Artists Registry

This song was inspired by a photograph of an exhausted, dust covered firefighter asleep in a pew in St. Paul's Chapel. I saw it shortly after 9/11 and again on another visit last year, where I wrote the song sitting on St. Paul's steps.

St. Paul's has the strongest vibe of any building in New York I've ever come across. It is the only building to survive the great fire of 1776, because New Yorkers formed a chain and passed buckets from the Hudson all night to save their church. George Washington went straight to St Paul's to pray after being inaugurated - and he wasn't going for the photo opp. Either were the brave men and women featured in this video. They are real American heroes.

St Paul's has survived New York's two greatest disasters, in 1776 and in 2001. Although it lies at the foot of the Twin Towers, it wasn't harmed; it has no right to be there but it is. It became a refuge for those that were dealing with the catastrophe that had unfolded outside its walls.

This song is dedicated to my sister in law Detective Tina Rambo (EOW 8.1.11), who always ran towards trouble to help, my cousin Brian and Uncle Kevin Liston, who were there that morning, and to all who acted selflessly that day, and every day as they protect the lives of those around them.

Mark Cunningham, Tullamore, Ireland. 17.6.2012

First Responder

Paulie got the call
His heart tightened to a stall
As he raced the city streets to find the day
Had frozen into stone
As steel was cut and shorn
From everything he thought could never change

And it pulled the city in
Every race and color skin
Enveloped in a endless sea of grey
Between the darkness and the waste
Fear found a new face
But in there it met men like Paulie Kay

And Paulie joined the congregation
That were sleeping in the pews
After pulling out his brothers and sisters
In a fight they didn't choose
So go light him a candle
For he lit a city's way
Hell had forged new beauty
In the work of Paulie Kay

It had stopped him at St. Paul's
Where they came to give all
They had to give
That's how they're made
Brothers they did not know
Sisters stemmed the flow
As each one went outside to hold the day

And he dug with both his hands
As glass returned to sand
And nothing mattered more than those he saved
As he grasped at life unseen
The weaver of a dream
Where the "content of his character"
Lit the way

And Paulie dreamed about America
When he was sleeping in the pews
After pulling out his brothers & sisters
In a fight they'll never lose
So go light them a candle
For they lit a country's way
Hell had forged new beauty
In the work of Paulie Kay