My song celebrates Michigan Central Station, the Detroit train station that was once regarded as more beautiful than Grand Central in New York City. Abandoned by Amtrak in 1988, it has recently (mid-2018) been acquired by the Ford Motor Company which will renovate the building to house its “next generation of transportation engineers.” Despite its falling into ruin in the past 30 years, the building is deeply woven into the psyches of three generations of Detroiters. Complete lyrics:
MICHIGAN CENTRAL STATION
(Words and Music by JIM NOVAK)
In Detroit like Ancient Rome, marble pillars inside
Our public palace, office tower, 18 stories high.
The 20th Century picked up steam, the common good a common dream,
Fortune seemed bright ahead, while the Fates unspooled their thread.
The last train – 1988 – left the Station for a different day,
Three generations of us, we let it go to scrap and rust.
Legend is that a Station space has people stories and stories of places,
Common knowledge it retains, what depended on those trains
(And the) Michigan Central Station, grandest in Creation, we’d get on board.
At Michigan Central Station, it’s Detroit to the Nation, and we’d get on board.
To Chicago, Toledo, Windsor and Mackinaw –
Michigan Central Station, grandest in the Nation, we’d get on board.
Vaudeville stars, vacationers, businessmen and kids on dates,
Some were scared, some excited, some were Strangers at our gates.
Imagine that you’ve just arrived and passed through Immigration,
Your first step in the USA was Michigan Central Station!
GI’s off to World War Two, the Greatest Generation,
Sent their kids to College, too, from Michigan Central Station.
All aboard, now Ford’s in charge, engineers for transportation,
Restoration back on track, for Michigan Central Station.
Michigan Central Station, grandest in Creation, on board, time to get on board.
Michigan Central Station, Detroit to the Nation, how we’d get on board.
To Chicago, Toledo, Windsor and Mackinaw –
Michigan Central Station, grandest in the Nation, time to get on board.
In Detroit like ancient Rome, marble pillars inside,
Our public palace, an office tower, 18 stories high.
Buildings built like ancient Rome are glorious as ruins,
But in our dreams is a Station dear to our destinies and doings.
(It’s the) Michigan Central Station, Detroit to the Nation, we’d get on board
To Chicago, Toledo, Windsor and Mackinaw –
Michigan Central Station, grandest in the Nation, get on board.
(2016, 2018)
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