overyourhead

The Day Before You Came...
It was a very different world on 10th September 2001.

Now looking back to that day I can start to put into perspective the things I used to take for granted. Things that at the time seemed so hum-drum, so boring, but things that were actually very precious. For instance the simple ability to go about daily life without fear of attack. And that must be something that New Yorkers in particular have lost and may never get back. It has been replaced with the fear of attack. The uncertainty of the future. And that surely is the real tragedy. 10th September 2001 was a much easier place to live.

I think ABBA's song The Day Before You Came sums up my feelings about the run up to last year's tragic events at the World Trade Center. Who knew we were living in a world where such things were just around the corner?

I must have left my house at eight because I always do
My train I'm certain left the station just when it was due
I must have read the morning paper going into town
And having gotten through the editorial no doubt I must have frowned
I must have made my desk around a quarter after nine
With letters to be read and heaps of papers waiting to be signed
I must have gone to lunch at half past twelve or so
The usual place the usual bunch
And still on top of this I'm pretty sure it must have rained
The day before you came

I must have lit my seventh cigarette at half past two
And at the time I never even noticed I was blue
I must have kept on dragging through the business of the day
Without really knowing anything I hid a part of me away
At five I must have left there's no exception to the rule
A matter of routine I've done it ever since I finished school
The train back home again
Undoubtedly I must have read the evening paper then
Oh yes I'm sure my life was well within it's usual frame
The day before you came

I must have opened my front door at eight o'clock or so
And stopped along the way to buy some Chinese food to go
I'm sure I had my dinner watching something on TV
There's not I think a single episode of Dallas that I didn't see
I must have gone to bed around a quarter after ten
I need a lot of sleep and so I like to be in bed by then
I must have read a while
The latest one by Marilyn French or something in that style
It's funny but I had no sense of living without aim
The day before you came

And turning out the light
I must have yawned and cuddled up for yet another night
And rattling on the roof I must have heard the sound of rain
The day before you came

[B.Andersson/B.Ulvaeus, Copyright © 1982]