New York Minute

Album: The End Of The Innocence (1989)
Charted: 48
  • Harry got up
    Dressed all in black
    Went down to the station
    And he never came back
    They found his clothing
    Scattered somewhere down the track
    And he won't be down on Wall Street in the morning

    He had a home
    The love of a girl
    But men get lost sometimes
    As years unfurl
    One day he crossed some line
    And he was too much in this world
    But I guess it doesn't matter anymore

    In a New York minute
    Everything can change
    In a New York minute
    Things can get pretty strange
    In a New York minute
    Everything can change
    In a New York minute

    Lying here in the darkness
    I hear the sirens wail
    Somebody going to emergency
    Somebody's going to jail
    You find somebody to love in this world
    You better hang on tooth and nail
    The wolf is always at the door

    In a New York minute
    Everything can change
    In a New York minute
    Things can get little strange
    In a New York minute
    Everything can change
    In a New York minute

    And in these days
    When darkness falls early
    And people rush home
    To the ones they love
    You better take a fool's advice
    And take care of your own
    One day they're here
    Next day they're gone

    I pulled my coat over my shoulders
    And took a walk down through the park
    The leaves were falling around me
    The groaning city in the gathering dark
    On some solitary rock
    A desperate lover left his mark,
    Baby, I've changed, please come back

    What the head makes cloudy
    The heart makes very clear
    The days were so much brighter
    In the time when she was here
    I know there's somebody, somewhere
    Make these dark clouds disappear
    Until that day, I have to believe
    I believe, I believe

    In a New York minute
    Everything can change
    In a New York minute
    You can get out of the way
    In a New York minute
    Everything can change
    In a New York minute

    In a New York minute
    Everything can change
    In a New York minute
    Things can get little strange
    In a New York minute
    Everything can change (in a New York minute)

    In a New York minute
    Everything can change
    In a New York minute
    You can get out of the way
    In a New York minute Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 27

  • Renee from New ZealandGrew up with the eagles and this one has always been my fav... from what i can make out maybe he was a stoke broker, as it references wall street and the crash caused him to commit suicide, despite having a good home life "somebody to love". Then again it states somebodys going to jail? maybe involved in something dodgey and he got taken care of?
  • Mark from OhioHarry jumped off the platform in front of the train. That’s why his clothes were scattered somewhere down the tracks.
  • Tony Rivera from ChicagoDuring my conflict of times the song always comes to mind it's a beautiful song brings what you have in your life and that things change in a minute it means a lot to me life always seems to have its ways but I always seem to find my way back never forget it's always something at the end
  • PipersenecavHenley during the Hell Freezes Over said, “This next song is about appreciating what you have.” When he finished, this song was played.
  • Geffo from IrelandHenley sang this song in dublin 2019, just as the uk voted to leave the European union, he said that “this song is about “getting out”. New York minute
  • Chuck from CaliforniaI'm surprised nobody mentioned that the song has a decidedly upbeat ending.

    "I know there's somebody, somewhere
    Make these dark clouds disappear
    Until that day, I have to believe
    I believe, I believe

    In a New York minute
    Everything can change"
  • Antonio from Puno..peruCongrats for your accurate words
  • Anonymousi always thought the first verse was about suicide
  • Rat A Tat from East MckeesportI feel the information from song facts are more accurate and trustworthy. The interpretation of songs differ thanks to various personalities and experiences. A New York Minute has the sound of a fast paced environment in my opinion.
  • Roger Mcguinn from FloridaI like the song but I am convinced it was written when Don Henley et al were drunk. The song has a fine enough premise but then wanders around like a stoner trying to find beer in a friend's kitchen. Harry? Humanity in general? Don in the park freezing his ass off in search of, . . . . what was the question?
  • Adrian Brooks Collins from Koreatown Los AngelesWhat this blurb fails to recognize is that the song starts out with a suicide.
  • Camille from Toronto, OhJon from Centerville, GA--yep, your description of what a New York minute means is pretty much right on the money. The red light turning green, the cabbie blowing the horn, the "instant" minute.
  • Ken from Louisville, KyWhen the Eagles performed this on their Hell Freezes Over MTV special in 1994, the orchestra was credited as the "Burbank Philharmonic". They actually were a group of studio classical musicians who played on movie soundtracks. The MTV special was shot on a Warner Brothers soundstage (in Burbank) with a studio audience.
  • Gatecrasher from New York, NyI have always believed that this song is at least in part inspired by the stock market crash of October 1987 and the ensuing recession.

    Actually there are a lot of possible clues pointing to that time period, especially the tale of Harry in the first verse (a failed businessman or broker) and the later lines like "And in these days/When darkness falls early" as it does in late October, and "I pulled my coat over my shoulders/And took a walk down through the park/ The leaves were falling around me/ The groaning city in the gathering dark" using darkness as both a setting and a metaphor.

    I understand how this song was used to commemorate 9/11 but enough of the BS that some people claim are "conspiracy" clues in it.
  • Jim from Pleasant Hill, CaRE the comment(s) on Harry: That, and other 9/11 inferences are adaptive hindsight, not some Henleyan prophecy. If you listen to the words, Harry is a guy who had superficial success but it lost its meaning through unexplained angst, not some external calamity. He probably either hitched a ride on a freight train and became a bum, or offed himself. This song only applies to 9/11 in a vague way. Countless individual losses add up each day and don't make headlines. I see the song as being about those incidents, not public tragedies.
  • Rick from Toronto, OnThere is a version of this song interspersed with the media coverage from 9/11 truly chilling and sad
  • Ken from Louisville, KyA lot of people thought it was Henley's hubris behind several of his solo songs - like this one - being part of Eagles' reunion tours. Actually, it was Glenn Frey's insistence. Frey loved Henley's solo albums of the 1980's and publicly praised them. He said many times that his goal was to do "an album as good as one of Don's."
  • Vivel from Killian, LaI think that the lyric "you better take a fool's advice and take care of your own" is kinda like karma. Take care of it--i.e. your stuff, your home, your family/friends--and it won't leave you. Which also returns to the "hang on tooth and nail" part.
  • Dave from Easton, PaKind of spooky to think that no one could have, in their wildest nightmare, come up with what happened on Sept.11, and how this song was written so long before the tragedy actually happened. Consider the line, " ...Better take a fool's advise, and take care of your own, cause one day they're, the next day they're gone." That's chilling.
  • Alan from Greene, RiThis is one of the saddest songs I know, but one which matches music and lyrics perfectly. the lyric "...you better hang on tooth and nail" -- is daily life for most of us, but we don't think about it until a "NY minute" suddenly reveals the truth of this.
  • Scott from Kings Park, NyIf you read the first 4 lines of the lyrics...this happened to some people on Sept. 11....There were a lot of Harry's..
    Harry got up
    Dressed all in black
    Went down to the station
    And he never came back
  • Scott from Kings Park, NyIt is true....everything can change...in a New York Minute. Could even be a second or two.
  • Timbo from Wilmington, NcNew York Minute is a great song. Imagine it was you who wrote it. I assure you, Mr. Henley deserves a lot of respect for coming up with material like this.....Compare this song to rap/hip hop/...any kid can make up rhymes all day long...but on New York Minute, you actually must have thought process to make a song like this flow like wine....Great Job!!!
  • Jon from Centerville, GaA New York Minute is absolutely NOT 30 seconds. A New York Minute is defined as the time between when the traffic light turns green, and the cabbie behind you honks his horn to get you to go. Basically, it's supposed to be "an instant."
  • Ken from Louisville, KyThe line "Somebody's going to emergency/Somebody's going to jail" was used as a title to an episode of "The West Wing". A brief passage from the song was used in the episode.
  • Millerman from Dacusville, Sc1 New York minute = 30 seconds
  • Enrique from LimaYou are right in saying that this song speaks of how quickly life can change in a moment. I guess this took a whole new meaning after the September 11th events. Things really changed for thousands of people "in a New York minute"
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