Decatur Square: The Heartbeat of the City

Lyrics

Just stepped out of the car.
And the air... it's different here.
It’s not just noise. It's a pulse.
A hum under the pavement. Can you feel it?
Right here, in the center of the bricks.

Look up. Past the oak tree branches.
That's the old DeKalb Courthouse, holding court over everything.
Stone from eighteen ninety-eight, watching the years pass.
And all these people, they just flow around it.
Like water in a stream.
Kids chasing pigeons, couples on benches with those blue coffee cups from Dancing Goats.
They all seem to know the rhythm.
We’re the only ones standing still, taking it in.

This must be Decatur Square.
This is the city's open palm.
The place where all the stories cross.
The conversation that never seems to end.
Yeah, this is the heartbeat.
You can feel it right through the soles of your shoes.

The smell of roasted coffee from that corner cafe.
The low, happy rumble from inside the Brick Store Pub.
No televisions, you told me. Just talk.
And across the street, Leon's, in that old Full Service station...
The patios are full. The lights are on.
Everyone is living their life right out in the open air.
It feels like a hundred different movies playing at once.

This must be Decatur Square.
This is the city's open palm.
The place where all the stories cross.
The conversation that never seems to end.
Yeah, this is the heartbeat.
You can feel it right through the soles of your shoes.

Wait. Come here, look at this.
This little metal line set in the concrete.
I almost walked right over it.
"Eastern Continental Divide."
It says a drop of rain falling on this side...
Will find the Atlantic.
And another, just an inch away...
Rolls south to find the Gulf of Mexico.
All this life, all this beautiful noise...
Balanced on a whisper line.
On a secret the ground has been keeping all this time.

A town built on a watershed.
A place that chooses its direction with every storm.
I think I could stay here a while.
Just to watch the water decide.
Yeah. That's the heartbeat.