From the recording Song of the Streets
This song came to me as I was leaving Scripps Hospital after one of my recent visits.
One of the things I love most about the La Jolla campus is the labyrinth, where I often walk and meditate. On that particular day, something very special happened. As I walked, I suddenly felt as though I could see the entire song of humanity unfolding before me.
I saw the delivery trucks bringing supplies. I saw the workers unloading them. I saw the clerks, nurses, physicians, technicians, administrators, and support staff. I saw the barista at the coffee stand outside serving visitors and employees beginning their day. Each person was playing a role in something far greater than themselves. What had seemed like countless separate tasks blended together into one beautiful expression of service, compassion, and human connection.
In that moment, I realized that every person was contributing their verse to a much larger song; a song of healing, hope, and love. The lyrics below were born from that experience.
Lyrics
Song of the Streets
E. Craig Hendricks
[Intro]
I walk these streets
Before the sun has found its fire...
Before the engines start their hymns...
Before the world remembers its name...
And oh... brothers...
Oh sisters...
I see it.
[Verse 1]
I see the men with weathered hands,
Dust on their boots, strength in their stand,
Loading tomorrow from truck to door,
Building a life from the sweat they pour.
Their footsteps fall like tribal drums,
Calling the morning as daylight comes.
And every burden their shoulders bear
Feels like a prayer rising through the air.
I see the man with his clipboard tight,
Counting the boxes in morning light.
Keeper of numbers, keeper of bread,
Carrying dreams in his weary head.
Mortgage payments... grocery lines...
Children sleeping while the stars still shine.
And in the silence beneath his pace,
Lives the love of a father's grace.
[Pre-Chorus]
And who can measure
The holy things we never see?
The quiet saints of ordinary...
Holding up humanity...
[Chorus]
Oh, can you hear it?
Can you feel it in the streets?
Love is rising
In the rhythm of their feet.
Through the broken, through the hopeful,
Through the ones who still believe...
There’s a song beneath the city,
And it’s calling you and me.
Oh brothers...
Oh sisters...
We were never meant to walk alone...
This is the song of the streets...
Calling us home.
[Verse 2]
I see the clerk with practiced hands,
Standing faithful where the counter stands.
Faces passing, eyes looking through,
Yet still he serves what he knows is true.
Like some old monk in a marketplace,
Offering kindness with quiet grace.
No crown of gold... no grand applause...
Just love alive in the smallest cause.
I hear the coffee shop breathing steam,
Laughter rising like a waking dream.
A young barista calls the day,
Pouring courage in a paper tray.
Pilgrims gather for their sacred cup,
Half awake but still showing up.
And I smile as the sunlight breaks...
Love is there in the lives we make.
[Verse 3]
I see the young bride driving by,
“Just Married” painted beneath the sky.
Laughter flying like flags in wind,
No idea where the road will bend.
Into children... into tears...
Into hard-won grace through years.
But oh, what beauty in their eyes...
Two souls brave enough to try.
And I see the wounded in alleyways,
Lost in shadows of harder days.
Dreams once burning now growing cold,
Stories of pain too deep to be told.
But beneath the bottles... beneath the shame...
I still see fire beneath the flame.
A sober brother takes one hand...
And says, “Come on... together we stand.”
[Bridge]
(Strings swell... drums begin to rise... choir building)
I see the hospitals full tonight...
Healers fighting for one more life.
Nurses weary... doctors worn...
Still showing up before the dawn.
One more heartbeat... one more breath...
Holding the line between life and death.
And suddenly...
I see them all...
The worker...
The clerk...
The bride...
The broken...
The healer...
The child...
Standing together...
Though they know it not...
Dancing...
To one song...
[Final Chorus]
Oh, can you hear it?
Can you feel it in your soul?
Love unbroken...
Love that makes the wounded whole.
Through addiction... through the sorrow...
Through the battles we survive...
There’s a fire beneath the city...
And it keeps us all alive.
Oh brothers...
Oh sisters...
This old soldier’s heart has known...
We were never strangers...
We were never separate...
We were always one family...
Walking each other home.
[Outro]
(Choir, cello, acoustic guitar fading into city sounds and birdsong)
And the streets keep singing...
And the dawn keeps rising...
And Love...
Love keeps calling us home.