A map of New York

[Stephen]

Think of each plaza, pier, and public park

How many sit there empty, lonely, dark

Think of it, for tomorrow's sake

Think of how you and I can make our mark

You and I

We can draw a brand-new grid

Everything that you dreamed of as a kid

Give it a year, and go with me

Soon enough, you'll say "Look what we two did"

You've always had the right dream

We've always made a tight team

Now at last you're back

Exactly where you ought to be

So let's make a map of New York you and me

[New Yorker]

Twenty-two Reade, a building, sidewalk, shade

[Another New Yorker]

Now a memory that for Beth will never fade

[Beth]

And I could be planning city sites

Where memories just like this one might be made

[Writer]

Thirty-three Bond

Where I wrote my first book

[Chef]

Greenwich and Moore

Where I learend how to cook

[Young Woman]

The Center Street courts

I intern there

[Beth]

The joy of this job is everywhere I look

[Messenger]

That market was my first job

[Elena]

That diner was my worst job

[Those Six]

And everywhere around me are these lives I left behind

[Foreman]

The tunnel where I laid rail

[Realtor]

The co-op where I made my first sale

[All Eight]

They make a map of New York in my mind

[Anne]

Put a sticker on the map where you landed that first day

[Kate]

Put a pin on the bridge

[Lucas]

On the train

[Anne]

On J.F.K

[Beth]

On the street where I swore I'd afford a place some day

[Kate, Anne, Lucas & Nwe Yorkers]

Ev'ry avenue and place

Ev'ry building, every face

Of the lovers and the friends

The beginnings and the ends

Make a map of NYC

Where I've been and who I'll be

And you'll find me

[Liz]

And you're feeling adrift, alone, apart

Then suddenly life will somehow start

And a map of New York is written on your heart

[New Yorkers]

On your heart

On your heart

[Beth]

I'm too old for all that shit

To be told I'm selling out

Then again, all these years

Did I lose what I'm about?

On the street, in the cold

It's so hard to fight the doubt

[Beth & New Yorkers]

Then you hear the tunnel hum

With a rain about to come

And you surface to the street

And you fall into the beat

You can trace a line to me

On that map of NYC

Right where I should be

[Stephen]

Think of how human life will ebb and flow

[Stephen & Beth]

People, and how they'll come and how they'll go

Remember the things we hoped and planned

[Stephen]

Remember them, and believe them, and you'll know

[Beth & Stephen]

We'll know

[Beth, Stephen & New Yorkers]

We never walk a straight line

We never check a street sign

[Beth & Stephen]

But it's in the detour that we truly find our way

[Stephen & New Yorkers]

We always know the way home

[Beth & New Yorkers]

As long as we can stay here we're home

[Beth]

And we make a map of work

[New Yorkers]

Love and loss and life

[Stephen]

And we make a map of play

[New Yorkers]

We find our way

[Stephen & New Yorkers]

And we make a map of New York every day

[New Yorker]

Ending the night at 23rd and Third

[Another New Yorker]

Liz and her date

Who's hanging on every word

• Artist:If/Then (Musical)
• Album:If/Then: A New Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)