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Vampire Weekend - White Sky
An ancient business
A modern piece of glasswork
Down on the corner that
You walk each day in passing
The elderly salesclerk
Won't eye us with suspicion
The whole immortal corporation's giving it's permission
The little stairway
A little piece of carpet
A pair of mirrors that
Are facing one another
Out in both directions
A thousand little Julias
That come together
In the middle of Manhattan
You waited since lunch
It all comes at once
Around the corner
The house that modern art built
I ask for modern art
To keep it out the closets
The people who might own it
The sins of pride and envy
And on the second floor
The Richard Serra Skate Park
Waited since lunch
It all comes at once
Sit on the park wall
Ask all of our questions
Why are the horses
Racing taxis in the winter
Look up at the buildings
Imagine who might live there
Imagining you're walking
On a bowl upon the sing there
You waited since lunch
It all comes at once
This song was already a live favorite prior to it being recorded. Vampire Weekend debuted this song at the album-release show for their first album in January 2008 and then performed it during their appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in March 2009. Frontman Ezra Koenig explained to MTV News: "That song came together in a way that none of our older songs ever have. [Multi-instrumentalist/producer] Rostam [Batmanglij] made a beat and sent it to us, and I spent some time writing lyrics and a melody to it, and then we put it together into what it is now. On that level, it is very distinct from what we've done." Koenig explained in track-by-track production notes: "It's inspired by some of the same African vibes and rhythms that influenced the debut, but the finished product represents a new chapter in the band's sound. "This song picks up where 'M79' left off. Similar people, similar geography, but, I think, a more developed sense of purpose." Vampire Weekend are notorious for their use of African rhythms in their songs, describing their genre of music as "Upper West Side Soweto" Koenig commented to The Guardian January 7, 2010: "It's just as natural for us to listen to music from Africa as it is to Cream or whoever. There's no reason why Cream should be a bigger part of my heritage – my family is from eastern Europe and grew up in New Jersey and Eric Clapton is a British guy playing the blues. When you break it down like that, the rock'n'roll canon becomes a little less monolithic. Just because I grew up a white guy in America doesn't mean that's the music of my life." One of the lyrics refers to a Richard Serra Skatepark. Koenig explained to The London Times January 23, 2010 that the phrase occurred to him after he saw a Serra sculpture at MoMA and thought, "if I could skate, that would be fun to skate on."
