being on The Floating Years, it debuted on the first episode of Lyle's podcast, From The Secret Lair. He has also recorded another version of the song under the name Floating Empire.

During a Reddit AMA, Lyle discussed the inspiration for the song:

When I moved to New York, I didn't know anything about the neighborhoods and was basically scared of everything, so I moved into a big glass tower in Brooklyn. I had a crazy view of Manhattan from my roof and my bedroom was on the 25th floor and looked out over Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene. A lot of that imagery does have a lot to do with heights and the hallucinatory impression the lights at night give you about the city- that coupled with just the sheer difficulty of living in such a challenging city. I was thinking about a couple who might not make it, but the song is definitely about the tension of floating or falling.

In an interview with Headliner Magazine, Lyle further stated:

It was a very lonely and searching time. I had just got married, and my wife and I were deeply unhappy in New York. That song was a question to the city itself as to whether the time there would be good or bad...whether we'd fall apart.

During an interview with Magnetic Magazine, the band commented on the production of their version of the song:

Tim: My job on this track was simple: to get out of the way of the song. It needed to feel stripped down and just be in support of Tyler’s amazing performance. Tyler: I moved from LA to New York in 2014 a week after I got married. It’s such a difficult city to live in. Most New Yorkers would claim that it’s part of the charm. We moved into a tall glass tower in Downtown Brooklyn with a view from the 25th story of Fort Green and Bed Stuy. I was transfixed by the lights at night, all the while dealing with the major life change of a new wife, a new city, and a disruption to my normal “day job” which was writing songs with other people. It was a lonely time. I wrote a lot of songs in that season though.

Lyrics

There’s traffic on the bridge
But the skyline shines with a certain light
And I know you’re sick of it
But I know a happy hour nearby

And there’s a possibility
That one day things will get better for
The huddled masses in between
The shadows and the stars

Floating empire
Held up by fraying wire
I’ll cover you in winter like a blanket by the fire
And when the rent is too high
We’ll just buy cheaper wine
And hang on to see if whether
Constellations hold together or not

Four years in Brooklyn
And happy birthday darling
When we feel young again
I’d like to take you dancing

Cause there’s a possibility
That one day things will get better
For the huddled masses in between
The shadows and the stars
And there’s a possibility
That we’ll both go down together
Or free ourselves from gravity
And tumble through the dark

Floating empire
Held up by fraying wire
I’ll cover you in winter like a blanket by the fire
And when the rent is too high
We’ll just buy cheaper wine
And hang on to see if whether
Constellations hold together or not

I never placed too much faith in the stars
I never placed too much faith in my heart
But the siren call of the chandelier city
And inch by inch we’re breaking apart
As we’re rising through the dark
From the sky I bet the lights look pretty

Floating empire
Held up by fraying wire
I’ll cover you in winter like a blanket by the fire
And when the rent is too high
We’ll just buy cheaper wine
And hang on to see if whether
Constellations hold together or not

Lyrics source